Converse in the North Cascades: Moving the Cows

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Moving the Cows

Each spring we move the cows to the summer pasture at the Stump Farm, about a quarter mile away. This involves taking them through a patch of woods and then under some powerlines to the new pasture. When I was a kid we had one or two people ahead of the cows calling them and a bunch of us kids behind herding them. In a pinch we could get by with only one or two doing the herding.

Nowadays it’s pretty much just me and mom. This is why I like to have very tame cows. When the grass really starts to green up in the spring, the older cows know it is time to move and get a little restless and hang around the back gate a lot. The trick is getting the new calves, who haven’t been to the other pasture, to come along with the rest of the herd. The older cows often get excited about going to the new pasture and run off and forget about their calves. I have had to lead cows back to retrieve their calves many times in the past. One big worry in all of this is that the calves might get lost. The calves are fairly secure when they are with the herd but would be vulnerable to predators on their own.

I deal with this problem by leading the cows with a bale of hay or bucket of grain. For a week or two before the move, I feed them toward the back gate, calling them as I take the hay out. On the day of the move, I head out like I am just going to feed them like usual only I keep going through the back gate. I try to make sure all the new calves have caught up before we head into the woods. At that point, the new calves will usually keep up.

Everything went according to plan at the start of this move. I headed to the back gate with a bucket of grain calling Com’boss, Com’boss. The new calves kept up initially but soon got sidetracked in the woods as the rest of the herd ran off. Luckily, they were familiar enough with me that they kept following me as I ran along and called. This doesn’t always happen. Sometimes they panic and run in every direction but the one you want them to.

By the time the calves and I got to the powerlines, the rest of the herd was almost to the Stump Farm. I jogged along calling Com’boss, Com’boss and the calves followed right along behind.

Several of the cows waited at the back gate to the Stump Farm. I think they had heard me calling and they started bellowing to the calves who increased their pace a bit.

The back gate is at a crossroads, so mom parked her car straddling two roads and stood guard on the other so the cows wouldn’t take off the wrong way. This isn’t usually a problem with the older cows, because they know how to find the gate and pasture. This time Gigi was standing right in the middle of the back gate. Flopsy, her calf, went through but Gigi was blocking the way for the other two calves who started down the road paralleling the fence. I didn’t think they would try to run off. They wanted to be with the rest of the cows; they just didn’t know how to get there. They began trying to get through the fence. I hopped the fence and eased them back down the fence line and toward the back gate. Mom was guarding the other road and the calves went right in the back gate. If the cows had been wilder, I would probably still be chasing some of them.

The beginning of the move.

In the woods, the trail is narrow and space is tight. I have to be very careful not to get trampled.

The older cows have figured out that we're moving and are lining out for the Stump Farm.

When I got out under the powerlines, the main herd with all the older cows was almost at the Stump Farm. The herd is the small dot near the transmission tower. Trouble was.......