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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Fit To Be Tied...

Ever since Mr Fan died, Daisy has been in mourning....

Of course, she shows it by giving a little "attitude".

This afternoon, I went over to a neighbor's house to collect some corn husks so the cows would have a little extra to eat. The two calves (Stew and Clover) came running up to the nice shady spot I pulled up to. They saw me forking the stuff over the fence, and decided to "get it while the gettin's good".

They stood there, happily munching in the shade on a 98° day.

The three "moms" and the little boy (KC for KC Strip) just stood and WATCHED me unload the shucks from the truck. I called and called, but they stayed about 100 yards off - just looking at me with that dumbfounded look cows get when they think you're up to something.

Well, about an hour and a half later, I grab the milk bucket and head out to squeeze the cows. I EXPECTED them to be munching away under the nice big, shady tree I left the pile under but, NOOOOOO. Not MY cows.

They were all laying down under a tree about 30 feet away from the pile. As soon as Daisy heard the door latch turn on the back door to the barn, she practically JUMPED to her feet and headed out for the 150 feet, or so, trip to the barn.

It was an odd sight - Daisy was doing her usual half trot toward the barn and supper when - like a switch being flipped - she passed within about 15' of that pile of shucks. The wind was in the right direction, and the smell of corn shucks hit her nostrils like a cast iron skillet upside the head. She made an IMMEDIATE 90° hard right, and planted her face in the middle of the stack.

FINE. Make ME head out into the oppressing heat wave to come get you up the hill and in for supper. It's not like I'm twisting your hooves or anything.

"You had a good chunk of the afternoon to find that food, now get your beefy-butt into the barn before I light the grill", I told her.

Like the smart alack cow she is, she swatted at me with her tail, shook her head and said "With this heat, I've been on the grill ALL DAY."

I think she even stuck her tongue out at me!

Anyhoo, a few pokes with my stick, and she headed on up. Mostly because she knew food was involved, and the pile of shucks would be there after supper - bovine dessert.

Well, since Box Fan died, and a replacement hasn't been hired yet - Daisy swats more flies with her tail. Normally, this would be ok, but it's a constant thing now, and my head is between her tail and the flies when I'm milking.

Time for DRASTIC measures....

I used baler twine to tie Daisy's tail to the wall....

Switchback

As you can see by the look on her face, she is NOT amused. I've been doing this for the past few days, and things were going well - until tonight.

Like I said, Daisy was in and "attitude" MOO'd (ok, bad pun...), and had plans of snapping me in the face with that tail. She was a bit miffed when it couldn't happen. All was well until I let her out of the stanchion, and she turned around to go outside. I stood in front of her, calling like I normally do, and she just LOOKED at me.

Stubborn cow!

"Get yer hind end outside", I exclaimed.

She just STOOD there, BLINKING at me! She even shook her head, and even wiggled her body side to side as if to tell me she wasn't gonna budge.

I tried it one last time before getting the grill warmed up - "Get outside NOW!"

Same stubborn response. Same dumb look. Shaking of head, shifting of feet, waggling of body...

My plan was to move in behind her so I could push. It was about then I realized that the cow wasn't being stubborn. When I was in a position where I could see things a little more clearly, I saw the reason she only went so far and stopped.....

I forgot to untie her tail....

A small tug on the loup of the rope, and the cow went FLYING toward the door at break-neck speed....

OK, she mosied out the door....

Sometimes, cows look at us stupid because we ARE.

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