This Way To My Blog

This Way To My Blog

Monday, January 3, 2011

Driving Miss Daisy Doesn't Have Anything On Us

The first calf of the New Year was born to Crooked Foot. It is as tiny as Noel is large. Its a girl, guess I will name it Happy as in Happy New Year. Crooked Foot does well to have a crooked foot and manages to take care of her baby. John bought her at auction so doesn't know how she came to have a crooked foot. John decided to try to put a poor cow with a calf into the pens with Shelly Marie and Noel so she can get some special feeding. Still plenty of hay and water and we are still going out everyday to give out cubes. Although something did a number on the bale of hay during the night. Shelly doesn't usually throw a fit and mess the hay up with her horns like some cows do. I would think a racoon or some animal got in there and tore the bale up on one side but it has a hay ring around it so the hay will stay somewhat clean. Anyway the poor cow ( not poor in money, poor as skinny) was at the back forty so we had to drive her all the way to the pens. I've always wondered why when you get behind a cow and hoop and holler and flail your arms to get them to go where you want them to go not where they want to go, do they call it driving? There is no steering wheel involved. She wasn't fond of being driven so John tried leading her with cubes. That worked and her calf followed suit. Had to use a little trickery to get the calf in but it all worked out. Now Shelly has a friend and Noel has a friend in their own little apartment until John decides to turn Shelly and Noel out with the herd.

12 comments:

jack69 said...

I love these Ranch stories. Hope Happy will be happy on your ranch. I guess Shellie will like the skinny cow.
I want to see you whooping and hollaring and driving cows!!!

Get you a horse Cowgirl then you can haze them in. I learned that from Louis L'amour!

Oh wait, I have noticed you cow folks now use the four wheelers for that stuff, get you a little mule and go to it. Maybe a cow horn.

Speaking of that, we had Cowhorn Jelly with our supper tonight!

Toon said...

I don't think a raccoon would tear up a hay bale unless there was other food of some kind trapped inside it.

shirl72 said...

Oh I can just see you flailling your arms,
hooping and hollaring what a sight. That
is so funny. I wonder what the cows were
thinking. Pretty smart to not move until she
got the cubes.

Shirl

moni said...

I'm glad the old cow and the skinny cow are sharing a space with their offspring! Seems that this is the perfect arrangement and the calves have someone to play with. I love your ranch stories too.

salemslot9 said...

Oh! You made a wrong turn in Opelika.
You made it with me, and you got the map!

Driving Miss Daisy
1989

lol

one of my favorite movies

Helen said...

Humm, that is something to wonder about LOL. If you didn't know what it meant you would think anyone had lost their mind when you say drive a cow. I have heard it all my life so I did know what it meant. Helen

~mel said...

Cows are a stubborn lot ~ you try to make them go one direction and they'll most likely choose the opposite. Unless... like you're doing ~ bribing them. lol. We had a young steer one time that my brother would put a halter on and ride. He always went the opposite direction... but it was fun to watch Randy try to control him.

J said...

Did John get a refund or a discount since the crooked foot cow was defective??

Paula said...

No J. John didn't get a discount. He could see she had a problem but she was cheap and he figured she would be okay. He has had her a long time and she does okay with the herd. Sometime he makes a mistake but he has been buying and selling cattle since he was about 16 so he knows them pretty well by looking as they go through the ring.

Lisa said...

It sounds like a happy little family and I'm sure skinny cow is thrilled to have her meals served so easily! I don't know why they call it driving either...first time I ever heard the expression "cattle drive", I had no idea what they were talking about.
Happy New Year Paula.

Dar said...

Loving this story of Happy the Happy New Year calf. You certainly tend your herd with lots of love and respect, patience too. I remember brother Randy riding the calves like they were horses...was fun watching the calves try to outsmart him. He has your patience, my brother, that is. I remember he and the calf making a whole lot of circles.
BlessYourHearts

Lucy said...

Love your header and feels good to be blogging. So far so good. Password came back later than I thought. Still don't know why it had to be changed but it wasn't anything I did for once. Glad the little caLF IS Alright.