It can at times get exasperating dealing with cattle. Believe me, I have enough experience and memories of bruises to say so. But there is something to when you speak words of love and kindness to them. I’ve witnessed some amazing things with a large group of cattle I have cared for daily. They are not the dumb creatures others with no patience or care paint them to be.
These heifers and bulls ARE NOT confined to small pens. They roam freely in open pastures. Every day I would tell them that I love them etc. One day I was feeling very low and was out checking on them while in a 4 wheeler. The grief from losing family members was still hitting me hard. The cattle were not used to 4 wheelers and were generally afraid of them. But that day I had stopped in a far west pasture away from the heifers and just put my head down on the handlebars. Every now and then I’d look up to watch a doe making her way across. In a little while the girls completely surrounded me and began licking me all over and rubbing their heads on me. This occurred again with another herd further north that same day.
One time a bull ,that I occasionally had disagreements with, did something interesting. The mud had been a real problem before spring this year. It got to the point the mud was too deep for the 4WD feed truck and 4WD tractors. So I had to deliver feed in 5 gallon buckets with a UTV. That is a tiring task. Well, due to the wet conditions it was necessary to take an alternate route through a small meadow where thick wild rye grass grows. I didn’t want the cattle in there yet and kept the gates locked. I stopped to open those gates and that was when the same bull that would sometimes give me reasons for concern, began pushing all the heifers far away from the gates. He was helping to keep them from venturing into that meadow. It was not my imagination. They are smarter than people give them credit. I’ve got more stories to tell another time.
These heifers and bulls ARE NOT confined to small pens. They roam freely in open pastures. Every day I would tell them that I love them etc. One day I was feeling very low and was out checking on them while in a 4 wheeler. The grief from losing family members was still hitting me hard. The cattle were not used to 4 wheelers and were generally afraid of them. But that day I had stopped in a far west pasture away from the heifers and just put my head down on the handlebars. Every now and then I’d look up to watch a doe making her way across. In a little while the girls completely surrounded me and began licking me all over and rubbing their heads on me. This occurred again with another herd further north that same day.
One time a bull ,that I occasionally had disagreements with, did something interesting. The mud had been a real problem before spring this year. It got to the point the mud was too deep for the 4WD feed truck and 4WD tractors. So I had to deliver feed in 5 gallon buckets with a UTV. That is a tiring task. Well, due to the wet conditions it was necessary to take an alternate route through a small meadow where thick wild rye grass grows. I didn’t want the cattle in there yet and kept the gates locked. I stopped to open those gates and that was when the same bull that would sometimes give me reasons for concern, began pushing all the heifers far away from the gates. He was helping to keep them from venturing into that meadow. It was not my imagination. They are smarter than people give them credit. I’ve got more stories to tell another time.
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