Warm weather means more ‘fun’ outside
The weather finally decided to get spring-like this past weekend, and I couldn’t be more glad. The garden I planted a few weeks ago got replanted Saturday because several of the plants succumbed to the frosts of the week prior. But the soil felt warmer and the sun felt wonderful after so many cold, cloudy days.
The sun beat down on us as we worked together outside all weekend.
Saturday, we cleaned out our pig barn and got it ready for our new pigs. Then, we cleaned out our chicken coop to keep it clean for the birds living inside. We repaired the lean-to where we store some of our firewood for winter. Then we split and stacked a bunch of wood inside. We are very close to being ready for this coming winter.
We also prepared a new, outdoor pen for the two bottle calves we’ve been feeding. We did it a little backwards, though, and we paid for that mistake.
First, we led the calves one at a time to the pen with their bottles. We gave them a drink, and then encouraged them to take a couple steps by walking forward with the bottle just out of reach. After the first few steps, I think we could have led them all the way to Washington with this method.
We led the first calf inside the pen before we had the gates all hung. We figured he would be so excited by the grass that we’d have the few seconds it would take to finish closing him in.
He approached the open side of the pen and I called to my son, “He’s going to squeeze out there.”
“I don’t think he can fit through there,” he replied.
“I assure you, he is going to get out if you don’t block him,” I called again.
“Nah, he can’t fit through there,” he answered, as we watched the calf squeeze through the fence and walk out into the field.
The same calf that let himself out a few weeks ago – that I had to tackle and carry home – was again playing zoomies around the field behind the barn. Except this time, he is far too big and far too strong for me to even consider attempting to return him to his home by those means.
He zoomed left, then zoomed right.
Zoomed up the hill, zoomed down the hill. He ran around and around while the kids called for him to come back. After a few minutes, he calmed down and the kids were able to get a halter on him to lead him back inside.
We still need to get the younger of the two calves acclimated to being outside and get her used to being around other cows as well. We know they need to be out in the pasture where they can run around at their discretion.
Moving them to this outdoor pen is the step we needed to take to get them closer to that goal. It’s a farther walk, so we may need two bottles apiece. We’ll likely try next weekend, if the weather holds.
Stay tuned.