my new cud chewing beauty queen

[Beekissed]

This showed up on FB today with a comment that said "Have you ever seen a really happy cow?"
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=542423972602462&id=271459076365621

yes... yes I have!
Eva loves scratches and giving kisses.

LOVE this vid!!! I've had two milch cows in my lifetime and both would lie down beside me and put their heads in my lap for a good scratching and petting. One of them didn't like the dogs sitting next to me and would horn them out of the way so she could lay there instead.

LOVE cows!

Do you think you could use "join up" on cows like Marty does with horses and deer? That may help you get in good with the cows.

 

[canesisters]

PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maddie has (for now) stopped trying to jump the walls/gates! She has let me pet and scratch all over her back, sides, shoulders, neck and face. She has chosen to hang out (with me) in the barn after finishing her feed instead of charging out into the paddock. And, she has even let me touch her a couple of times in the open paddock.
We're getting there.

Gretta (the baby has been named!!) is getting more comfortable with me touching her and moving around her in close quarter every day. I even managed to slip a halter on her Sunday!!!


Eva is a little bit jealous I think. She has become even more of a pocket cow and demands a good 'from one end to the other' scratch before she will leave the barn in the evenings.

 

[thistlebloom]

Cane - Cow Whisperer.

 

[baymule]

I love cows. I am so glad that you are able to have your dream cow!

 

[canesisters]

Why is it, that things never go as expected, but we still expect them to??

I don't think that I mentioned it before but Jeff, the owner of Maddie & Gretta, was in a terrible motorcycle accident just days after bringing them over. There is really no reason that he survived - but he is recovering well and will be having some of the rods and such taken out soon. Anyway - all of that means that I've been on my own with fencing and care of the girls.

In April I expanded the pasture again. Everything went well for a few days. And then Gretta started getting out. One cow out isn't a problem. She's not going anywhere by herself. As long as the other 2 don't seem to care that she's doing it - and she's not tearing down fence lines - its a problem that can wait till the weekend. However, that was NOT the case last week.
I got a call from my renter about 8:00 saying that one was out. No problem, just keep an eye out and let me know if anything changes.
I got a call at 11:00 from my Dad saying that the mooing was driving him nuts so he came up to see what was going on and there is only 1 cow in the pasture.

I asked him to drive around to the neighbors and see if he could spot them. They were in the yard of the folks who's land backs up to mine. So.. once the cow's were located, he decided that had some errands to run and left - with me unable to get home again for about another hour...
In the mean time I've called Jeff and left a message of what was going on. He said that he would try to get out there in the afternoon to help me figure out what went wrong.
Well, when I got home - Eva was in the pasture in a near panic because her buddies were NOT. But, thank goodness, they had returned to the woods JUST outside the fence so getting them back in was not hard.
I got them locked up in the barn, texted Jeff that they were safe, and started running the fence line.
Skipping all the fencing details.... it turns out that when I re-configured the fence line, I set it up to shut off power to the ENTIRE PASTURE when I opened the new gate....

A couple of under-gate wires and a new ground connection and we are GOOD to go.

Here's some picts from the first day in the 'new' field.

Maddie (purple) & Gretta (red) dragging their 'catch' lines

fat little Eva

Why would ANYONE want out of this lovely pasture???? Ungrateful little brats....

 

[Nyboy]

LOL glad you figured it out. You know the old saying the grass is always greener on the other side.

 

[baymule]

@Nyboy took the words from my fingers and keyboard.

Cane you do have a lovely pasture! Indeed, why would they want to go rousting about the neighborhood? Glad you found the problem and fixed it.

 

[digitS']

Why is it, that things never go as expected, but we still expect them to??

Because life involves a testing of boundaries ...

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

You have a beautiful place Cane. Pure ingratitude, that's what it is!
Eva seems to be setting a good example for those two bad girls though.
I see you were able to get halters on them, I bet that was an adventure.

 

[canesisters]

Thank you @thistlebloom . Like everyone else's, it's a continuous work in progress. But I'm proud of what it's become so far.

Actually, the halters were a BREEZE - I was shocked. Once I got them to let me touch them while they ate, I just left the halter in their feeder for a couple of days till it was no big deal. Then I positioned it in the feeder so that they had to stick their nose in the hole to eat - and just pulled up the sides and buckled it while they had their mouth full.