Today was bum washing day for the cows (our lush grass has resulted in rather overly ‘lush’ poo). We should have tackled this a while back but were waiting for the delivery of our cattle crush. This actually arrived last week but we then decided it was probably easier to get the cows into the field shelter and haltered and tied up instead. We were delighted with how easy it was to do this and so as the three girls stood patiently munching on their hay, Jack set to work.
Unfortunately within 5 minutes it became obvious that we needed bucket loads more water and preferably a hose pipe. Running water was really the only way to get them totally clean. Tomorrow’s plan therefore is to lead them back into the 4-acre field and then down to the field shelter at the bottom which is near enough to the barn for a hose pipe to reach.
Easy... So why are we doing this in the first place: well, due to our VERY lush grass and subsequent VERY runny cow pats, some of the tails have become rather clogged with poo which as well as not being massively hygenic, also makes it hard for the cows to swish them around. Cows use their tails to get rid of flies but they also use them to show their feelings so for example a tail being swished side to side can be a sign of a cow that is not happy!!
(photo is off Thyme, happily trotting towards us - yes we did have a jug of food!!)