Rampaging cattle! Well, more like, a few cows wandering into the field. This happened once before, three years back, and that time, the potential for disaster was a little greater. Unthinkably, TWO critical gates had been left open overnight, and around a dozen cows headed in at dawn. It was also around June, with a whole market garden full of new crops, there to be ravaged. Just by chance, the intruders were spotted early, and it took three sleepy people, lots of running, and a pick-up truck, to head ’em out (it’s a 9 acre field). Luckily, the cows were most interested in the hay, on the way there trailing giant hoof prints down just about every bed in the garden, leaving the veggies otherwise untouched. So it turned out fine. This time, with most of the cattle gone from the farm, the remaining little posse of five cows and a bull, all friendly and laid back, made their way up an 11 acre pasture and slipped through the garden field gate in the four or five minutes when my eye wasn’t out there. I’d been using the Kubota compact tractor to move manure from the barnyard, about a dozen trips, with a few minutes of blind time each trip as I spread on the new garlic bed. Crafty, stealthy guys… There was a moment of sharp…concern as I eyed the wide open double gate across the field, leading to the side road and on to unfenced houses on the subdivision, and the wide open two-lane highway not far down. But the cows were absolutely fixated on the first lush patch of oats they encountered. With the other gates closed, herding them out went surprisingly smoothly. The whole adventure: 20 minutes! An interesting break…
Animals
Goats…
One side of the barnyard leads to the market garden field. At the other end is a somewhat rundown goat barn full of…goats. These gals have nothing to do with the organics and the market garden, they’re just kinda pets, around 30 of them now, kept by Bob and Karen. In earlier years, I spent a fair bit of time checking them out. More recently, it’s too busy on this side to pay ’em much attention. But they’re there, a mixed breed lot, endlessly eating, wandering around, basking in the sun, sometimes pounding on one or another unlucky member of the herd for a day or two until the hierarchy is back in balance. Mostly, theirs seems like the laid-back good life…until a few get sold off for MEAT. For me, they’re an everyday reminder of how cool it’ll be when we finally get around to incorporating some livestock into the big garden plan. First, chickens?