Calf Breakin' Time!

Today we decided it was time to break the calves. Well, the time had come a couple of months ago and we are just now getting around to it. Art had put a halter on Helen a few days ago and everyday he would tie her up to a post and let her fight, kick, and just get used to it. This process sounds mean but we do it in order to make the cows a little more tame. Today we tied the end of the halter on to the tractor and walked her around; Helen was not pleased. Art was complaining about how stubborn she was and I told him that since we lost them for three weeks (yes, lost them) and they ran around wild, perhaps we missed out on some developmental stage and now we were paying for it in her adolescence. We walked (well, more like dragged) her to a fenced in area near the corn crib to let her eat the grass. It was then that Helen, having pulled and fought the entire 1000 feet walk from barn to corn crib and slowly stretching the halter, slipped out of the halter all together. It was certainly not a crisis, we just left her there for awhile. She's a sneaky one so Art and I set up our lawn chairs to watch and make sure she settled in. Helen had kind of a wild look in her eye (just the one, the other one doesn't work) and kept running towards the fence thinking she could get out. Meanwhile, Keller is in the barn opposite her bawling because he's lonely, which only makes Helen more determined to get out. Rather than risk chasing down a 500 pound deranged cow, we decided to take her back to the barn. After much cajoling, name calling (of Helen) and threatening, we got Helen back to the barn and tied up on the post (only for awhile). On a funny note, Keller was so excited to have Helen back that he tried to mount her several times. It was pretty funny considering he lacks the necessary equipment to perform such an act and also because Helen, having been dragged around a lot today, was having none of it and kept kicking him off of her.

I was also busy in the garden this weekend. I planted beets, spinach, beans, cucumbers, pie pumpkins and tomatoes. That, along with the potatoes, onions, strawberries and raspberries, should give us quite a crop. I have to transplant the green pepper plants in a few weeks and plant the watermelon seeds I've started. I'm still waiting on my sweet potato slips to come in, and we still have Brussels sprouts to plant towards the end of May. As I'm writing this I'm realizing that I won't have enough room in the garden for all that's left to plant...hmmm.... We won't be able to eat/preserve everything, so we will have quite a lot to contribute to various food banks and shelters- don't forget to Plant a Row for the Hungry!