Cowology
Cows are fascinating creatures. They each have their own personalities and dispositions. A good cowhand recognizes the differences and is able to work with them.
For example, Six Ninety (yes, that's her name and number), the largest cow in our beef herd, is the boss. And she raises the largest calf. At first, we thought it was genes, but when Martin brought the herd into the corral for the winter, he noticed something interesting. This cow comes to the feeder, pushing everyone else aside, THEN she stands sideways along the feeder so none of the others can feed. Is her calf the largest because she gets the choicest hay?
To solve that situation, Martin moved Six Ninety and her calf in with Archie, the bull. Lots of room and Archie is capable of fending for himself - so we thought. When the three of them were lining up at the feeder, Archie took a poke at Six Ninety's calf. Well, Six Ninety wasn't going to let that go by and she let Archie know his place…at the bottom of the pecking order.
Back in the beef corral, things were more peaceful for the rest of the herd. But here's something interesting - Checkers, our smallest cow had befriended Six Ninety when they were in the pasture. They became best of friends. Now that Six Ninety is in a different pen, Checkers becomes boss cow, even though she's smaller than the rest and is a recent addition to the herd. Thankfully, she shares the feeder with the others.
Meanwhile, over in the dairy corral, poor little Flower, our milk cow, gets a fever and goes off her feed. Oh no! This isn't good. Cows that don't eat, die!
Asking other farmers about the problem and searching for solutions, Martin concluded Flower's illness was from having had two cows recently added to her pen. She is a slight, timid girl and couldn't handle the bossiness of her new mates. When she and her calf were put into their own pen and given the necessary remedies, she recovered, much to our relief.
Like I said, cows are fascinating. You gotta know your cowology.
Martin's learning.
