My hubby had a few days off this week, so he spent a little time building a temporary shelter for the bovines. Cows are similar to children I'm learning. New things really excite them. My cows LOVE straw. I'm not sure they've ever had it before, but they have developed quite a love of it this last month at our farm.
The poor hubby was having a difficult time navigating the corral panels and the bovines with the loader as he was bringing over the big bales of straw.
The cows were in the way, inspecting everything he was doing and playing with every new bale he would bring...
He started out building it in one place and then, moved it to another place that would provide even better protection from the wind. I actually measured Clara today. She's only 36" tall. Her calf is a bit shorter than her. They don't require much to get them out of the weather and Clara will lay on any straw bed you put down for her. In fact, she builds herself a nest in the straw before she lays down on it. It's cute to watch...
Right now the cows are close to the house, in fact just outside the block wall that surrounds the house, the yard, and the gardens. It's so convenient to walk out of the kitchen, over the carport, out a gate and there's the milk cow. I'm not sure if we'll move her over to one of the barns, farther from the house, or leave her here through the winter and build her a new barn next year in this spot.
Right now, I love having her close to the house...
The whole shelter was easily constructed with some big bales of barley straw. Clara doesn't seem interested in eating the straw, just playing with it and laying on it. The hubby put a big roof panel from an old loafing shed on top of the straw bales for a roof. He'll put an old telephone pole on top of the roof panel so the wind doesn't turn it into a kite.
Straw is incredibly warm...
On the really cold mornings, the sun shining off the straw makes quite a cozy spot to milk, so the hubby said he would surround the milking stanchion with straw too, just for a windbreak for the winter. He'll finish the temporary bovine accommodations this weekend when he gets back in town.
We've had no incidents at all with any sort of bad behavior this week. Clara is waiting for me every morning at the back of her stanchion to get milked. Billy is easy to put in his corral at night. We've finally got a system going...
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