HEY DADS!
Did you ever have a pet run away? Or one of your kids’ pets? When I was a kid we moved to a new house and I guess our cat didn’t like it very much because she didn’t stick around long. If you read the last story you might remember what a poor job I did keeping our piglets contained. Today you’ll find out how we’re doing keeping the calves contained. They’re sort of like big pets. Big pets that I just learned may need from 1-8 acres to graze, depending on the quality of the pasture. They’ve got about an acre between the two of them. Rookie move.
So to account for my oversight, each day we open the gate to let one calf graze around the yard, in the garden, on the driveway, in the chicken coop, etc. Doesn’t the nursery rhyme say, “Leave them alone and they will come home wagging their tails behind them”? Actually, that was referring to Little Bo Peep’s sheep. Miss Peep didn’t have any cows. If she did the rhyme might say, “Leave them alone and they will leave home. A mile down the road you may find them”.
We learned that if you let one calf out, he won’t stray too far. He stays within eyesight or moo-sound of his companion who is still grazing within the fenced pasture. The boys feed them buckets of milk and some grain each night and when the calves hear the boys call they certainly come running home wagging their tails behind them.
I figured now that the calves knew where home was I could probably let them both out to graze around the yard. I let them out Saturday morning and watched them for a few minutes. They happily performed the duties of my lawn mower shortening the grass quite nicely. I wandered away to work on some other things. When I came back I was unable to locate any calves. I walked all around the yard, through the trees, in the barns, in the pig pen, in the chicken coop. No calves.
I wasn’t overly concerned since we live in the prairies. They could run a few miles and I’d still be able to see them. And I did, eventually. About a half mile down the road I spotted one black speck and one white speck. My two beloved calves happily grazing just off the shoulder of the road. It wasn’t easy to corral them back home especially when a truck drove by and we learned that calves are afraid of trucks and run away from them. Eventually, with some of the kids help we were able to get them back home where they will be able to escape again another day. Are you learning anything new these days with your kids, dad? Why not try something new with your kids, like cow-chasing, and see what you learn? Time flies! Make every moment count! Even the animal-chasing ones.
Jason Weening pursues farm animals with his 10 kids and one wife. Check out his adventure book for kids, Danger in the Jungle, at HEYDADS.CA. Nov. 18, 2024