If at First You Don't Succeed...

This is Billy Boy.  He's the Devon bull we've borrowed from a friend to breed two of our three cows.  Well, actually, to breed one cow and one heifer.  One of our Jersey heifers was bred (we think) by a registered Jersey bull that we borrowed from another friend.  She hasn't come back in cycle and if our calendar is right, she should be calving in August.

We watched Billy Boy romance both Rosie and Elsie.  We marked the calendar and began watching intently 18-21 days later.  Elsie did NOT come back in heat.  She's bred.  Rosie on the other hand did.  She was not bred.  She's 14 years old.  That's pretty old for Jersey cows we've owned.  I did read, however, that the record longevity for a Jersey cow was 37 years!!

Billy Boy, the Stud

So 21 days later, we're watching and see that Rosie came back in heat.  Billy Boy was on the scene and took care of business.  You can see by Rosie's crooked tail and the long string of mucous coming from her back side.  We've marked our calendar and will see what happens in 21 days.  Hopefully, she's bred this time.  If not, we'll have to send Billy Boy back home.  Our pasture doesn't have enough grass to support him and our cows, goats, and chickens.

Will the third time be a charm, Rosie?

Speaking of Jersey cows, they are a lot smaller than beef cattle and smaller than a Holstein.  We learned this during the livestock shows back when the kids showed.  In comparison to other animals, our Jerseys were small.  We also learned that after buying a head gate.  When trimming hooves, giving antibiotics, wormer or even for grooming and milking, it is important sometimes to have a head gate.

We purchased one and bolted it to a makeshift chute on the side of the barn.  We installed a gate on a hinge that we push to isolate the cows for treatment.  We learned quickly that the head gate was made for bigger cattle.  As soon as we closed the head gate, all three of the cows were able to wiggle and pull their heads back through!  This won't do.

I had a plan.  Time to invoke redneck engineering.  I ripped a 36" long 2 x 4 and made it a 2 x 2.  Then I purchased 6 carriage head bolts, nuts and washers.  I used my impact to drill holes in the galvanized vertical pipe that makes up the stationary side of the head gate and did the same to the 2 x 2.  Then I bolted it up.  When finished, it looked like this:

As you can see, I don't think they'll be able to wiggle out of the head gate now.  I was going to test it out on Elsie or LuLu (one of the two heifers) Sunday afternoon, but time got away from me. I think it will work.  The gap is much smaller now.

There's a walkway between the garage and the garden and pasture that we call the 'grove.'  A pecan tree and live oak trees create an area of perpetual shade.  The breeze blows in this area on even the stillest of days and I like to think it is a little cooler here than anywhere else on the homestead.

Tricia hung her hammock between the pecan tree and the Bradford pear.  That tree was a free tree I got from the Arbor day foundation.  I planted it temporarily in the yard, intending to move it to a better location one day.  By the time I tried to dig it up, its tap root was well established and I couldn't dig it up.  I let it stay where it was.  At least it serves a newfound purpose as an anchor for a hammock!  Tricia was relaxing...  On the ladder in the background, you can see a swarm trap I have set.  We are trying to catch swarm #3.  No success yet.

The next day when Tricia wasn't in the hammock, I figured I would see how relaxing it was.  I climbed in and was enjoying the comfort when...  Belle, our Great Pyrenees decided she wanted to jump in the hammock too.  The big galoot!

Perhaps tomorrow I can sneak back into the hammock without having 'company' join me.