- Thread starter
- #171
siroiszoo
Chillin' with the herd
Poor George is dropping weight like crazy in that corral. (Wonder if I could lock myself in there for a few days and drop that kind of weight :/)
Anyway, he is lonely & hungry. We checked on him but didn't add to his foo last night. We went down this morning and made another little trail of hay & feed leading into the nose of the trailer; tossed out all the old wet stuff in the burn barrel. George tried to put one foot in the trailer but became reluctant.
Our theory on that is the trailer is too unstable without a truck hooked to it. All the movement & noise makes George not want to go in. Probably scared himself to death the first time he went in and remembers. All the rain left puddles so I doubt water is much of a valuable tool for us now since he can drink from the puddles.
Good News - at least, it would seem that way at the moment:
The owner has put us in charge of this now. My husband is calling the sheriff's department to see if we can find someone to come out and drive George the rest of the way in the trailer. I'm thinking it's not the best idea but the rain isn't leaving us much choice. We got over 2" yesterday and more is on the way Thurs/Fri. That coupled with the fact my husband sees that I'm getting attached to the bull, well.... He wants it gone before I do something crazy - like keep it or something.
And since we are dealing with a trailer in which the only entrance and exit is at the back of it, I make him go with me in case I get in there with the feed, and the bull decides to come in with me. The bars are so close together, I can't work through the railings like I had hoped to do. I do think I could just calmly slip past George if that happened but don't want to take that chance. And worse case scenario, someone has to shoot the bull & call 911 if things go badly.
So, either George will leave within the next 24/48 hours, or we will be working with him for another week or more - depending on the rain patterns. I just cringe at it all. Every time we fail, we are set back an entire week before we can build trust again. So it's gotta work this time!
As for jhm47, I do not envy you with 8"+. If you can't get the crops out of the fields, it will be bad for all; from the farmer to the consumer. Plus, floods are no fun. We go through them annually, at the very least, living in the coastal plains of the Gulf. If it's not rain patterns training over us, then it's hurricanes. Although the new drought patterns creeping in and lasting longer & longer each year is a new twist. That's what wiped me out this year; the drought (and the economy).
Anyway, he is lonely & hungry. We checked on him but didn't add to his foo last night. We went down this morning and made another little trail of hay & feed leading into the nose of the trailer; tossed out all the old wet stuff in the burn barrel. George tried to put one foot in the trailer but became reluctant.
Our theory on that is the trailer is too unstable without a truck hooked to it. All the movement & noise makes George not want to go in. Probably scared himself to death the first time he went in and remembers. All the rain left puddles so I doubt water is much of a valuable tool for us now since he can drink from the puddles.
Good News - at least, it would seem that way at the moment:
The owner has put us in charge of this now. My husband is calling the sheriff's department to see if we can find someone to come out and drive George the rest of the way in the trailer. I'm thinking it's not the best idea but the rain isn't leaving us much choice. We got over 2" yesterday and more is on the way Thurs/Fri. That coupled with the fact my husband sees that I'm getting attached to the bull, well.... He wants it gone before I do something crazy - like keep it or something.
And since we are dealing with a trailer in which the only entrance and exit is at the back of it, I make him go with me in case I get in there with the feed, and the bull decides to come in with me. The bars are so close together, I can't work through the railings like I had hoped to do. I do think I could just calmly slip past George if that happened but don't want to take that chance. And worse case scenario, someone has to shoot the bull & call 911 if things go badly.
So, either George will leave within the next 24/48 hours, or we will be working with him for another week or more - depending on the rain patterns. I just cringe at it all. Every time we fail, we are set back an entire week before we can build trust again. So it's gotta work this time!
As for jhm47, I do not envy you with 8"+. If you can't get the crops out of the fields, it will be bad for all; from the farmer to the consumer. Plus, floods are no fun. We go through them annually, at the very least, living in the coastal plains of the Gulf. If it's not rain patterns training over us, then it's hurricanes. Although the new drought patterns creeping in and lasting longer & longer each year is a new twist. That's what wiped me out this year; the drought (and the economy).
