Tails you win!

At least that's what the cows say this time of year.  Let me explain.  Tails on our dairy cows are more than just decorative ornaments.  They serve a very important purpose. 



Daisy's tail in all its glory

 In the hot summer months their tails serve as fly-swatters.  There are numerous biting insects around our parts:  Mosquitos, horse flies and deer flies (they also bite cows), and regular biting flies.  They will land on your cows and bite them to acquire blood and generally annoy them.

Small biting flies on Daisy's stomach

I really feel sorry for the animals during this time of year.  They don't like the heat and they don't like the constant swarms of flies.  The Good Lord installed tails on cows to help them ward off the flies and biting insects.  You can see Daisy in the process of swishing away the flies, sort of, in the next picture below.  She's so fast with it, it is hard to get a good shot.  She can feel the flies biting, and can quickly whip her tail with precise coordination to the exact spot and pop the fly off.

Daisy's fly-swatter in action

I've read where some folks tie the tails when they are milking to keep from getting swatted in the face while you're milking.  If one forgot to untie the tail when done, it could be disastrous.  The cow could actually pull the end of the tail off.  (Cringe!!) Not only would this be painful to the cow, but she would lose her weapon of mass destruction against flies.  We have another method.  As shown in one of the pictures in the "Got Milk? We do" post, Tricia wraps a 'band' around the hip bones and the back of the cow's legs to keep pressure on the tail so she can't swish it around. 

We also try to help the cows out in the War on Flies.  We want to use natural products so we've ordered Cedar Oil and mix 20 oz warm water, 1/2 oz Ivory liquid soap with 4 oz. Cedar Oil.  We spray that on the cows at milking time and it seems to repel flies - for a while.  It also has the added benefit of making your cows and dairy barn smell like a cedar chest.

One final thing about flies and biting insects - after a rain, the grass really takes off and grows tall and starts going to seed.  This tall grass creates a great habitat for mosquitoes and flies to hide and multiply.  When the grass starts going to seed, as shown in the picture below, it turns a dull brown and isn't as lush and green as before.  Sometimes with this rapid growth, the cows can't keep up and it gets overgrown.  The cows 'cherry pick' the good stuff and the rest of the pasture gets out of hand. 



Grass going to seed from a "chicken's eye" viewpoint

 The grass is using all its energy to produce the seeds and not to grow the nutritious leaves that the cows enjoy.  If the cows can't keep up, it's usually a good idea to "top" the grass with a mower to encourage new growth of leaves instead of seed heads.  The cows appreciate the fresh, new growth.
On another quick topic, when we went to the barn the other day, I noticed a broken egg in the small goat trough that we now use to put free-choice kelp minerals.  That was an odd place for a broken egg to be.

I looked up in the rafters of the barn by the hay loft and discovered a hen who found a secret place to set and try to hatch a brood of chicks. 

We had noticed that the hens' production of eggs was decreasing, but attributed it to the heat.  Now we know where the extra eggs were.  If you look at the far bottom left of the above picture, you can see an egg poking out from underneath her.  She must be sitting on a big nest.  We'll watch her for the next 21 days to see if she hatches any out.