Saturday morning and the Jeep and I are blocking the road in preparation for running the herd (less the Jersey girls) across the road to what was Merle's farm. Her son no longer keeps cows and offered us the use of the pasture. We are delighted -- dry weather has left our grazing short.
Two of Justin's friends are blocking the other end of the corridor with John's truck.
John is in the Kubota with some buckets of sweet feed, trying to toll the suspicious bovines across the hard road. Cows are nothing if not conservative and they've never made this move before. Justin is behind them, encouraging them to keep moving.
Bob and Willa (who would really like to help but would likely cause confusion) are firmly shut in the Jeep while I stand in the middle of the road, taking pictures and ready to wave a stick if the cows come my way.
Mostly out the gate and the eating is already better . . .
Now to convince them to keep moving across the scary pavement.
They're not sure . . .(they rarely are.) This is why it helps to have lots of people.
Indecision . . .
A few brave girls take the plunge!
Justin and Otis, Derek and Doug close in on the stragglers. And they're in! Knee-high grazing, a branch (creek) with pools of water in the shade -- the girls are in cow heaven!
14 comments:
Yay, they did it! Happy grazing!
So ... it takes a village to move a cow. :)
What a fun post. I've never experienced or seen anything like this. It's a real production.
Sam
Sure wish we could borrow a few of your cows. our pasture needs to be grazed bad since we sold our flock of sheep a number of years ago. It always took some effort to convince the sheep to cross hard surfaces too.
Thank you so much for sharing. Fascinating.
Really enjoyed this post!
How lovely! I expect there were a few scary moments along the way ... But success in the end.
What a great documentary of a moment in your (and the cows) lives. I'll be thinking of the enticing sweet grass when I move next month!
Wonderful! You don't see that in Saltaire! I hope they get fat and happy there.
Yeah. Sometimes you have to cross the hot pavement to get to the paradise across the road.
Such a production! Your cows are a beautiful color, Vicki. They must be overjoyed to be in their new pasture. When I was growing up we helped our grandparents guide the cows from the pasture to the barn across the street every afternoon at milking time. We stood at the side of the road with our sticks to keep them from getting on the lawn or from wandering away from the road. But they knew the route, and knew exactly which stanchions to go to in the barn. Cows are creatures of habit, as you indicated.
That is quite an adventure!! And it was a lot of work!!! Have a wonderful rest of the holiday!
"Get along little dogies - get along. Whoopie Ti Yi Yo"
My little grandson and I have helped our neighbor do this a couple of times. To be honest, I think grandma gets a bigger kick out of it than grandson.
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