Trailering; Cow; Interesting stuff

I would like to thank everyone for their good word of encouragement!

Jayke, I have verified for temperatures and have found that -15 C is ok!!! I would've never thought.

Dandy seems to be doing good, but I will get a better chance to see if she coughs this weekend. I also want to take her measurements for a blanket, she is growing up so fast!!!! Thank goodness she'll be four in spring because I am starting to think that she'll be too tall for me to get on without a step ladder... I'm 5'8'' but not extremely flexible! Hahahaha! I hope for no more than 16 hands... but I don't know... her sire is a 17.3 hh percheron. He is gold papered, Class A, he is 22 years old this year!!! I think I have a bad photo of him somewhere. Here! It's tiny and really off centered, but I think you can see a little of his conformation! He's still as gorgeous as an oldie!


Update on Nabisco (our cow): We finally moved her in the barnyard so she can be close to the shelter and water. She is doing great! When we brought her home, she remained in the bush for 2 weeks only coming out at night, she sometimes made her way to the shelter but was afraid of the horses and the horses were afraid of her. She remained at the other end of the 40 acre pasture ever since. So we lured her in with grain last weekend (at night), she followed us right into the barnyard so we could shut the gate. She got a bit startled but nothing to worry about, she ate her grain and tryed to go back to the woods, no deal! She then proceeded to look around her enclosure, then went in the shelter, she was a bit nervous at first, but settled right in after a few days. She now eats right out of your hand if you let her. She snoops around when we do something in there... she's like a horse! She is getting used to seeing the horses (they are not pastured together) and vice-versa. She is now settled in. I think we will keep her close until she gives birth in March or April.

She had lost a tiny amount of weight (probably from the stress of being removed from her herd), but is healthy. I am rather uneasy with cows and get nervous when they do. I'm usually able to control that when I'm around horses, but I don't know cows so I can't settle down. I don't know what is bluff and what is not, what their movements mean, etc. I know all that about horses. She is very easygoing, but she still has horns and she knows she does, she rarely uses them, except for scratching herself! I don't think we will be removing her horns, after 7 years of having them, I would feel bad removing them. They don't cause her any problems at all and are healthy. She is very tame and would not charge us for any little reason. She does get pissed when she runs out of grain, but that is just totally funny, it's like she is pouting and snorts and shakes her head when you take the pale back!! She wouldn't charge unless she was very nervous.

So I'm getting used to seeing and being around the cow... I've never been on foot much around cows, mostly on horseback, moving them... and I didn't usually put a lot of pressure on the ones with horns... My family has a bison farm and those beasts are vicious, seeing a cow with horns probably reminds me of being charged by bisons countless times... fortunately, they've never actually made contact or I could get out of harms way quick enough. Don't be mistaken, they look large and lazy but they can RUN and jump as well as any horse! We don't move them with horses since they would charge for sure. The yearlings can be handled with horses, but I wouldn't play around them in an enclosed area!

I have pictures of the Bisons. This is a male they had, he has now moved on, since a bull is only good for so many years (to prevent inbreeding). He was very gentle and you could actually pet him, given the right amount of treats! He weighed about 1 800 pounds which is not very big for a bison bull.
The cows were a bit more aggresive and we didn't even go near them if they had calves. Since they are wild animals, they need no help to calve, I would suggest you don't even go near if you care for your life. The calves are born an orange color and are SUPER CUTE. Their dark brown coat comes up later (about 2 months after birth) and consists of their winter coat. The current bull weighs in at about 2 500 pounds and is HUGE!!!! He is roughly 5'5'' + high when LYING DOWN! He is gentle unless entering the pasture during breeding season.
Here is a cow with her calf. The calves are sent for meat before they reach the 2 y-o mark. The meat is tasteful, lean and contains much less cholesterol than beef. The herd now consists of about 50 heads. These bisons are bio meat, though I don't think they are certified. We do sell meat, but the stocks are limited.
I hope everyone will have a great weekend... I will try to post more pictures, I took real nice ones of winter scenery / trees. If I can only get two minutes to upload them!!!!!