On 11/20/2010 9:08 PM, Dan L wrote:
George wrote:
On 11/19/2010 7:32 PM, phorbin wrote:
In ,
dude says...
Jersey Bessy will not produce milk until around the end of March.
Her
calf will need milk for a few months after that. I am hoping to get
some
milk around April. She did escape from her pasture two days ago, but
did
not venture far away. How in the world she busted through triple
welded
wire and without a scratch is beyond me. Now I am considering an
electric fence. My guess she almost weighs 800 pounds.
My grandma had a lead cow that perfected the art of leaning on
fences.
She'd lean until the fence broke and then took the herd through the
gap
with her.
They were never able to break her of the habit and being a farming
family...
We had a Holstein cow inside a two-wire electric fence. She ate the
grass up to within one foot of the wire, no closer. Unfortunately she
could tell, somehow, when the power went down. Once it did she was in
the vegetable garden within seconds.
The pigs would get out of the sty once in awhile, they would go
through the electric fence squealing like crazy, taking the fence
down, into the garden would go the cow.
Being a farm family, both pigs and cow....
I found the cause today. Surprisingly the fence failed at a week point
where the fence ends meet with connector wires. After repair and made
the fence stronger, put her back into the pasture. First thing she did
is run straight to the week point and leaned into it, this time she
failed. I have greatly under estimated the intelligence of cows. She
must have been testing the fence looking for an escape.
You want smart animals get pigs. Darned things are escape artists and
can run like greased lightning. Cows are dumb alongside a pig and both
are stupid alongside a mule. I've had experiences with all of them where
they figured things out. Had an old mule that learned to open the gate
out of her enclosure. Was a simple thing, a loop of wire over a gate
post and the fence post, never had a critter figure it out before but
Kate did. She got out one time to many and Mom shot her with my .22
rifle while I was at school. Seems Kate got out and headed for the
kitchen garden each time. Dad and I drug her out into the pasture with
the FarmAll Cub tractor and burned her, too much trouble to bury a mule.
Friend has a Golden Retriever who can open the screen door, has the
handle you have to push to open and the dog figured it out. Now they
have to lock the door to keep him in.
OB: edible gardens, harvested enough broccoli crowns today for dinner
tonight. Also need to harvest a bunch of sweet chiles and have about a
six-quart bucket of hot chiles ready to pick. Okra has pretty much given
up but the tomatoes are putting on fruit again. If we don't get a hard
freeze this winter we might make it.
George, in USDA Zone 9b