Sorry I haven't written for a while but since not a lot has happened, I'll tell you about Homer.
Homer
 |
| Agnes |
 |
| Lentil |
Early in the morning, on the 19th of March the the Farmer went out to make his regular check of the cattle. Behind the shed he found that Agnes had calved. There was another new calf nearby so the Farmer wondered if a cow had calved and then left her calf alone, but after he had walked through all the cattle he found that no other cows had calved that morning which left only one explanation. Agnes had had twins! The Farmer and Farm Kid herded Agnes and the twins into a smaller pen by themselves.
 |
| Homer and Mandie |
 |
| Homer as a bucket-calf |
Agnes readily accepted Lentil, the younger one, but she would have nothing to do with the older, Homer. Since Agnes couldn't raise two calves the job fell to Farm Kid, who would bottle feed Homer every day. Homer learned to bottle-feed easily, and soon the Farm Kid had him halter-trained. Then, on the 8th of April, Mandie calved, but the calf didn't live, so the Farmer decided to adopt Homer onto Mandie. At first Mandie loved Homer but Homer wouldn't nurse. Then when we finally got Homer to nurse, Mandie began kicking him away from her. Now, Mandie and Homer are finally happy though. They have both accepted each other, so I guess this is happy ever after.
The End
Okay, so what we did first was fed the cows in the corrals so we could catch them. Then we walked them into some smaller pens and sorted the calves off. Next we worked the cows. First the farmer herds three cows up the lane. Then he gives them a shot for pneumonia, diarrhea, and flu. Then he pours blue liquid on their backs that repels flies, lice, and worms.Then he lets them out into the pen where he fed them.
Then it's time to work calves. First we sort of the ones that still need shots. (We worked the older ones a few weeks ago.) Then I push a calf up the lane and into the squeeze-chute. Then the farmer lets the tailgate down to keep the calf in the chute. Then he pushes the calf to the front of the chute, where I tighten the head stall. The farmer then gives the calf the same shot ha gave the cows, (but a smaller dose) plus a shot to prevent blackleg. Then after that he lets the calf out into a different pen. While the calves were being worked, the cows were anxious to get them back, but ever so happy to be reunited.
After we'd finished working the cattle, we sorted a little over half of the cow/calf pairs off to move to grass. The course would be; 1. Lead them out of the corrals with the pickup. 2. Lead them through the pen to the gate at the edge of the road. 3. Lead them across the road into greener pastures.
