Today we wanted to move our three cows and one calf to a new field across the other side of our farm drive. We didn’t expect it to be too easy as we have a new heifer amongst them but she behaved well, in fact they all did except for the calf, he refused to move from the wooded area in the first field. I tried to stop them leaving the field without him but they whooshed past and once they had tasted the grass in the other field which apparently WAS greener they didn’t seem interested in my desperate pleas, not even his mother.
Chris made a valiant but unfortunately doomed attempt at catching the calf. However - I noticed that Spice, the old lady of the herd was looking about her in the new field. She would eat a bit and then look around again, as if she wondered where the calf was, so I called her, she ambled back past me, across the drive, back into the first field, bellowed like she was trying to wake the dead and then, bless her – she marched off and found him, back through the gate, crossed the drive and into the new field. Its not even her calf!!! I love that cow!
This was taken before we moved them Spice is on the right.
Well done! Alls well that ends well. Is the picture of your Woodmagic herd?
Reminds me of the time a couple of years ago we let our cows and calves out and one young calf slipped through a footpath we had omitted to block off and went haring off across the countryside and we spent a whole day walking over woods and fields and villages looking for her.
I was beside myself in case she got onto the road and caused an accident or got herself killed and much prayer went into the day. With hindsight we should have let mum out and got her to bring her back but she was so deligted to be out she was not over concerned about the calf. Eventually on one of the village rounds a lady in a car stopped me and said the calf was in her garden so we rushed up there and a local farmer and friend caught her and we put her in the back of the pick up and brought her home. We fetched mum in and put them back in the barn so the calf could calm down and get her bearings, she was really scared after her day's adventure.
It certainly taught us a lesson to get all the cows ready to move together, block off every escape route and tie all baracades firmly I couldn't go through that again!!
Yes they are our "Woodmagics" the black 2 heifers on the left are full WM and will both be 2 years old this summer and more mature dun lady on the right is Nutlin Ginger Spice who has mostly WM blood in her.
