Bringing In the Cows...

What do you think might be one of the most stressful jobs on the farm?

Other than trying to get dry hay baled in between summer rains, or trying to manage busy schedules around milking time, it's got to be be bringing in the cows and securing them in their stalls.

Why?  There are several reasons...

* This time of year the cows are excited to go out onto the fresh, green meadow.  Daytime temps are cool enough that they can stay out for several hours.  When they're finished eating, they lay in the grass chewing their cud, enjoying themselves, so getting them to come back inside the barn is just a bother to them.

Jim calls them, and they lift their heads and start walking up the path toward the barn.  Usually. Today they came a few at a time. ( In the hot summer, they will all line up, anxious to come in because they know they'll be fed and we'll turn on the big fans...)

 * In a perfect world, each cow would have her own individual stall that she would go to, day in and day out, week after week.  However, we have more cows than we have stalls, so they have to be flexible.  Flexibility doesn't come easy for cows; they are creatures of habit.  Trust me on this one!

Jim stands at the top of the path and directs them to the side of the barn he wants them to go to.  The older cows know the routine.  The younger ones have to learn where we want them to go, and then sometimes out of necessity, we go and change it on them...

These two know how to follow directions...

These stragglers are a little confused!  Jim moved some wires around this spring, and they're afraid to walk out of this area because there used to be a wire in front of them. (creatures of habit!)

 *One other thing that makes it tricky for our cows...the young ones especially...is that we have two different types of stalls in our barn.  In one row of stalls, the cows are restrained by a simple chain to their neck strap like this one...

Our other three rows of stalls are a very old style, which takes some training to persuade the cow to put her head where it belongs.  Mostly it's the older cows who are in these three rows...

If the cows decide to be cooperative, great!  If not, everything gets put on hold until they do!

If they don't go into their stalls, they don't get fed on time.   If they don't get fed on time, they get grouchy.  If they get grouchy, they usually stay grouchy all evening.  If they're grouchy, the farmers get grouchy too...and so on.

So you see...bringing in the cows really ought to go well...for everybody's sake!