Having so many helpers around meant the necessary working of cows was quick and pretty easy. The out of town cousins got to learn about being still and animal sense. The men made the job enjoyable!
This group was keeping the mamma cows from coming to help their calves they look intimidating don't they?
Anna and Harold are use to working cows but it was nice to work with so many experienced uncles.
My two brother in-laws are cow men. So while our set-up is much more creative than theirs they are good sports and understand how to get the job done. It is a pleasure and blessing to have them around. They don't get ruffled or frustrated just keep smilin' and working.
The yellow shirt man is a good sport in any situation. He also has quick reflexes so he caught the calves in the squeeze shoot. He didn't miss a one. We de-horned the calves and they were done. Thank goodness Harold had the forethought to band so the testicles would fall off the calves when they were only a few days old. He would walk up to the little calves and grab them and get the band on sometimes single handedly. After a week this was not possible and would take lots of chasing and more hands but as newborns they are fairly docile. Horns arrive months later so it took more restraint to get them off. They are dangerous to work around and many of these are female so they will be in the herd for years to come. No need to gore anyone in the future.
Even little guys want to help. This guy is almost 2 and knows what needs to be done with these 4 legged creatures- just by watching and doing exactly what his dad does!
Making a plan how to sort the calves, and explaining position to the shirt-tail cousin. One must be fast and alert when working cows they are very agile and accidents or good things can happen faster than imaginable.
Sorry all the pictures are from the back I dumbly wore a hot pink shirt that day and if I got close to the calves eyesight they shied away so I stayed back, and not being so nimble these days I couldn't move to another position. Harold said it was nice to do some normal stuff. This was all done before 8:30 in the morning they worked about 20 cows and calves. I love getting to know more about people while observing how they work. I was most impressed with this crew. Another piece of coming to the farm
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