Cow Punching and Barn Update

Cow Punching- Literally

My husband decided that since the cows I hand raised had been outside for a year and only come near him if he has feed (even then they stand back and wait until he dumps it out to go near it) that I needed to reacquaint the heifers with people.  I talk to them through the barn gate all the time, although for the most part they just ignore me, except for a couple of them. But that darn Jersey bull is a royal pain. He has taken to butting the ladies away from the barn and anyone who gets near them. So, I made friends with the bull.

First, I unloaded about fifteen bags (plastic burlap type) of feed into the feed bins (a/k/a metal trash cans with lids), and then I stuck my feed scented gloved hand out the gate as I scolded him for running off the other cows. He came at the smell and stayed for the scratching of the ears. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he sticks his head over a gate at the silo room when he hears my voice with an expression my husband describes as love struck. I told him I wasn't a cow, but he doesn't seem to care. I almost gave his nose ring a yank just to get him a little scared of me.

Flash forward a week and Chaos (the awesome companion Labrador retriever- not cattle dog) are out in the woods which are part of the cow's field marking dead trees before the leaves all fall off so we can make fire wood. She is wandering off and being older, she is going deaf and blind, and also having a penchant for chasing skunks, I was busy trying to get her to stay with me in case one was holed up out there somewhere. Next thing I know, I am surrounded by the cows and one love-struck bull. Everywhere I moved, there was that stupid bull! I kept a small tree between me and him in case he suddenly decided to charge and always moved backwards in order to keep an eye on him. Chaos finally decided to come to mama and she for some weird reason decided she was a cattle dog. Now, if she had been trained to move cattle I wouldn't have worried about it, but she isn't - she's a hunting dog, so I told her to get behind me when the bull pawed the dirt at her. She actually minded me and did it (trust me- there was a reason this amazed me). He wanted that dog bad. I finally reached out and just smacked him on the nose. "No dog! No dog!" I yelled at him. He actually looked disappointed. Hmmm.

I told Chaos to go home and she started that way, but hesitated when I didn't follow. I was keeping an eye on that bull as I walked slowly backward. There are a lot of holes out there and other cows, and I didn't think falling was a good idea. I was still taller than the bull and being on the ground could be dangerous. The cows finally meandered off, losing interest, I thought, and I was able to get to the pasture part of the field and we headed for the gate, not running because that could be trouble. Almost there and I hear the sound of hooves running. I turned around and those silly cows were running to beat the band to catch up. I held up my arms and yelled 'stop' and to my surprise, they did. Feet splayed out in front of them, they literally skidded to a stop- every last one of them. After I finished laughing at that ridiculous sight I backed up again, very slowly, because I was coming up on that very hot electric fence. I was too low for the dog to go under (and as stated before- I was not getting on the ground to do it either) and too high for me to go over. I got out my cell phone and called the husband. "Please turn off the fence for a minute so the dog and I can get out of the field. The cows won't leave us alone and the bull really wants Chaos." He asked what only once when he heard me belt that bull right in the nose. "I told you to leave that dog alone! Now leave us alone!" I yelled. He was crowding us to the fence. I heard my husband say real loud it was unplugged. I left the line open and pushed the wire down enough to get over it and then raised it for Chaos and then told him to plug it up quick. I knew when he did it because that bull hollered when he hit it.

I really don't think I want to go out there for a while. Maybe I'll carry a ball bat or something. I apparently am too good at making friends with the cows.

Now, onto the barn!

We finally have the siding up! I helped even though it like to have scared me to death once we got to the higher up part on the front. Heights and I do not get along. I got dizzy and nauseated. Yuk! But, it came out nice. We haven't quite finished the inside as we have to re-roof the barn first (it leaks into the new part- dang!) We are getting along on the parlor though. All the concrete work is done and we got the concrete sealer (garage floor coating) done yesterday. We still have to clear coat both the milk house floor and walls and floor of the parlor pit. I learned how to lay concrete block (foundation for the walls so the wood doesn't sit directly in water when we clean) and how to run a cutting torch (the steel grating for the guttering where the cows stand while being milked). I have epoxy in my hair, though nail polish remover got it off my hands and arms. I think I'll just let it wear off my hair; I just don't think acetone belongs on hair.

Pictures!

                                                        Siding going up- partially done

                                  Siding done! Yay! We had to push the bulk tank out to do the floor.

                          Some of my friendly cows! The bull cannot be disturbed for photographs.

Oh My Goodness- That Snow is Deep

When my husband left for work this morning he told me to have a good day with the dog because there was no way my car was going to make it down the driveway. He has a four-wheel drive GMC Sierra and it sits fairly high. Within ten minutes I couldn't even see his tracks where he walked to the machine shed where we park and after daylight I looked out the kitchen window and said, "What driveway?" Even the dog got buried trying to get through it. I thought I was going to have to dig her out.

At chore time I finally ventured out and shoveled off the porch and then used that big snow shovel to go around the house as if it was a ski pole and found I was right in spite of the hubby stating the heater vent pipes (intake and exhaust) did not need shoveled out because he did just two weeks ago. That should have been my first clue it needed it. It had about a foot of snow over it. The exhaust pipe sending out warm air had actually made a small path, as it were, for the fumes to get out, but the intake pipe had snow caked inside. It shoveled it out all the way to the ground and a fair bit around it and then took the ends off and cleared all the snow out. This is something everyone should check every time it snows. Carbon monoxide will build up inside your home if that exhaust pipe is plugged and the heater will malfunction if the intake is blocked. Other than the fact that the CO can kill you if you don't get it cleared, it can be very expensive to get your furnace repaired from that blocked intake pipe. I couldn't even get around to the side where the dryer vents and I asked my husband when he got home if he would plow a trail so I can. I don't need that blocked up or frozen shut either. It can start a fire from lint that blows out that pipe if it gets plugged and too hot. Check that often also. It can ruin your dryer.

Now to the part where he got home. Sometimes a wife just knows her husband will try, in spite of the obvious obstruction to the driveway, to drive through it. I saw him coming and just told the dog to stand back out of the way with me (we have a long driveway but she would have charged out there to greet him). I waved my arms and shook my head 'no' and then all I could do was hang my head and laugh. He tried to come up the driveway and barely got the length of the truck before it refused to move another inch. He tried to, which means it is stuck really bad. He finally gave up and tried to walk the rest of the way. Now, he is fairly tall, six-one or so, and he about couldn't make it. It went up to his backside. He struggled mightily and laughed a lot, because I was laughing at him and was sort of contagious at that point.The dog in all her Labradorean exuberance tried to get to him and fell so far down I couldn't even see her tail. I don't know how she managed to get out of that drift but she did right about the time he got to her to dig her out with his hands.

Below are some pictures!

                                    That sure is a lot of snow on the barn roof. I hope it holds up.

     There is an LP tank under there somewhere. We're running out of room to put all this snow!

                                    I don't think my farm truck is moving out of the shed until spring.

                                       Yup, he just had to try to get through all that snow.Oops!

THINK SPRING - PLEASE!!!!