If mama's not happy... nobody's happy!

But this little bull packs a wallop too. This is young bull Ryder... small and cute you say? Yes, but also between 320 and 370 pounds, well over 2 to 2 1/2 times my weight. Something I became all too familiar with when he escaped his digs the other night when mama cow Stella had a yelling fit middle of the night this week. The episode was so traumatic, had us both rethinking cattle all together...

The mistress of malfeasance herself with her not so much a baby anymore Douglas. Stella is locked away from Douglas at about 5:00 PM on milking days so we can get that evening's milk come 4:40 AM the next day. Well Ms. Stella has been starting to self-wean Doug, so she isn't letting him nurse much at all, which means her bag gets full and uncomfortable very fast. Sometime between 2:00 and 3:00AM Monday night Stella started yelling for Doug for just that reason, and him being locked away meant he couldn't respond. Of course we woke up at the squalling as no doubt half our neighborhood did. A bellowing cow has the volume of something between a full volume trombone and a ferry horn. She's was very LOUD and very upset. All the excitement and stress got new bull baby Ryder completely worked up. When I went out to check on why all the noise was happening in robe with flashlight in hand that was all too much for Ryder who bolted through a hot wire behind his pen. Unfortunately, I'd had to unplug it to go out and check on everyone. Ryder tore through several other paddocks, tearing down the fence all the way as he tried to get to Stella in the ajoining paddock. I think he was close enough to having been weaned that he sees her as mom, and was more than happy to come help her out by nursing if he could get to her. He was pretty scared no doubt of course as well, being in strange new place. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for me he had a rope halter with a trailing rope still on and Stella is in a hard fence paddock, so he bounced off that fence, and I was able to get close enough to grab the trailing end. The fight was on as Ryder wanted nothing to do with a scary human in nothing more than her robe, carrying a blinding flashlight. He bolted and I hung on, and on, and on. I got drug around pretty good a few times, but would then get to my feet and brace against him. There were a few times we'd both stop and pant, each staring at one another, straining on our respective lead rope ends. Not sure if any one else remembered, but there was actually a meteor shower that evening, so as I sat straining on the rope, several of them shot across the sky. It's just too bad I wasn't really in a position to truly appreciate them. I knew that if I let go of the rope I'd never get Ryder back in, so I kept easing up, working him up to the barn, between bouts tug-of-war, getting drug, flashlight flying one way, me the other, scraped knees, rope burned hands, a few bruises no doubt on both of us in the process. FINALLY I got him close enough to the run-in I was able to get the rope around a 4 x 4 post and anchor him. The entire time we fought, Stella screamed incessantly, so it was about then that J came out and asked me, "Is everything all right?"
No, no it wasn't of course! It took both of us to drag resisting Ryder back into his area, and tie him off again. He darn near drug us both around the home paddock all over again just as above, but we somehow held on until he was secured. Still had Stella to deal with though, so J marched her right into the milking stall, got her milking gear, cleaned the cow up and got to milking. Then we both tried to get an hour's sleep before we got up to the alarm... not much luck there as we seriously questioned whether we may have gotten in over our heads!

Had a lot of this stuff on me the other night. If you think cattle might be the thing for you keep in mind that there's a lot of this involved! And late night rodeos too...

Fortunately we are pretty handy, so I spent most of Tuesday making Ryder a stall where he will remain, until he recognizes this place as home, and there is abslolutely no chance Stella can convince him to break out. I spent a little time working with Ryder as well, and he was a lot calmer. Pretty spent no doubt from the night before, just like me. Also repaired all the fence damage and when J got home we got to work on the stanchion shown above and below, modeled by our steer boy Douglas.

Doug fought a bit, but once I showed him the grain pan, then that was an OK place to be, stanchion or no. Trick is to get Stella and Ryder in it. Stay tuned for all your rodeo action here!

Also no, none of our battle royale was caught on video or still pictures. It was just me, Ryder and the eternal stars watching, or so I dearly hope...

Ryder is here!

Here's the little guy. We drove nearly 3 hours each way to pick him up, but he looks so nice and beefy, we think he'll be well-worth the effort. His dad was a wonderfull bull from great milking lines, so he should be a great match for Stella.

Living with a bull is a little tricky. We'll have to make sure he knows we're in charge, but I think we can handle that just fine.

He did great on the ride home. Here's Stella & Doug staring at him. They're in separate pens for now, but close enough to get acquainted.Here are a couple clips of Stewart, showing how well he follows instructions. Such talent!

Stella's new beau...

This top picture is RdoubleD Nash Rambler who we are renting this year to be Stella's baby daddy. If you click on his name you'll find his pedigree at the American Dexter Cattle Association (ADCA) site. He's a large handsome fellow as you can see!

And this wee fellow is Ryder, a Dexter Bull calf we are pondering the purchase of. He was born the same month as our Doug.

As you can see from the side he's also very pretty, and well built with some nice red highlights in his color. General consensus is that we are going for it, but we'll update everyone when the contract is signed and the decision final.

A bull in the hand....

Looks like Ramblin Bob is booked right about the time we want Stella to be bred. Instead of having to deal with a calf that is too early or too late for our needs, we decided to see how

RdoubleD Nash Rambler will do. We pondered buying him last year, but didn't, and we're talking with his owner now about price etc. Nash is a year younger than Stella, and has the same dad as Bob. He's a real cutie, and having our own bull will save the worry of making sure we have a guy with a good bloodline booked each year.

Speaking of guys, Doug is just old enough to notice Stella is in heat, and too small to do anything about it. Time to get the vet out here to take care of that business! Stella is still giving a good amount of milk for the short time apart from Doug. Sometimes a bit over a gallon, sometimes a bit under. Once Doug is weaned, I'll be able to get more, with lots more butterfat. She's still very motivated to hold some back for Doug right now, which is fine, since we want him to grow up big & healthy.

When bulls collide...

Check out Bob and Thoreson at RDoubleD Acres in Monroe, WA. We went there Saturday for an informal seminar on Dexters and learned a lot about color genetics and conformation. Providing audio entertainment were the 2 bulls. Thoreson claimed the herd, since he had been with the cows longer. Bob was playing catchup from another field just off-camera to the left. He seemed to remember us a bit, but was more concerned about showing what a manly guy he is to the other bull. I think they sound like a cross between elk and dinosaurs!

Barn and Bob the Bull

I can't do anything else on the barn at this point until we visit the lumber store again.

Time for faschia, sheathing, tar paper, and flashing. Then it's my favorite job... roofing. No, seriously, I love roofing! If I was 15 years younger I'd do it for a living. Good times!

The real big news is that this afternoon Bob the bull arrived! Stella's "man-friend", hopefully going to get her with calf.

They hit it off at once! Here's Stella, taking a break on Bob... ah young love. Bob scoped the heifer, water and the grass. Now he acts perfectly at home. Let's hope for twins!

Spring is springing!

Newt says: "This darn pink monkey can't even properly trim the grass without me constantly riding her ass! With a workload like this, is it any wonder I sleep 19 hours a day?!"

Now for something completely different - apples! We finally spotted some early produce cheap enough to give the dehydrator a trial run. These granny smiths were soaked in an ascorbic acid & water solution for a few minutes to prevent browning. I think they should soak a bit longer next time, since they did turn color a bit. But that's why we're experimenting before we bet a whole season's harvest on this one gadget.

Today we seeded paddock two and used our fancy one-ma'am harrow to rake the seeds in (a rake). We decided to toss in some leftover veggie and sprouting seeds. The mix included - Alice White & Cinnamon Red clovers, 7-way pasture mix (from the feed store), barley, broccoli & alfala & radish sprouting seeds, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, beans, zucchini, pumpkin, tomato, peppers & carrots rounded out the veggie selection. Most of these won't make it to maturity. In fact, we'll have to chop the squashes before they flower to keep them from crossing with our garden choices. It will be fun to see what comes up and who eats what.

More big news - looks like Lassie & Berry are going to new homes next week. We decided we really need to work with Stella and it's nearly impossible with the goats around. So they're going to a home with people who want more fleece goats.

Speaking of Stella - she's got a date lined up June 1st with a handsome lad named Bob. He's going to come up here for a 45-day visit, hopefully leaving Stella....with child! Bob's owner has also mentioned another, younger, bull possibly for sale, so we're going to see how Bob works out and decide if we can handle 24/7 bull at Seven Trees.

Here's Bob as a baby. He's actually 10 days older than Stella and comes from excellent milking lines as well.