Desert Boy on the Fence

I found a couple more photos from our day with the calves that I forgot to post yesterday. Doesn't Desert Boy look comfortable up on this gate? He climbed up there all by himself. If there's something to climb, he will. Even the kitchen cabinets (who knew that drawer handles made such good climbing knobs?). The piano is also fun to scale. He's even tried a couple trees. 

Here are some calves in the "waiting room." They look pretty much like human patients in the waiting room at the clinic. I can just imagine the magazine titles they might be interested in:

Cowsmopolitan

Bovine Beauty

American Cow

Cattleweek

Eating Alfalfa

Cow's Health

Outdoor Living

What else can you think of?

Processing Calves

Late spring is the time of year when our ranch processes calves. That basically means the calves get their shots, ear-marked, ear-tagged, castrated, and antibiotics, if needed.

A couple drums hold some of the needed equipment--vaccination guns and ear taggers.

The process is repeated over and over for each calf, and the team works smoothly. A calf is moved into the chute, which is tightened and laid on its side. Each calf receives several vaccinations and has its ears cut. This ear cutting is to show ownership of the calf. We don't brand calves, but use this method instead. 

When I told my husband that ear cutting didn't seem very nice, he reminded me that human circumcision is basically the same concept--removing part of the body that isn't critical for a function.

Calves are given an oral antibiotic, but since they aren't willing to just take a pill and swallowit  with a swig of water, there's a metal gadget (called a balling gun if you really wanted to know) that is put down their throat to make them take the pill.

They get a new ear tag that has an insecticide in it.

And if the calf is a male, it is castrated. But instead of whacking off those delicate parts, a rubber band is used to cut off circulation, and in a few days the reduced blood flow means that part of the body is no longer effective. The infection rate for this method is less than the Rocky Mountain oyster method.

For female calves, the process is done in less than a minute, and for male calves, just a bit longer. The chute is tipped up, and the calf jumps out.

Old Cowboy Lee came by with a sick calf he had found on the range. I love it when Lee comes by, he is just such a quintessential cowboy.

Desert Boy and I got a job while we were hanging around. We moved the newly processed calves out of the fenced area and into the bigger part of the corral where all the nervous moms were waiting.

Desert Boy enjoyed opening and closing the gate.

The moms and calves were a little confused and took some time to get sorted out. They were also very noisy, as you can hear in this video:

The calves eventually got sorted out. This calf found his mama and started doing his favorite activity--eating. Life is good again.

Carnival of the Arid #4

It's the beginning of the month, so it must be time for...Carnival of the Arid #4!

This carnival celebrates blogs about arid lands, so if you like the dry, check it out to see what else is going on around the world. 

Desert Boy Hide'n'Seek

Desert Boy loves playing hide'n'seek and is constantly looking for new places to climb in and hide himself. It doesn't matter if it's small or dark, he will still go in. The other day he tipped over the hamper and climbed in.

Sure enough, he fit just fine.

Where's Desert Boy? I'm going to have to train Henry to help me find him. 

The Bulls

There's something about visiting the bulls that's a little intimidating. Maybe it's the angry bull stare. This bull is definitely giving the 'Stay the heck away from me' look. 

Maybe it's because just on the other side of the fence is a whole corral of female cows. 

He can smell them. 

He can hear them. 

He can see them. 

He just can't get to them. 

These black angus bulls don't seem quite intimidating. They aren't standing right next to the fence that separates the cows from the bulls, so maybe they're on to something. Remove yourself from the temptation.

I stared at the bulls, and the bulls stared back at me. This one seemed quizzical and started walking towards me. 

I watched. 

I waited. 

I wanted to know what it would do. After all, for most of the year, the bull's life isn't too exciting. They eat, they sleep, and maybe they dream about the short period of the year they get to do what they've been selected for. 

Now before you go thinking that their lives are totally a bed of roses, here's a little more information. The bulls were "trich tested" this last week (they must be tested annually), with some fluid removed from a sensitive part of their anatomy and studied under a microscope to determine if they have any Trichomonas foetus protozoa. This sexually transmitted disease (yep, cows have'em too) causes the disease Trichomoniasis, which often causes miscarriages or infertility and reduces the size of the herd. There is no treatment for the disease, so there is a strong prevention program

By the way, the disease Trichomoniasis is also found in humans, but it is caused by a different protozoa, Trichomonas vaginalis. 

Please, let's get back to the bulls!

The bull took a few steps forward and stopped, still watching me. I watched him back, willing him to get closer.

But he decided sniffing the manure was a better option than getting closer to me. How do you think that makes me feel?