Freedom!

Yesterday we talked a bit about freedom.  Our chickens have freedom and that freedom sometimes costs them their very lives when various predators come calling.  One of my favorite movies of all times is Braveheart. 


Mel Gibson in as William Wallace in Braveheart



Young Soldier: William Wallace is seven feet tall!
William Wallace: Yes, I've heard. Kills men by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he'd consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.
[Scottish army laughs]
William Wallace: I *am* William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men... and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?
Veteran: Fight? Against that? No! We will run. And we will live.
William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM! [Scottish army cheers]

If that doesn't get you fired up, your wood is all wet.  I think the concept of freedom was given to us by our Creator.  We long for it, and back on topic (sorry), our animals long for it.  We've found that while freedom is good, we need boundaries.  Boundaries provide order and structure. 

A couple of mornings ago, we walked out to the barn to milk Daisy and Rosie and... whoa, there were three bovines waiting.  There should have only been two.  After surveying the scene, we saw that Stryker, our 10 month old bull calf (Daisy's little boy) had staged a jailbreak in the evening hours in order to either engage in courtship or to try to get some milk from his mama.  We had weaned him at 8 months and I know he longs for that good milk again.  Either hunger or love - two great motivators. 

Our mama cows, and our heifer, Magnolia (Maggie Mae) are on a 21 day cycle.  Each 21 days, they come in heat and want to breed.  We try to control this somewhat so that our calves are born at certain times of the year.  Hence the fence!  We have an electric fence powered by a solar charger that will administer a shock of electricity if a cow or bull (or person) touches it.  It must have failed, allowing the amorous or ravenous Stryker to get through.  We feared that Stryker had stolen "our" milk, but once we started to milk, it was apparent that he didn't get it as we got a full bucket! 

I walked out to investigate to determine how he had succeeded in getting out.  Here is the charger.  The panel faces south and collects solar energy to power the fence.

It was pulsing away, red light blinking, sending voltage down the hot wire.  No problem here.  The photo below shows where the "hot wire" connects to the perimeter strand of wire.  All looks good here as well.

AHA!!  Here is the problem.  If you look closely, you'll see a green wire (ground wire) coming out of the charger running straight down.  At the bottom of the wire is a green clip that is hanging.  There is a metal ground rod that is in the center right of the picture.  That green clip is supposed to be clipped to the ground rod.  This ground completes the circuit and allows electricity to move down the fenceline hindering the romantic overtures of a lovestruck bull.  Somehow it came unclipped.  Perhaps Stryker bumped it.  We hope he doesn't remember that trick!

So I reclipped the ground like so and it immediately started popping:

And now I test the fence.  It will administer a pretty good shock.  Trust me, I know.  So I usually pick up a blade of grass and touch it to the wire.  I can feel the pulses of electricity.  All is good!  So time to put Stryker back in his bachelor pad. 

You can tell he is not thrilled with our interrupting his love life.  You may be wondering what that contraption is hanging from his nose.  My brother, Kristian, says it looks like a license plate.  To play it safe, I installed a weaning device in Stryker's nose.  This temporary gizmo clips into the calf's nose (it doesn't hurt him) and prevents him from getting to the udder should he escape again.  They quickly learn how to eat grass with it in by stretching out their nose where the plate lies flat, and then pulling their head back toward their body, grabbing a mouthful of grass on the way.  It becomes second nature in no time.  We'll leave it in for a couple of weeks to ensure he doesn't repeat his escape and then remove it.

In the meantime, Maggie Mae, who is Stryker's 10 month old cousin (and Rosie's little girl), looks on snickering at the funny looking apparatus in her cousin's nose.

 Maggie Mae is in a separate paddock.  As you can see from the photo below, I have a "jump wire" that clips onto the perimeter fence hot wire and runs electricity down temporary fencing running perpendicular to the hot wire.  The poly wire is attached to a reel, making it easy to roll it up and move the cows to fresh grass as needed.

Now that everyone is back in their places, all is right on the farm again.  Freedom, with appropriate boundaries, results in an orderly homestead farm.