We’re not sure. Regardless, the calves have gotten a major containment upgrade. They’re officially out of the pole barn and into the pasture!
These little guys have been some real troopers waiting for us to put a solution together for them to be in the fields. While our long-term goal is to have them permanently fenced on the pastures with a beautiful new pond to socialize around – we’re quite a bit of work away from delivering on that vision. In the mean time, we needed to get them out of the increasingly too-small-for-growing-calves pole barn pen.
Aaron lucked out with an amazing find on the Facebook Marketplace. He scored enough 12 ft cattle panels for a 40 ft corral. Not only did it more than double the space the Chucks had available – but they’re also in the sun with fresh grass everyday and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen them happier.
The jaunt to the new pen was seriously amazing and I wish that we had thought to film it before we took off across the yard. We filled a couple of small containers with feed and, then, opened the gate.
Keep in mind that we’ve constantly shoved a foot or hip through the gate in an effort to keep these guys contained since day 1. It was completely counter-intuitive to finally let them walk outside of the pen. Honestly, neither of us knew what to expect.
For a minute, everybody stepped into the backyard and didn’t know quite how to react to each other. Aaron and I included. The cows, equally unsure of us, started to split. Aaron shoved some feed in their faces and successfully distracted the twins. Then, I enticed Chuck Norris with some feed of his own and we were in business.
We slowly walked across the backyard, bribing them with feed all along the way. It was honestly so fun to see them wander beyond the confines of the pen they’d been in for so long. For the very first time, they were exploring under the trees and feeling the freshly mowed yard under their feet.
The twins had no problem cruising across the unkempt pasture to get to the new pen. Chuck Norris, though, wanted to smell the roses. He found a tree in the yard to scratch his belly against. He stopped to take frequent breaks just standing in the sunshine. He sniffed the pine trees. That cow is my spirit animal.
Finally. Fiiiiiinally making it to the pen, the Chucks went to town on the fresh grass growing in the shade. In fact, within a couple of days, they had completely mowed it to the ground and we had to move the pen to new green space. They’re hilariously all about this life.
Aaron has been working insanely hard to keep them watered with a near-constant haul of 5-gallon buckets across the pasture. We’re working on a way to make it more efficient but, for now, we’re just over the moon these calves are so happy.