Moving Bulls

Saturday we decided to take the bulls out of the cow herd.  Jared drove the truck and trailer through the water hub and got it all set up and then he took off on the quad to the opposite corner of the field to round up the bulls.  Dave was out to help so I gladly left the rounding up to them, instead I played around the bales with five little kids, Leah, Emry, Lily Calum and Armin!  We had fun taking pictures and exploring!

When we saw the guys coming over the hill with Junior I had all the kids get into the truck so the bull wouldn't hear them and then get spooked.  I hid myself behind the trailer door holding it open and then throwing it closed so Junior wouldn't back himself out.  Rounding Junior up and walking him through the field to the water hub, getting him in the trailer and taking him back to the home quarter only took about 45 minutes total!!  Getting the big one, or as Jared calls him, Cassanova, out was a whole different story!  While Dave drove the trailer with Junior back home Jared and I headed back out to the opposite corner of the field on the little quad!  Once we got to Cassanova I hopped off and with my poking stick I made myself look nice and big and started to walk toward the big bull!  Jared and I work quite well together and without him having to tell me I would stay on the opposite side of the bull that he was on and together we would guide him toward the water!  Well, this would really only work in a perfect world and if the bull wasn't super stubborn!  I am sure Jared and I walked back and forth with Cassanova at least five times, we would get him near the trail head and instead of going down it, he would keep going until we would come to the fence and then he would turn around and back we would go to basically where we started!  At one point the only progress we were making toward the water is when we would walk toward the bull and he would back up about 5 steps, by then we were to the point that if he went the whole way backwards we would let him!!  After doing this for awhile Cassanova put his head down almost looking like he was going to charge at us, but we stood our ground until complete and utter shock took over...of all the things he could do he decided to lay down!  We were hoping to wear him out but not in this way!!  So we got him up and tried again, finally he started to make his way down the trail in the actual direction we wanted and then there came a fork in the trail and this silly stubborn animal decided to take the fork, which we were hoping also led to the water, but it didn't, and again we were back to where we started!  After two hours we finally got him up to the water!  One positive though, it took us less time to get him to the water then it took us to him out of the neighbours heifers!!  Despite the agaonizing hours it took to get him in the water hub, loaded and deposited back home, it was a successful day!  I really enjoy working with the cows especially with Jared by my side!  I admire the love he has for the cows and the patience he possesses especially when there is still a long list of things to that still need to be done!

I helped Jared tow in his little Nissan, his calf tagging truck, and the sun shinning through the window with the fluff of the cat tails floating all around was so beautiful!