Life on the farm

he he he...this is a two post day!

All I really have to say is that there is rarely ever a dull moment when living on a farm.(this is the patch behind the house taken last winter)

Let me set the scene: my house is at the edge of a 5 acre patch; we call it the barn lot because the barns are in the patch. Around my house we have hay fields and woods. With the woods come coyotes. Right now we have our springer cows (cows fixing to have babies) in the patch behind my house so they are close by to keep an eye on them. *side note* it is my job to step out my back door of a morning, count them, and make sure they are all there and to see if there are any new babies. Right now there is only one baby and 8 more left to calve.

Ok, so the scene is set. Well, about 10 pm last night I could hear coyotes really close but though nothing of it because I can always hear them; sometimes closer than others. A few moments later I heard this awful racket and the cows were balling hysterically. They just kept on and kept on. *side note* cows do respond to weather changes and changes to their habitat-they buck, snort, butt other cows, etc,-act a bit crazy. So, I'm hearing these cows and I knew if just wasn't right. I stepped out the door and they were running the fence line around my house; all the while going nuts. Then out of the shadows I see this tiny little black dot ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE FENCE. That little baby had some how made it's way to the other side; aka the side it's mama wasn't on! *side note* mama cows are very protective when they have new babies and sometimes more protective than others; aka they will get after you!-they aren't mean, they just protect that baby. Anyhow, so I called my dad and told him that the baby was out and the cows were going crazy. Shortly after 10 pm then my dad was coming up the road on the four wheeler and we were off to get that baby back where it belongs. We finally got the calf back in the patch (it squeezed it's way through the fence). However, we noticed that it's mama and the other cow about to have a calf were still going nuts; running and snorting around. We were like what the heck. The other cow was trying to take the mamas baby for her own. In all my years of living on the farm I have never seen this, but dad said it does sometimes happen. So, we tried to get those two cows and the calf in the corral; but we were unsuccessful. By about 11 pm the cows were settled down and the baby was back to it's mama and we left them alone.

What we think happened is that the coyotes were close or even in the patch with the cattle and it spooked/stirred them up. Plus, the one cow that is about to have a baby is very sensitive right now and becoming protective (it's kinda like women and our hormones; we are very sensitive).

Anyhow, this all just goes to show that there's never a dull moment on the farm!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time . . .