I headed to the barn this morning to milk Mocha. (I am milking her at scheduled later and later times of the day in an attempt to slowly move her to an evening-only milking so by next week she will be dry for a couple of months prior to her calf being born. We do “normal chores” in the morning, everything except milking Mocha. Then, I go out later to milk Mocha.)
Anyway, back to the story…You NEVER know what lies behind closed doors and today I couldn’t have guessed what I would find when I opened the door!
There was Mocha, all pregnant 950 pounds of her, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BARN…NOT IN HER STALL…happily munching on the stack of hay that Jeff had just unloaded from the hay wagon last night! She acted as if she was parking herself next to the smorgasbord at the neighborhood restaurant!
I exclaimed loudly, “Mocha! What are you doing?” She immediately turned toward me, and I could almost hear her say “Uh-oh! Now what do I do? I can’t hide! Where do I go?”
Eventually she got her big self turned around and with some encouragement from me, put herself back in her stall (because YOU don’t put a 950-pound pregnant cow ANYWHERE…you have to encourage HER to move herself!). Upon re-entering the stall, she immediately positioned herself in front of the water tank and DRANK, AND DRANK AND DRANK!
I shut her stall door and walked around the barn surveying the damage. I could see her footprints all over the floor. She had knocked off a stack of empty water bowls that were stacked on an upturned five-gallon bucket. She had evidently either stepped in the cat water bowl or had tried to drink from it with her BIG nose! I didn’t see anything disturbed in the stall where the meat chickens are, and for that I am thankful!
Then I began to survey the hay bales. Now, I’ll be honest…I don’t know what it looked like when Jeff left the barn this morning…but I suspect there had been nearly an entire bale of hay laying on the floor. It now looked like this:
When I went back into her stall, she had PLENTY of hay left in her bin which was EXACTLY THE SAME HAY she was feasting on “at the table”!
She is and always has been a DIVA. She know what she wants and she will get it if at all within her power to do so! And, the stall door being left un-shut and unsecured was just the opportunity she was looking for.
I again looked around the barn and realized that now the cats, who were virtually invisible when she was out in the middle…were now showing up and appeared to be quite traumatized!
However, not to worry…it doesn’t appear she ate anything she shouldn’t have eaten (except possibly to clean out any feed that might have been left in Jersey’s pan from the morning)…and nothing was destroyed or harmed. All order is once again restored in the barn (except for the mess she left on the floor)!
Cows are like children in many ways. They KNOW what they want. They will find a way to get what they want if left to their own devices. They are typically NOT remorseful! One huge difference, though, is that it is impossible for me to put her in time-out, or to make her do anything without convincing her there is no other option! And yes! I am still #CRAZYABOUTCOWS! She just gives me “that look” and because I love her, she knows I’ll forgive her and tell her how beautiful she is!
Hope this has given you a chuckle and a little insight into the unexpected things that can come from gates and stall doors, etc., being left open!! Glad I can laugh about it and thankful no permanent damage was done! After all, she’s a pregnant girl and she has CRAVINGS!
#dianeorrauthor
#penitpublications
#mynameismocha
