Working with thousand-pound animals on a daily basis can be an exploration into the unknown – a farmer never knows what to expect.
Every day brings challenges, and always, always, we need to be aware of circumstances surrounding the animals. It helps to know how they act under normal situations so you can be aware if, no, when, they go bonkers.
One day our A.I. guy (artificial inseminator) came out to the farm to breed a cow. When we get done with morning milking and chores, we let all the cows out. This day, my husband pointed to one cow and making me look right at him (so I’d remember) he said, “Don’t let this one out, she has to be bred.”
I have to say that I have, upon occasion, been told to make sure I leave a cow in only to let it completely slip my mind and let her out by accident. I start thinking about what’s got to be done that day and I’m no longer in the barn in my head. One day, I unhooked one that should have stayed in. Oh-oh! Realizing my mistake, I ran out after her, quickly shutting the gate leading out to the pasture, literally inches before she’d have gone through. If she’d have gotten by me, it would have been a real hassle to get her back in when all she wanted was to go eat.
That day, as usual, we cleaned up each stall, scraped the aisle and spread lime. Finally locking the gate, we left the barn clean, quiet and empty, save for the one cow and the calves in their pens munching hay contentedly.
I was clearing the breakfast table when the phone rang. Our A.I. guy called from the barn saying he was having an issue with this cow. My husband quickly ran out to see what was up. When our breeder had turned the lights on and walked down the aisle toward her, this cow went ballistic. She jumped up, apparently trying to escape and had caught her wide chest in the middle of where she normally just puts her head. There she became lodged; could not get backward nor go forward.
My husband quickly brought a hay bale and placing it in front of her, tried to coax her to stand on that to release the pressure of her body squeezed into the narrow opening. When that didn’t work, he thought he’d have to grind down one part of the stanchion to allow her to have room to shift.
Then he looked up and noticed the hay chute directly above her. An idea began to form and quickly he ran to get the skidsteer, stopping in the shed to throw a chain in the bucket. Noticing him from the kitchen window, I could only imagine what on earth he was going to do with the skidsteer and a chain!
Later, as he recounted the whole thing to me, I thought, how clever his plan was, for it worked like a charm. He drove the skidsteer up onto the barn mow floor, hooked one end of the chain to the bucket and the other end, dropped down to our breeder who hooked it to the cow’s neck belt. Slowly, slowly, he raised the bucket, bringing the cow gently up, releasing the animal from her wedged position.
Once she was free, he lowered her to give the chain some slack and it fell off her belt. Immediately she turned and started to charge the guy who, in her mind, had caused all of this commotion! He yelled and she stopped in her tracks. My husband scampered down from the barn mow and they got her back into her stall, hooked her up and, assisted by my husband, our breeder guy finished the job he had come to do.
One day my husband was milking, and a cow must have gotten spooked about something. She started jumping around, and as she jumped, she gained momentum and simply went crazy. She was high-spirited anyway, and each milking, my husband (so he doesn’t get kicked in the head) must secure her with a harness that’s adjusted across the back of a cow, snugly fitting her body during milking to put pressure on her tendons so it’s uncomfortable for her if she thinks about picking up her leg to kick.
We have our radio right above this cow’s stall in a box connected to the beam. She jumped so high the harness knocked the box that housed the radio that’s also connected with our phone ringer so we can hear if the phone rings in the barn. The box flew one way, the radio flew in another and in the process, the wire for the phone got jerked out. My husband just had to stand back and wait until she settled down. Eventually when she calmed, he picked up the pieces and started over. In one fell swoop she had busted the ringer, the radio and the box. Good thing she didn’t bust my husband’s head.
Never knowing what to expect, no matter how carefully we tend to these big animals, we always must have our wits about us, so we can work with them and not get hurt. It helps sometimes to use a little ingenuity but other times, just standing back and letting them get it out of their system works just as well.
(“Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise.” Ephesians 5:15)
Categories
