Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Cattle next door

My next-door neighbor keeps some cattle. He has ten mama cows and a bull. He practices no management whatsoever. The bull is in with the cows year around.

This is not meant as a criticism, it’s none of my business how he manages his stock and this is the system he has chosen. John (the neighbor) is a real nice guy.

Last summer John allowed me to turn my two heifers in with his herd to get them bred. I just installed a gate in our common fence and led them over.

His bull is a good one, and this saves me the trouble of having a bull of my own or making other arrangements like AI.

It saves John the trouble of having another bull on the other side of the fence. The two bulls would walk the fence, dig holes in the sand, and try to break through the fence and fight with each other.
This was the situation for years when the previous owner of my place had his own bull.

Part of our property boundary is the lane that gives us access to our barn and outbuildings, as well as mamas house. Since I go down the lane every day I get to witness the calf races and other games they play when they are still young and cute.

No comments: