moo
So Saturday was cow day. It's days like that that we miss Lt. John the most.Rachael, Mike, Martha, and Jimmy showed up to help with the round up. The cows got by us once...then they decided to cooperate and head towards the cow palace. Soon, everyone had been fed and the guys were ready to get to work.
The men started sorting out the cows, sending the mamas out of the fence, and keeping the babies inside. Martha was convinced that this cow had it in for her:
It was a cold morning...don't we all look fetching in our perfectly matching winter attire and runny noses?
So we get to work. I was in charge of loading the ear tags, and Rachael was in charge of loading the bander.
They march a cow through the chute, and Dwight catches it in the head gate.
Fred holds the bull, while Mike "installs" the heavy duty rubber band (it goes EXACTLY where you think it does...)
Dwight adds the earring (yellow tags for heifers, silver tags for the bulls - well - steers), then opens the gate and releases the calf back to its mother.
Shirley hangs around for moral support:
At last we're finished. We had 36 calves. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that banding was WAY easier than clamping. After all that work, there was nothing left to do but go get warm...so that's just what we did: 
A huge THANK YOU to all of you...especially to Mike, who had the hardest job. Here's hoping that the bands hold...Labels: critters, friends
