Personalities In A Row

Critters have distinct personalities. It doesn’t matter if it is a wombat breeder, an octopus tender at an aquarium, a worm grower, or any other person who attends to creatures, one can find different traits (likes-and-dislikes) in each one.

From afar, seeing a field full of cows, the distinctions are hard to tell apart. When you are right in the middle of action you can spot the ones that are friendly, the pushy ones, ones that are grumpy, those that could care less, and a host of other unique quirks.

When I am in the barn feeding, I can see the personalities up close. Being the tender of the beasts, it is my job to keep everyone in line so to speak, so that every critter has a chance to eat undisturbed from neighbors with very different goals in mind.

In the show barn, feeding the yearling pen of teenage-equivalent critters, distance is what I use to define the feeding routine. The pen is set up with head stanchions, locking gates that I can make sure each meal is doled out properly and the correct yearling is eating.

The critters jostle around when first penned together, they tend to sort out their unique styles on their own. Once they figure out their ‘pecking order’ I can solidify their tendencies into a regimen.

I start with a bucket of grain and the group of seven calves gather in their feeding pen. I leave the middle three stanchions unlocked while locking the two on either side of the three, and dribble a small amount of feed into the manger. Heifers in #68, 69 and 71 come in and lock themselves into those slots. They are the oldest yearlings in the pen, they are the most aggressive when it comes to eating and keeping them in the middle of the row is the best way to assure they are getting their fair share without getting too much.

Then I go to the four feed pans and fill each with grain. I slide one to the first open stanchion to the left of the three already eating. This would be #25 the lone steer of the group, I lock the stanchion just to the left of him so nobody else can steal from him before they get locked into their own space. He is ready and waiting for his meal and is always the first one in after the three bigger ones.

Next I head to the right of the middle eaters and place a grain pan for #70. She is the orphaned heifer that we babied along with calf manna pellets until she was old enough for the grass seed pellets they now get. She is a messy eater and likes to twirl her grain pan around on the end of her nose before flinging it out of the manger. I have collected the pan from the middle of the barn, from outside the barn after she pitched it out the doorway and even from under her feet after she flipped it over her back. I never saw how she did that. It would be easier to feed her directly in the manger, but she prefers to have the grain pan and begins eating better if I use it, show she has me trained to do so. In this picture she is too close to the outside edge of the barn, she reminded me that this is the wrong spot by flinging copious amounts of everything on this day.

The heifer normally to the far right gets the next grain pan, this is #72. She lost her eartag when scratching her ear on a perfectly place bolt but she is easily spotted. She is a friend to #70 and hangs around her all day no matter if it is in the barn, down in the woods or around the barn yard. #72 is not messy when she eats and I don’t have to worry about sweeping up spilled grain or having to retrieve flung pans or hay.

Then I head to the far left of the pen to set a grain pan for #22. She is the other twin to #25 and is by a long distance the most shy of the group. She prefers to eat next to her brother over all the other pen mates even though there is a closed stanchion space between them. #22 is neat when she eats and prefers to have a flake of hay to nibble on between bites of hay rather than just goggling the grain down like all the other critters in the barn. She rarely eats the last dribbles of chaff out of the bottom of her grain pan but tends to slide it sideways for her brother to like the last dregs out for a clean pan. Her shy eating style is not the same as her friendliness with me and she loves it when I am close and give her nose a small scratch or hold her cheek in my hand while I talk to her.

Once everyone is locked into place, I go back to the three middle heifers and measure out their proper meal. If I would have given them their full amount in the beginning, they would have pigged it down. This way they have a longer time for a satisfying meal and are now worried about how soon they will be released to go look for any bits that the other critters may have missed.

After the grain is finished, the pans are picked up and I repeat the process with slabs of hay for the group.

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