Because we live so closely to wooded critters, once in awhile they wander too close, invading our territory and unfortunately have to be disposed of. Thankfully it doesn’t happen too often, but for safety’s sake, for the humans and animals that live here, it’s a necessity. I like it best when they just stay in their own homes and then everybody’s happy.
In the dark, predawn mornings as we head to work, especially early fall, we hear coyotes crying and once in awhile, too close for comfort. Other mornings they’re farther away, their howls echo deep in the woods, resounding loud and clear if the morning is still and quiet. If I hear them as I’m walking to the barn, chills crawl up the base of my spine and they’re not weather-related. It’s an eerie sound. You’d swear it was babies crying and it sounds like a whole day care center wanting their bottles. It makes me pick up my step. Just stay in the woods. That’s fine by me.
We’ve had porcupines cause trouble with snoopy cows getting too close. You know what porcupines do when they’re a little anxious. It’s exactly what God intended. Those quills are their line of defense, releasing the needle-sharp ends, zinging their potential enemy, usually right in the curious projected part: their soft muzzles.
One time we had a cow come in the barn for morning milking with her nose peppered full of porcupine quills. She was a hot mess, needing attention. If the quills stay in they can fester, causing infection and, in a most awful case scenario, the animal may even die from it.
Grabbing a nose pincher with its attached sturdy rope and pliers, first of all we grabbed her nose with the pincher and, tying the rope to the stall, pulled her head and neck to one side to secure her. It was awkward and no fun for her, but necessary. We could work without having her thrash her head around. They needed to be removed entirely, not leaving a stub of quill in anywhere.
One-by-one my husband swiftly removed the quills out of her snout from their base.
It was not easy, for she didn’t know we were trying to help her. For all she knew we were torturing her. Finally, after asking me to double-check to make sure we got them all, both doing a final, thorough search, we released the rope holding the nose pincher, getting that thing out of her nostrils. I breathed a sigh of relief for her!
Each year after combining our oats we bale a couple of loads of straw and chop the rest, blowing the dry, golden-yellow straw up in our barn mow, stored for calf pens and bedding for the cows during the winter months.
One day as husband was cleaning the barn I was up in the hay mow throwing bales of hay down for the calves. As I was working I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye near the straw mow. Thoughts went through my head faster than a bale going down the chute.
“Oh goodness, that’s a big cat!”
“Oh that’s not one of our cats.”
“Huh? That’s not a cat!”
Looking closely I realized with a start that it was a fat raccoon, waddling as far away from me as he could go. Stopping dead in my tracks I thought fast. He was approaching the straw chute. There was a huge mound of straw in the mow, creating a funnel-like gap to the hole, opening down to the barn floor below, where the straw cart was waiting for me to fill. It’s convenient and easy. Using a pick fork, we just let gravity help us out, and quickly fill the cart as needed.
The raccoon got to that hole and stopped, looked at me with its robber-mask face and then slid right down the funnel of straw into the empty, waiting cart. Peering down into the hole to the straw cart below, my eyes wide, I saw it trying to scamper out of the cart. Thankfully all the cows were out of the barn.
Flying down the barn hill I hollered to my husband, telling him there was a raccoon in the straw cart! At that point I really didn’t know if it was still in there or not. Husband got off the tractor (barn cleaner still running) and hurried into the barn. He noticed the varmint had managed to get out of the cart. He cornered it, disposing of the animal right then and there. I couldn’t look. Raccoons are notoriously known for carrying diseases and we just could not let it roam free.
From crying coyotes to quill-releasing porcupines to wayward raccoons, invasive critters abound on our farm. I wish they’d just stay home.
(“It is the Lord that goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8)
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