Tuesday 14th February 2017
Slightly manic...
This was the cows this morning: all very peaceful and chilled, chewing the cud after breakfast and mucking out! Teatime proved a little more 'manic' however, more manic than normal that is. There is always mass excitement when, at around 4pm, Jack trundles up to the Cow Pad with a trolley piled high with hay and, most importantly, a jug full of cow nuts!! All three cows are very keen on their cow nuts and there is much moo-ing and head-thrashing in anticipation of their truggs being filled up. Parsley is always first, followed by Sage and then Thyme. The calves always steal a bit from their mums which is fine.
As soon as truggs are emptied, which takes no time at all, we usually clear them away and divert attention towards the freshly filled hay racks. We have learnt over the weeks that if the truggs are left on the ground, the cows tend to keep checking them out just in case there are any nuts left and this ‘checking out’ usually involves shoving each other out of the way. As Jack by this stage is trying to clear away poo from the woodchip, 300kg bodies being pushed around does not make the poo-picking job easy, nor, it has to be said, that safe!
Today however, even once the truggs had gone, the 'shoving each other around' bit continued and Jack really had to keep her wits about her to avoid a collision. In our experience mind you, all our cows definitely attempt to avoid being shoved into us humans. We have noted on several occasions how adept they are at twisting and turning out of the way. Nonetheless, the Cow Pad is only nine by seven metres and there is not always the space to twist and turn.
Jack had the field shelters to leap into if needs be and on the hurdle side of the pad, a quick leap out would be do-able. It would not do however, to get sandwiched between a cow and the fencing or front wall of the shelters and so the obvious course of action was for her to remove herself completely – which she did, slightly anxious that she had not picked up all the poo but then reminding herself that with two broken legs, poo-picking up would be the least of her worries...
Today however, even once the truggs had gone, the 'shoving each other around' bit continued and Jack really had to keep her wits about her to avoid a collision. In our experience mind you, all our cows definitely attempt to avoid being shoved into us humans. We have noted on several occasions how adept they are at twisting and turning out of the way. Nonetheless, the Cow Pad is only nine by seven metres and there is not always the space to twist and turn.
Jack had the field shelters to leap into if needs be and on the hurdle side of the pad, a quick leap out would be do-able. It would not do however, to get sandwiched between a cow and the fencing or front wall of the shelters and so the obvious course of action was for her to remove herself completely – which she did, slightly anxious that she had not picked up all the poo but then reminding herself that with two broken legs, poo-picking up would be the least of her worries...