Finally after a year on the market we sold our dairy farm. We are in the process of moving the farm items we are keeping and the equipment that is for sale onto the property we are keeping. We will be raising calves to at least breeding age and butcher age (for the steers), as well animals for our own use. Moving those animals yesterday was a real chore.
We spent a week building fence where previously there was none, even to the point of getting the extra heavy fence posts and heavier barbed wire for added strength. These young animals had never been out of the barn and we knew they would go a bit wild. A bit wild was a massive underestimation.
Our son and his wife and two boys were up for the weekend to help us get some things moved, including these heifers and steers. The first batch of 8 wasn't too bad as far as loading went. They are all a year or younger so they are smaller. However, when we turned them loose you'd have thought we were at a wild cattle round up. They broke through that very hot electric barbed wire fence as if it wasn't there, breaking the insulators as they went (but not the wire!). My son ran to the north end to get one that hauled butt for the woods and creek that runs through it. It took him a while but he got him back in. He was soaking wet up to about mid-thigh and the steer was wet and covered in mud up to his belly. He had gotten stuck in the mud and my poor son had to get in the creek to shove him out. Henry (the steer) was much more compliant going back to the pen than he had been the first time. He stayed as far away as he could from the fence so he probably got a pretty good jolt, not to mention the cuts from the barbs on the wire.
Three heifers headed for one road (thankfully the one the driveway is on and there is only one other house and no traffic). One we got back to the pen after some considerable running, but the other two went on into the brush on the opposite side which was someone else's property. They didn't mind our trespassing to get them back and they don't have it fenced in so no fences were broken. We finally got those two back in the pen and other escapees back and then did a head count. One short. Rats!
I looked them over and knew exactly which one and gave the grand-kids a description. Since they are 7 and 5 I told them to get on the highest tractor without a cab and be on the lookout. This kept them out of harm's way if the little heifer decided to stampede through the area where they were. We searched for over an hour for that girl. My husband and son went to the woods and creek to the north to look and my daughter-in-law and I hit the continuing area to the west. I went into the field on the other side of those woods and back into the woods and somehow got turned around trying to navigate through and ended up on the road. She went in from the opposite side and just by chance found that silly cow. She was literally only a few feet from where I got turned around just standing there in the thicket hiding (little brat). We all gathered around to get her out of the woods and headed back to the pen. Since she got a rest she was ready to run again once she was clear of the woods. There was of course another chase to get her there.
Well, there was one other little one (we decided to see if the guy who bought the farm wanted to buy her because she is only 3-4 months old and too small to be with those other ones) and two 13-15 month old steers. One was not too difficult to load, meaning it could have been worse. The other one, who is the older one, was a real pain and dangerous to load. He almost ran me over twice, my daughter-in-law several times and even got in the safe zine of the feed aisle and nearly got my grandsons. Their mom moved them into the parlor where she could get the door closed and then guarded it since it was at the end of the aisle he was supposed to be in (the opposite end). He ran and ran and charged and nearly took out my husband and my son, but after about 30 minutes of steer fighting he was loaded. Then we had to unload them...
The younger one (Moses) went into the pen and ran pretty good for a while but he didn't get out, but that stupid Barney showed every bit of his half-Jersey. He headed straight for the fence and broke off one of those extra-heavy duty fence posts and all the wire for four posts either direction. He was tangled up and cut something awful and it kept on frying him like a taser. He did eventually get up and untangle himself while we chased him for a while and got him back in. I had to whop him several times with a lighter weight fence post to put him in there. While my husband re-built the fence I and my son and daughter-in-law walked the fence from opposite directions to try to keep him from going AWOL again. He was pretty determined but a couple whops up side the head with that little post (it's made for orange snow fence so it is pretty much a pop can but effective) he stayed put.
When Barney got loose we sent the kids to the camper. My son parked there since we no longer own this farm and we weren't sure if the new owners would mind or not. Good thing, the camper was probably the safest place for them.
I did ask my daughter-in-law to imagine that goofy jersey was in excess of 2400 pounds, a head full of horns and a tall holstien bull. That's what hit me almost a year ago. She shivered.' No thanks, this was bad enough.' I knew it was. I could literally see the adrenaline going up as he headed straight for her at full charge in the barn. Thank God he turned around when she pulled the gate across, safely behind it. Everyone was very tense during that chase.
I don't think I want to do that again anytime soon. I am certain she doesn't.
