We had another beautiful day! Our day started with the goats getting out not once, but twice before we milked. We can understand them looking for something to eat when they are out of pasture but these guys are up to their bellies in grass. We are pretty sure there is a trouble maker in the bunch but we haven't had time to sit and watch and figure out who it is. Chances are if we removed the one with the bright ideas we would have goats that behave themselves, at least as well as goats can. For now they are all back in their winter fencing and eating TMR in a feeder. When you have animals involved in your life there is always something going on. This morning I turned off the water to the drinking cup for a cow. She insists on putting her upper jaw in the cup and lower jaw under it. All this does is run water in the feed alley and make a huge mess. When we kept the cows in during the heat we had to put up with it but now she will just have to do her drinking outside. She has the option of a waterer right outside the door when she leaves or the tank in the pasture. We also have a cow that got her tail stepped on in the pasture. What happens is a chunk of hair gets pulled out and they bleed and then paint themselves with blood. Of course this attracts flies and it's just plain messy. The more they swat flies the more they irritate it and the more it bleeds. After two days of this she is finally healed enough for the bleeding to stop.
We chopped again today. A couple of the new seeding strips have an abundance of ditches washed in them so I took a pretty good pounding today. By the time I got done my sense of humor was pretty much gone and I am already dreading these fields for the next 3 years! Bruce was pretty aware of my frustration and chopped the last load for me which was nice. Mike rode with me for the first load but after that I sent him home to sleep under a shade tree. He has gotten pretty comfortable riding in the tractor, so much so that he stretches out however he wants. Today he managed to have his head under the clutch when I needed to stop quickly. I definitely took him by surprise and after that he was a bit more careful how he was laying. I did have another first today. I saw a coyote come out of the corn field and into the strip I was chopping twice. I have heard them for decades but had never actually seen one before. They really are kind of pretty but considered a nuisance around here.
It is another late night again. As much as we like the cows on pasture I am already looking forward to them being in the barn. That being said, hopefully we have 6-8 weeks of pasture time yet.
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