Starts Off Well Mannered
Meals in the show barn begin with everyone minding their own grain pans. Each animal gets their fair ration and begin eating right away. It is when I start chopping up apples that things begin to lose their sophistication.
The two cows along with heifer #47 are locked into the stanchions at the far end of the barn during meal time. If they were to roam free, none of the three calves would get any food at all. Don’t worry the two cows and #47 get their own feed and quite a lot of it.
The three calves, two of which belong to the two cows and the orphaned Primrose #70, eat at the closer end of the barn. None of them are big enough for their heads to lock into the stanchions so they get to scuffle amongst themselves on who gets the good amount of feed.
When they start off with grain, I separate the the three youngsters placing their pans at intervals of every other stanchion so keep them from stealing each other food. While they are eating, I start cutting the fruit.
The three calves are closest to where I am working, and watch intently as I get the apples ready. When I head toward them with the bucket they all stop and wait for the sweet fruit. While I head over to the far end of the barn to give apples to the two cows and yearling heifer, small fights break out over who gets to eat out of which pan in an effort to get the most fruit before it is all gone.
Before I can finish doling out the fruit to the larger animals, the calves have scooted their pans this way and that, and continue to pick at each other. Even though Primrose is the smallest in size, she does not let anyone keep her from getting more than her fair share.
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Cows version of the boarding-house reach. Question: Why do you have to cut up the apples?
First I had to look up boarding house reach, it was a term that I had not heard of before! Dictionary.com let me know;
We cut up the apples because we have had past experiences with small, hard apples getting stuck in the throat of an animal. Rather than risk anyone choking, we cut up all the fruit. (And it is a perk to watch the critters salivate when we pull the knife out and start cutting!)