Cow Tipping.....

Mabel has a bad habit of just strolling along on the way to the stanchion. She does this just about every morning, and just about as often, Daisy cuts her off at the pass, and shimmies through the door first, leaving poor Mabel to stand there, blinking.

On rare occasions, Mabel DOES manage to sneak in ahead of Daisy for first dibs at the feed pan, but she has to be dang quick. I've seen Daisy wait until Mabel is 10 feet from the door, then kick it into high gear, and come from 10 cow lengths behind, to take the checkered flag.

Mario Andretti would be proud.....

After Daisy feeds her face, I open the front door of the barn, and turn her loose into the Great Wide Open. This, of course, does NOT sit well with Mabel. She can look out of the window in front of her, while she eats, and see Daisy happily munching on the lawn.

Maybe I should invest in a curtain.

I guess all this builds up in Mabel's Brain Housing Group, until it reaches a point where she just can't stand it anymore, and she begins to plot her revenge. Most of the time, this revenge is not only directed at Daisy, but I become a victim, too.

Last week, I saved the lawn clippings in a bag so I could make "haylige". I had my grand experiment sitting in the barn, minding it's own business. It was just sitting there, fermenting nicely, unaware of what was about to befall it.

Last evening, I was on my daily round up to bring the two girls back to the barn for milking and overnight. During these jaunts, Daisy usually takes the lead because Mabel wants to get in that "last mouthful" of grass before heading in for more food.

There we were - Daisy out in the lead by a good 30' feet, with Mabel and I moseying along behind. All of a sudden, Daisy developed an itch, and stopped to scratch it. It was one of those that get them right under the back leg. The only way to fix an inch like that, is to stop, stretch the offending leg as straight out as possible, balance on the other three legs, then curl back and attack the itch with your tongue.

That being the case, that's precisely what Daisy did.

This is where Mabel's plotting came in handy. She saw her chance, dropped down into over drive, and body slammed poor Daisy. The next thing Daisy knew, she was listing to port at about 30°. It took a total miracle that she didn't go all the way over. As it was, she did some pretty fancy maneuvering to stay in the upright and locked position.

Meanwhile, Mabel let out a "Victory Moo" and sashayed off toward the barn.

Once we got there, I discovered my goodie bag I had sitting peacefully in the barn had been molested. There were grass clippings everywhere, and the broken, torn, and mutilated body of the bag it was in lay ominously on the barn floor. I quickly discovered the culprit, as Mabel walked by, giving the bag a triumphant snort.

It seems that SOMEBODY had broken INTO the barn and found something to pay me back with.

I'd have suspected BOTH cows, but Mabel was the only one who seemed overly proud of herself.

Oh well, if it weren't the cows conspiring against me, it would be the goats - and there's MORE of them.....