This is actually where it gets interesting. Their personalities are coming through. I told you before about Cuddles. She is sweet and lets me pet her, but she was a bear to get out of her stall and into the parlor. She also didn't want to go back once we were done. She was such a brat that the cows she went in with actually fought to NOT get positioned beside her. Yes, I could absolutely tell this is what was going on. She poked her head underneath the cow in front of her (it's herringbone so they are both in front of or behind and beside another cow), and she being taller than the Jersey cross cows that are milking already, she rested her head on their backs while they milked. They hate that. One cow, we named Pot because she is always stirring the pot causing trouble, we knew would teach her some manners so we put her in front of Cuddles. Cuddles stood on Pot's back hoof and would not move it. I don't how Pot did it, but she actually waited until I was finished milking her and then she pulled her foot out from under Cuddles' foot and clocked her a good one. She stomped hard on top of her foot too. Cuddles hasn't set her foot on top of anyone's foot since. She also settled down immediately. She goes to and from the parlor pretty well now.
We have one with really long, straight legs that my husband named of course Legs. He observed that if she wanted to she reach out and touch someone at a great distance. Why yes, as a matter of fact she can. We had pretty much the same problem getting all the heifers so far to get out of their stalls and go back, but in the parlor where we are trying to get them used to being handled is where Legs showed how well she can kick. She hit the cow behind her and she shouldn't have been able to do that with that leg. The other one, yes, but not that one. She shook the entire section when she kicked the pipes holding the butt plates in place - floor to ceiling. She actually has done quite well now that she isn't scared anymore!
Then there is George Foreman. Yes, that is a man's name and a heavy weight boxing champion. She earned the name because she can hit with equal force with both back feet, as my husband learned trying to put her back in the stall and in the parlor. She left hoof prints on the wall when he tried to get into position in the parlor by closing the crowd gate behind her. I saw it coming and yelled for him to look out. Barely missed him!
Hero, the cow that knocked the bull on his behind every time he got near me, is perfectly well behaved in the parlor. Getting her there and back is the problem. She wants to go anywhere but either of those places. Otherwise, I can pet her, clean behind her, feed her hay out of my hand even. She did try to trade places with one I named Little Twinkle. She is named because she acts like one we bought many years ago that liked to swat at the milker (not kick- just swat) so it had to be babysat, and I got the honor. Twinkle liked to turn when I wasn't looking and give me a big lick on the head or steal my hat in the wintertime. She was goofy. Little Twinkle does the same thing, except she is an instigator and does not like going to and from the parlor. Again, well behaved once there. She never got along with George and doggone it she ended up in the stall where Hero goes right next to George. I told my husband that wouldn't do; they had to be traded, and he said no, he wasn't fighting them to trade them out. We had to break up a fight immediately. They were butting heads under the divider and George was winning. He said they'd stop. Within five minutes of my going to do my milkhouse cleaning chores he stuck his head in and said we had to trade the cows before George and Little Twinkle tore something up. That took a long time since they both like to fight going back to their stalls. But the war ended and all was right in the world for George and Hero.
There is another one I named as a calf who is mostly black with a small white area on her forehead. She eats on her knees for some reason and so I named her Sister Mary. She is another problem child. She actually crawls on her knees and her belly under the stall dividers towards the out door - underneath the other cows! We're afraid she's going to hurt one of them. She crawled her way almost all the way to the end until she met George Foreman! Yep, she put a stop to that in a hurry. Sister Mary is way larger than George, but George has horns in spite of having them removed as a calf. So, when Sister Mary got that far George having seen what was coming, lowered her head and let her have it. Mary stopped. We got a rope and tied it to her head so we could get her turned back toward the walk aisle. George, who doesn't like anyone in her stall with her, let us in and even moved over so we could tie Mary's head. She was under Hero so that could have been a problem, but she didn't want her there any more than George did, so she backed up. Mary finally crawled her way out and got up. I didn't think we would ever get her into the parlor and then wondered what damage she would do, but she actually was perfectly well behaved in there. I just don't get it. She still tries to belly crawl her way instead of backing out and walking.
Stripe was named as a calf because of the black stripe on her otherwise white face. She absolutely would not come into the barn even though she was raised there. The bull did not help either. He has a great deal of control over her almost like an abused spouse. I am seriously not making light of abused women here. She didn't do anything, even eat or get a drink of water, unless he allowed it. She also jumps like a deer and did several times right over corral panels. She did a dive over the gate and bent it like a dog eared page in a book. We had to use the tractor to straighten it back up. We finally had to lock her in the head locking feeder and tie a rope to her collar and then the other end to the tractor and back it into the barn. I took over at one point and my husband guided the rope so she wouldn't get hurt trying to get away. Once inside, she waltzed right into the stall. Go figure! The bull, by the way, is really ticked off that we took the last of the ladies into the barn. He has shaken the walls beating on it. We have yet to take her into the parlor as we wanted her to get used to being indoors first. We start tonight. She actually looks as if she might be the first to calve and after all the stress of trying to get her in for three weeks and the other cows acting up and fighting, we're wondering if she might do like Gertrude and have it early. Wish us luck.
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