At last….I can pass back the reins for Calf Country to Captain. Last night was the end of my duty until spring.
Being in charge of Calf Country is my contribution to spring and fall field work. I only have to feed them at night, so it isn’t a huge time commitment or burden.
I had a few adventures, though. I feed the calves four at a time because that's how many small pails I can carry at one time. Unlike Captain, who mixes all the milk in 5-gallon pails and distributes to smaller pails right in Calf Country, I mix the individual pails and carry those from the milk house to Calf Country.
Anyway, one night I made my first trip to feed four calves, and there was a calf running loose.
Let me back up and explain our set up. Baby calves that get fed milk are in individual houses, called hutches, with collars and 6-foot chains, which gives them room to go in and out of their houses, explore their immediate environment, and visit with their neighbors.
Once the babies are ready to be off of milk and on a grain diet, they get moved to a group pen. As they grow, they get moved from there to a larger group pen, then to a fenced yard, and finally to a larger fenced yard.
So there was a loose calf tearing around the hutches when I went to feed the first four calves. He didn’t have a collar and was noticeably bigger than the baby calves.
Logic told me this calf was from the first group pen and must have wiggled out under the gate. From past experience, I knew that (1) I would never, ever get him back in the pen by myself and (2) he wouldn’t go further than the hutches, so I didn’t pay him much mind.
One my second trip out to Calf Country, the loose calf had a buddy, so now there were two loose calves. Hmmmm….
On my third and final trip, there were four loose calves out and about, including Louie the Little. Lovely.
Finished feeding the babies, got the pails washed up and put away, and then called Captain. By the time I called him, the four loose calves were all laying down in a grassy area near the group pen. He said to just make sure the chain on the gate of the group pen was actually latched, and he would get them back into the pen when he got home.
So that wasn’t too bad of an ordeal.
The second adventure went a little more sideways. Captain brought home two new babies one morning then went on his way to the field. I fed calves that night, no problems. The next night I was feeding before Molly, Mama Bear, Cubby, and Diane came over for ladies night. Molly showed up while I was feeding the first four calves, so she walked with me. I told her I just had to make one more trip with four pails to finish feeding the eight calves.
A moment of silence.
“Mom, there are nine calves here.” Well crap, that means I didn’t feed one of the new ones last night!! It turned out okay, and the calf I missed didn’t get sick or die...WHEW!
The third adventure was just as sideways. Captain, again, brought home two new calves, made sure he showed me where there were so I didn’t miss feeding anybody, and went on his way.
I went out to feed that night, and one of the new ones had slipped out of his collar and was running loose. I tried to coax him back to his hutch with a pail of milk, but he was having nothing to do with it and kept bounding away as soon as I got close. Fine.
I left his pail of milk in front of the hutch hoping he would at least get back in his house. Called Captain to tell him about the rogue calf, and he said he would catch him when he got home.
Problem was, when Captain got home, it was full dark and the calf couldn’t be found. We hunted around some, and gave up. Since cattle are herd animals and need their peeps, we knew he wasn’t far away.
Sure enough, the next morning, he was in one of the other hutches with his buddy. Captain got him back in his own hutch and tightened the collar so he wouldn’t slip out again.
The biggest issue I ran into is that my system is not the same as Captain’s system. Not that I think either of us is wrong, just different.
In Captain’s world, there is his way...and the wrong way. Since he generally isn’t around when I am in charge of the calves, this doesn’t typically create any conflict. However…
One night he was around when I was in the middle of feeding calves and in trying to help me do it his way, we smacked face-first into conflict. Yes, I know he was trying to be helpful, but he wouldn't listen when I told him repeatedly his way doesn't work for me. I proved myself right, and therein lay the conflict.
Luckily, neither one of us had the time or inclination to have a knock-down drag-out fight about it. It was more along the lines of exaggerated eye rolls and harsh muttering under the breath.
Images used:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/1c/08/14/1c0814063721fe175d76b693d543daa7.jpg
https://www.kimballstock.com/pix/COW/02/COW-02-KH0063-01P.JPG
http://www.snopes.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/hutch04.jpg
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