We have "Daisy" our Jersey family milk cow, "Tractor" & "Mudbog" who
are huge range cows who were recently given to us as they are of
dubious age (10-16 yrs old) and with 400 head of cattle at their
former home, their previous owner wanted them to go to a home with
less competition. he gives away 10-20 of them a year and we got 2 at
the end of December. "Daisy" I brought home on October 1st.

All of them are due to drop their calves anytime in the next day to
weeks, but with "Daisy" being down for 15 days and having to do major
nursing care on her, we have finally got to be friends so I went out
and brushed her for the first time. Though she is our milk cow, we
just got her in October as a wild range cow who hae never been
touched by a human. In 7 days I had her halterbroke and she still
hated humans, though she would mind the halter. Recently ith her
being down and me sleeping with her 2 nights in a row under the
blankets so the coyotes would not get her and 15 days of leg
massages, petting and general poking at, as well as lifting her twice
a day in a sling. She has decided I am not too bad after all .. and I
involve food. All the leg massages paid off as I pushed my luck today
and got to pick up both her front feet and brushed her back legs and
I do not have any nice bruises to tell the tale.

"Mudbog" came over to see why "Daisy" was getting all the attention
and dubiously I brushed one side and up near her tailhead, she arched
to me so far I thought she was going to go over.

As soon as I figure out if these girls are going to chase me all
around the pasture to murder me once their calves are on the ground
or not, I plan on halter breaking all the calves. Even if I was not
going to teach them to be a draft team, I would have done this anyway
as I have worked on enough livestock over the years, I like working
on livestock who tolerates humans working on them. And my rule is..
the bigger they are, the better they better behave.

I am starting to be impatient for waiting for calves. They will be
the start of all our animals crops for the year.

tenzicut
http://www.downtotherootsmagazine.com