Tonight, I milked the cows for a friend. The actual milking session went great! But it all started while trying to get the girls back into their pasture. While Mom and I tried to get Miss Mattie through the gate, we left Opal to finish off the grain in the stanchion bins. She wanted more. So she took matters into her own hooves. Walking back up to the milking parlor, I saw the cow tail in the work shop doorway. AAAHHH!!! All that to say, the cow tossed aside the calf manna and the pig feed and went straight to the source of her joy and gluttony - the feed bags. 50 pounds of sheer delight and it was all hers for the taking! We saved the feed, if you're worried about that. She only got a couple mouthfuls. So we saved the grain and got the cow safely out of mischief's way.
But we weren't finished yet.
Earlier that morning, the heifers decided to make a run for it. Easily bribed back into their pasture with food, they were put into a different pasture that isn't so easy to escape. Now Mom and I are doing the cow chores which includes bottle feeding the summer calf. She's in a pen in the pasture that the heifers are in. I think that they still remember using a bottle because, my goodness, they were dead set and insistent that they were to get some of the milk. Try playing keep-away with an animal that is much bigger than you. It's impossible. They will win unless you outsmart them. So that's what I did. I outsmarted a cow. Two of them, actually. They really like hay. I just chucked a couple of cubes to them on the other side of the pasture and around the corner. Bwahaha! The were duped into my trick!
Anyway... that was my evening. How was yours?
