Bessie and her routine

Photo:  Bessie and baby Ruby, just enjoying their routine..... So, something a bit cheerful since yesterday's post was such a sad one. The cows are SUCH creatures of habit.  Lucy used to bellow outside the barn door while I was milking Bessie, because for 2 months, there was no milking schedule and they did everything together.  Lucy would be Bessie's shadow, and Bessie would hate it and head-butt Lucy away.  It was ROUTINE, and they were happy that way. Then Ruby was born and Bessie was being milked again.  A new routine had to be worked out, and there were so many times I could have gift-wrapped all 3 cows and just left them in someone else's pasture (IF they could have been LED there, which they won't tolerate). It took a few months, but now we're in a routine and it works well.  The cows know what to expect, and I can breathe a little easier knowing that one or both big cows aren't going to run me over because of their own confusion or greediness for feed. At night, I shoo the cows out of the barn (they have that relatively small room in the back, where they sleep, eat, and leave their messes, and also where I clean up and milk Bessie).  So they have made their mess by that time, strewn hay all over (the hay that they were supposed to be eating), and are waiting for their bedtime treat.  I pick up the PVC pipe or garden stake, and they need just a tap on their rumps to mosey on out of the barn, even though they don't WANT to go out of the barn.  The door is closed, and I don't have to do the dangerous dance of avoiding them as they try to mob the grain bucket that I carry through "their" area. Grain is put in the rubber feed pan in the stanchion.  Bessie is allowed to go in first.  Lucy still attempts to barge in right after her, but a light tap on her forehead with the PVC piece held in my hand reminds her to wait until I let her in.  Once Bess has claimed her spot, Lucy comes in and they jockey for position over the feed.  One huge nose pulls the pan in one direction, the other nose pulls in the opposite direction, until the pan lands on the floor and both cows can munch out of it at the same time.  Grain is also in a smaller pan inside of Ruby's little stall, right next to the big cows.  All this time, Ruby is curled up on the ground under the spruce tree, knowing that I'm coming for her but wanting to be left alone.  I used to chase her with the PVC until she finally went into the stall, but now she heaves herself up, stretches S-L-O-W-L-Y (as if to say "I was all comfy, thank-you-very-much!") and trots right in.  She has gotten to the point of even stopping to wait for me to open the stall door if one of the bigger cows has jostled it shut.  Very nice!  No more chasing a rambunctious calf through a cow-pen full of fresh cow-pies in the pitch-blackness. Ruby gets latched into her stall so that all of the milk that Bessie makes during the night is available for me to milk out in the morning. The food is key--I can see how animal trainers for a circus might train their animals with just the food factor and a light switch on the rump if a change in direction is called for. Bedtime accomplished, I can unplug the light and double-check the gate latches, water level, barn windows, etc. That brings us to the morning, where routine is again the saving grace.  Lucy is usually lounging in the soft dirt around the round-bale feeder.  She perks up, but doesn't hoist herself off the ground just yet. Bessie is  usually standing in the doorway of the barn, watching and waiting somewhat impatiently. Ruby is awake and alert, but still in her stall. I drop a square hay bale from the second floor and Bessie digs in, while I come back downstairs.  The bale gets moved out of the barn and out to the round feeder, and the big cows trot out right behind me.  I have to watch them, then, because in their focus on FOOD, they could crush me against the metal of the feeder.  My fists are ready to whack them in the side if they push up against me, and then they know to back off and move to a different spot.  Twine gets removed from the bale, and they dig in as I move away.  I grab a small amount for Ruby, drop it into her stall, and shut the big door to keep the ladies outside.  At this point, I usually have about half-an-hour or so before milking time (about 8 am, so that if I need to drive the boys to school, Bessie's ROUTINE isn't messed up!) Time for my breakfast, my coffee, and to get the dogs running to tire them out. And here's where the humor of the morning comes in.  Bessie KNOWS that I'm the one that feeds her.  She KNOWS that I'm the one to let her into the barn for milking.  She KNOWS that she'll hear me rattling around inside the barn before I open the door. I was out in the field with Shadow and Rocky, trying to tire Rocky out so that he will be calm all day (1 year old male husky.  Calm isn't in his vocabulary unless he's been tired out in the morning!  Sure enough, he is sleeping peacefully under the table as I type.) Bessie decided that it was time to be milked.  She trotted from the feeder to the door.  She stood in front of the door, like she usually does, like a robot on auto-pilot.  She had just looked at me out in the field.  Now she was staring at the closed door.  She let out a loud and insistent "MOOOOOOO!!!"   Didn't look my way, didn't move an inch.  Just stood there, facing the door, moo-ing over and over.  It was early, and the dogs weren't tired yet, and she wasn't dripping milk, so I let her moo.  She became more insistent, but never once swung her head in my direction, never once turned to focus her eyes on me, who was so obviously out in the pasture and NOT IN THE BARN!!! I had to laugh.  She truly is a slave to her routine. I brought the two tired pups back to the house and gave them their water.  Grabbed the milk buckets and the paper towels.  Headed out to the barn.  Finished setting up the milking scenario. Bessie was let in.  She did not look at me.  She did not do anything out of the ordinary to let me know that she might have been a bit put-out when I didn't respond to her mooing earlier.  With single purpose, she made a beeline for the stanchion and the food, and made herself at home.  The routine was back in place, and she was happy. Later today, if they don't get their hay tossed down from the 2nd floor, there will be loud moo-ing.  After that, if the gate isn't opened from their pen to the pasture, they will let me know that they're not happy.  If one of them decides to lift her tail too close to the water tank, and the water is too dirty to drink, I will hear about it.  They like it calm, predictable, and ordinary. I don't know how a domesticated cow could survive in the wild.  They seem to like their creature comforts and being served, but...they definitely want that human service to be PREDICTABLE.  Bessie's reaction this morning proves that yet again.  She could not deviate from her routine to even look out into the field to catch my eye.  She was the one that was early, but there was no distracting her from the thought that "It's time to be milked.  And I mean NOW!!!"  ;) Have a good day, everyone! Laura http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/