Whatever you call him, the time came for him to moooove back to the pasture. Wife put a halter on him, handed me a lead (basically a really heavy-duty leash) and told Mason and me to walk him down to the pasture.
So down the garden path we went. We brought his milk bottle along, just in case. The calf was both excited and nervous about this Really New Thing, and spent the entire walk alternately planting his hooves or trying to frisk ahead. But despite him weighing well over 100 pounds, he didn’t pull as hard as a 30 pound Aussie Shepard.
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| The pasture is calling and I must go. |
So I waved the milk bottle at him, he ambled over and chowed down, and I clipped the lead back on him. Now what? I thought. I can’t stand here with him forever.
Finally, I decided to take him further into the pasture. Riding a milk high, he was glad to follow my lead (the one attached to his face via the halter). About 50 yards in, I unclipped him and backed away to see what happened next. He munched on a big clump of grass, then looked up and got this look about him. It was almost like it dawned on him: This is my place, and that’s my herd. The pasture is calling, and I must go. He walked up the hill, found some other calves around his age, and they included him right away.
It’s not like he’s completely gone… he still has the halter, so we can spot him in the herd and bring him an occasional bottle. Like this:
He still comes trotting over when he sees us… or at least sees his bottle. So we don’t have to miss him. Especially since another calf is now in the pen. It never ends at FAR Manor.
Yeah, I can manage cat logic, dog logic, and sometimes horse logic, but I have never fathomed cow logic. He looks super-healthy though! Check out that straight back.
ReplyDeleteHi Katherine! Yeah, he's grown pretty well despite (or because of?) being confined to a 10x10 foot pen for a month or so.
ReplyDeleteThe new calf was kind of touch and go until this morning. She was starved and pretty weak, but the wife got her past the worst of it, we think. We were throwing names around as a joke, like Re-veal, and she suggested Miracle. Maybe Miracow would work better.