Weaning Bob

There is an upset moaning cow in our pasture, yes Agnes.  She is wailing like a fog horn and has been all night.  The 1800 pound mother is wondering where her little 500 pound calf Bob has gone.  It is loud, like a fog horn.  It is a mournful sound.  She is a pretty good mom and she does NOT like it, that she cannot find her calf.

We are having a some warm weather (40-50’s), so weaning Bob now will be less stressful on him than in the cold.  I know, I sound like I know what I am talking about, but this is actually what Our Friend The Farmer said.  He is a great friend and offered to have Bob up at his place for the next few weeks to wean him.  One more calf to feed is not too big a deal for him with his many, but when it is your neighbor’s prize/only calf it does add a bit of burden to it.

So armed with his wise advice and generous offer loading up Bob became the highest priority on the ever popular ‘to-do’ list.  Bob is bashful.  He likes that we feed him, but otherwise he really has no interest in being too close to us.  This makes moving him fairly easy because he always moves away from us.  We’ve gotten better and better at moving him where we want him to go, not just chasing him all over the field.  We used one of our old loading shoots, which is my new favorite cattle tool.  We had him loaded easily and fast into the trailer, as if we knew just what we were doing!Bob is being weaned and will return.  Agnes is not happy about it.  I am a thankful, because now I understand what Our Friend the Farmer was saying about weaning ‘trying’ your fences and with the sound of that big old Mama, if we had tried to wean him here, I know our fences would not have stood a chance.