A Game Of Peek-A-Boo

With the turn of the weather, the rains have stopped and warmer temperatures have kicked us into high gear preparing for hay season with a stretch predicted of more than a week of dry days. With that in mind, Mike wanted to get a series of things done so that hay season could run smoothly.

While watching the grass grow and stutter in the far, far field (the driest area of the farm) during the warm days that preceded our wet week of storm fronts, it was decided that the far, far field would be the first one to be harvested. It comes at much trepidation because we do not like to make hay in this field on the weekend because of extra traffic on the county road while we are moving the Gator, pickups, tractors, hay equipment and the Big Red Beast back and forth to get the crop safely into a barn. Being Father’s Day weekend and warm temps means more traffic than normal. Yet this field is beyond ready to harvest so the far, far field is the plan.

We had moved the main herd just before Nyad had her calf to graze around the far, far field while we go equipment moved out of year long storage and readied for harvest. It was a good way to have the main herd out of our way. We had not designed Dolphin’s arrival into the plan.

We wanted to pick up the temporary fencing through the middle of the close hay field that we call The Rabbit Run so that the second field scheduled could be mowed easily but had to leave the fence up while the herd was around the far, far field so they would have a secure area to move through the un-mowed field once we were ready to start harvest.

The equipment was ready, the weather had turned and the main herd was waiting for the gate to be opened so we could move them back up The Rabbit Run and away from the mowing that Mike wanted to start. A quick count as they moved through the gate toward the barn revealed that Nyad was missing along with her new baby. So now we have most of the main herd near the barn and grazing fields while we have Nyad and Dolphin still hanging out on the wrong side of the river from the rest.

It was not a complete surprise that the pair stayed separate because the cows tend to keep the newborns off to themselves while the natural bonding process takes place and the baby gets strong enough to hang out with the bigger critters. In the case of Nyad and Dolphin, the baby also needs to be able to get across the river and up The Rabbit Run.

Then it became a game of finding the pair to see if Dolphin was ready to ford the river and join the rest of the herd. We began by where we saw the two last, in a little meadow surrounded by big leaf maple trees and dense underbrush…

A continuation of this saga will appear as we work our way through the issue of having the main herd milling around as we caravan equipment out of storage and up the county road, and needing to keep gates closed off from Nyad and her baby while we move into and harvest the far, far field.