Princely play-date

Photos:  Charming and Caspian meet, cow-fashion; Bessie and Caspian; "Aww, MOM!"; and "Playing it cool, but I guess I'm just about the handsomest fellow around"

The two Princes had a play-date out in the pasture this morning.

Some explanation is probably in order.  

Ruby and Prince Charming have been keeping each other company out in the pasture with the cow shelter behind the silo as their protection from the weather.

Bessie and now the new calf (Prince Caspian) have the official cow-pen and the area inside of the barn where I milk Bessie in the mornings.

The two groups of cows have not mingled except for once, in the entire 3 months since Bessie went "dry" (her milk dried up in preparation for the calf's birth).

But now, (good news!) Ruby is going to move to North Carolina, to be the milk cow for a woman who is interested in Dutch Belt cows.  A friend of a friend up here in the Woodstock/Harvard area came by to see Ruby last week, gave a good review to her friend in North Carolina, and everything looks promising for Ruby to be moving away.  We have maybe 2 weeks left with her.

One thing that I promised to help with:  Ruby has gotten lazy as far as letting people handle her.  The Princess mentality keeps getting in the way.  You go up to her to pet her and she tosses her head and sprightly moves just out of reach.

So, Miss Ruby is on a lead (a thick rope, about 6 feet long, with a clip attached to her halter).  I lured her back into her old stall, which wasn't really luring at all when you stop to think about it.  Ruby trotted right in because a bucket of grain was waiting for her.  Anything for food!  There, I clipped the old lead to her halter and left her tied up inside the stall.  

Over the next 2 weeks, until she is picked up by the North Carolina farm woman, I will get Ruby accustomed again to being brushed, handled, and to even stand still or walk on the lead.  The lady who is buying her will need to do a bit of work in handling her before Ruby's calf is born, but.....Ruby was much better with the dairy-heifer attitude when she was being approached and handled on a daily basis, so I'm happy to work with her a bit each day to re-acquaint the opinionated heifer with the idea that people are in charge.  :)

Which brings us to the play-date.  

-Mama Bessie was munching grain in her milking stanchion, clipped to her own lead, which prevents her from backing out and leaving whenever she wants.

-Miss Ruby was clipped to the lead in the stall, contentedly munching grain as if she'd never had those 3 months of freedom out in the pasture with no-one tying her up at night.

-Prince Charming was calmly munching Bessie's old hay (Bessie gets a fresh bale every day, and Ruby and Charming usually get their breakfast when I toss Bessie's left-overs to them and they nose through it for anything worth eating.)

-Prince Caspian, spunky little guy that he is, was dashing to and fro, trying to engage Charming in something a little more fun than waiting for Mama Bessie to finish eating.

I left Ruby in the stall, unclipped Mama Bessie from the stanchion, and opened the electric gate between little Caspian and the wide open pasture where Charming was.  

Caspian scampered right out.  Bessie moo-ed in motherly concern.  Charming went right on munching (sometimes I wonder if making him into a steer also took away part of his original charming personality).

Anyway, Caspian prevailed.  Charming couldn't resist, and took off bucking and galloping with the handsome younger prince.  Bessie couldn't stand it, and rushed to intervene (readers from last year will remember the description of the large cow moving surprisingly quickly as her tremendous udder swung all over the place)  

Caspian would have none of Bessie's mothering, and continued to peer out from behind her, daring Charming to run with him again, while Bessie tried her best to head-butt Charming into submission.

Back in the house, Shadow the lab-mix was whimpering uncontrollably, because she cannot STAND to see such craziness out in the pasture.  

Rocky the husky was calmly watching the action from his usual perch on the picnic table by the maple tree, although he was probably plotting how to get out there and be the instigator.  

Sheep, geese, and ducks had just been let out of the south entrance of the barn, so they weren't there to take part in any of the action (they would have been chased by the spunky little calf, which would have just added to the hilarious mayhem.)

All is calm now, for the time being.  Charming has gone back to eating Bessie's left-over hay.  Caspian  is taking a baby-nap (I keep wanting to call him Spunky, as in "Spunky Dunkers" the donut shop where our son Chris worked for a year or two).  Bessie is munching her fresh hay again, because NOW her naughty baby is behaving himself and she can relax and enjoy breakfast.  And Ruby is quiet out in the old stall.  

Hopefully, she's not feeling too left out of the merry-making.  

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/