Labor day I spent time in the round pen with the weanlings. I knew they were going to be moved to pasture later that day, so I wanted to pet and brush them (as they would allow), and try to get a halter on Valentine. Persistence paid off and I did get the halter on Valentine, and we walked around the round pen for a while, mostly with me following her from hay to grain, getting her used to wearing a halter. We did gradually progress to some "leading" by me.
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| Belle with T-Bone - September 2, 2019 |
The weanlings were easily moved from the round pen to a pasture with Belle, mother of our youngest longhorn, T-Bone. As expected, they were happy to go from hay and grain to green grass. In fact, we had to shoo them on from stopping to grab bites of green. They didn't move far into the pasture at first, but enjoyed eating, although they had just finished their hay minutes earlier.
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| Weanlings and Daffodil the chicken - September 2, 2019 |
There were some power struggles, of course, as there were already two older calves already in the pasture, one being Belle's calf from last year, Lulu, and an older calf belonging to one of our friends. I watched as Belle and the older calf each took turns butting heads and trying to push around Buddy, one of the bull calves. Nothing was heated, and everyone eventually settled down to grazing and napping under the trees.
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| Weanlings - September 2, 2019 |
I decided to take the dogs out to the pasture and sat down under the trees and watched everyone, taking pictures of the goings on. I also wanted everyone to get used to each other; everyone being the dogs and the cows. Rocky, my golden boy who has to stay on a lead because he wanders off (he has been found miles down the road, it's in his blood), introduced himself to one of the heifers. Sheba, who is more trustworthy about staying home, ran around chasing crickets or whatever else she could find.
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| One of the weanlings and Rocky - September 2, 2019 |
It was a very enjoyable, stress free afternoon.
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| Weanlings, Belle and T-Bone - September 2, 2019 |
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