Time to sell the bull?

[Farmer Kitty]

amysflock, when DH decides it's time to get a bull for cleanup with the heifers, I don't go out into the pasture with them at all. He's off to work all day and to put myself out there with no help around is not something I feel is smart to do. I never trust a bull no matter how tame and gentle he is.

 

[amysflock]

Yeah, I don't blame you. We've realized over the past several months that there are several things we need to change about our setup...and having the chicken coop in the barn (in the paddock) and the hay in the barn (in the paddock) is really problematic when there's a bull visiting.

 

[Thewife]

Hey Amy!
Any chance you can deliver a meat lovers pizza in the next 10 minutes?

 

[amysflock]

Ha ha ha....ho ho ho...that's funny, thewife! Does Tenino Smokehouse & Pizza Parlor deliver out your way, or is that too far? We love their Ultimate Pizza (but substitute the pepperoni for some Canadian bacon). Yum!

So, we got our haylage bale in no problem today (it seems lighter than the one we had in the middle of winter...it even rolled!!), and the cattle ignored it and grazed in the pasture instead. We decided to let them out there so we wouldn't have them - especially Tabor - in tight quarters with us. We thought perhaps they'd all come in later for some haylage so we could lock them back in the paddock. Nope. The adults came in...but must have told the babies to bed down in the apple trees. We've had luck tempting the adults in with grain, but the babies, no way. So...until they all decide to simultaneously cooperate, they're out on pasture, probably two weeks too early. They're too smart for us!!!

 

[Thewife]

I've never tried the Tenino pizza!
Are they good?


Bulls in tight quarters are scary I climbed over the walls the other day to release my Bob cow, because I didn't want to go on the slab with our bull!
We ended up turning the cows out earlier than we wanted too. Hubby found some hay, if the weather stays nice, I should be OK!

 

[amysflock]

The herd got suckered back into the paddock Sunday night when DH called for Brigit to come in for her grain...they all came running, and the gates shut behind them. HA!! They spent yesterday mostly laying in the shade of the barn, away from the glowing ball in the sky. I wish we could let them out but the grass just isn't ready. I'll post some photos later, though, of them out on pasture Saturday. As DH said, "They look so nice with the sun on them!"

thewife, Tenino Smokehouse & Pizza Parlor = TOTALLY AWESOME!!! Crusts, sauce, lasagnas, desserts (and cinnamon rolls, OMG) are all homemade. They smoke chickens and ribs on Fridays and Saturdays, too, and those are also really good.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

The herd got suckered back into the paddock Sunday night when DH called for Brigit to come in for her grain...they all came running, and the gates shut behind them. HA!! They spent yesterday mostly laying in the shade of the barn, away from the glowing ball in the sky. I wish we could let them out but the grass just isn't ready. I'll post some photos later, though, of them out on pasture Saturday. As DH said, "They look so nice with the sun on them!"

That will teach them to come running!

 

[Thewife]

Darn it Amy, I just got over my Pizza cravings, now you got me thinking lasagna!

Have you ever checked into getting the girls AI'ed?

 

[amysflock]

thewife, we haven't given serious consideration to AI because we don't have adequate facilities..no head gate, no squeeze chute. Even getting them preg checked last year was a fiasco...the vet was visibly furious with us.

I don't know what we'll do after this (fingers crossed) calf crop comes. We've certainly learned some things having a bull here for 10 weeks, so we'd know what to expect if we borrow or rent a bull again. But we'd really need to come up with funds to buy a head gate (if nothing else) before we could do AI.

We got another haylage bale last night...this one is clover, and the herd is all over it! The last one was kind of dry and they weren't impressed. We could hardly keep them away from this one as we were trying to get it into place.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I always tell our herd that if they want to be fed, let us get it to them! They just don't listen.