Sometimes you just can't do enough for your herd.

Facts of life is that if you have livestock then sooner or later they may die a horrible death.

Last evening I checked and feed the "Lower Pasture Bunch". What I thought I saw at first was a cow sunning herself turned out to be a very pregnant dead cow. Facts point to a labor gone bad and since she was within a few feet of the hay ring I have nothing else to indicate any foul deeds.

The most enlightening event was watching the rest of the herd queue up behind the Tractor as i removed and buried her. They followed a bit and then stopped, all in a mood of mourning, with dropped heads, an uncertain walk and a few voiced sounds of concern.

When I returned they still waited where they had stopped before and then followed me back to the hay ring. The cows knew what had happened and knew nothing could be done for their herd member.

Dumb animals are not dumb, dumb people who fail to observe what is happening around them are dumb.
In a SHTF case not paying attention can get you killed, the dumber you are the more likely this will happen.

Tomorrow or so I will post pictures of this event that will not upset others but will point out what I saw.

 

HK thats a bummer man !!
But what could you have done ??

Sorry to here this !!!!

 

Sorry to hear about this...
So true @HK_User it's amazing how if you really look and listen... you will see and hear things... that if you really think about... you will someday if not at that moment... hopefully understand... and likely... be left a better person... for that thoughtful pause and open mind...
Thanks for sharing and for the comment...
Bear

 

Sorry to hear this HK. Losing an animal is never easy; and people who don't think that animals mourn haven't spent enough time around the right animals. I've had a horse race about the pasture and literally "scream" over the loss of a pasture-mate - a more heart-wrenching sight and sound, you will never experience.

 

That's a sad deal HK. A part of ranching to be sure, but far from the best part. I always hated losing stock, money be damned, I hated losing the the critter. I love having cattle. As you know its a lot of work in all kinds of weather, but few things bring a smile to yer face more than seeing a wobbly kneed new borne calf or colt... You obviously have the right insight/gift for critters, because you're right, there is a lot to be learned from them.

All creatures great and small..

 

I had a like experience that was really scary at first. I found a downed cow and could not figure out what was wrong. She wouldn't/couldn't get up but was in pain. All by herself in the middle of a secure pasture so as soon as the rest of the herd arrived I attempted again to get her up. No Go and a bit dangerous. Then the BULL arrived and he went for another cow hot and heavy, all spit/slobber and bellows. Then he turned toward me and I retreated to the tractor, then he turned back at the standing cow. I did what I had to do for I figured out that the downed cow had a broken back. As I was hauling off the now dead cow the BULL charged the other cow as if to say "What did you hurt her for?"

Problem solved. The two had been fighting and the larger cow broke the other cow's back.

The BULL settled down and followed us off down the trail. Never once did he let the surviving cow get close to me or the downed cow. He stood for hours and I left them alone until he came back to the feed lot.

Cows, not dumb and not uncaring.

All animals know more about us than we do about them.

 

Those are sad stories im sorry hk

 

Life on the Animal Farm.

 

Wow.

I've spent a lot of time at a dairy farm when I was growing up (helping Dad fix electrical problems for the farmers), but I never got close to the animals the same way you sure did. I only saw them standing there in the stalls, they all looked the same. The extant of my interaction with them was watching them excrement as I carried tools by and tried not to get it on anything.

For some reason, your observations reminded me of this:

I once watched a butterfly hanging around a hummingbird feeder. It would land on my children as they played in the driveway near the feeder. Funny thing. Then I watched it fly near bees, even hummingbirds when they got near the feeder.

Then I realized, it was actually attacking things- trying to keep them away from the feeder! I never knew butterflies were territorial like that; they look like they could barely keep a heading on their direction or altitude for that matter, none the less buzz offensive creatures to keep them away from the food supply. Yet that was precisely what it was doing. It even buzzed the dog as it walked by.

I learned a lot that day.

 

Had a hawk on a country road that often did that in the summer months but only if you slowed as if to stop.

Saw that guy off and on for several years, guess he had a nest near by.

Not the same but watching Road Runners sneak into their Penthouse Nest is a hoot. They will move from tree to tree and then move again as if to fly on past their nest, then they will flare out and disappear into the top of a near by Cedar.

Funny sounds they make in their call to mates.

 

I had an old Saanen goat once give birth to triplets in the middle of the worst weather ever, wind ripped one side of the barn and part of the roof off and had freezing rain pelting down all night long. Her stall was on the end where the wall came apart and her kids ended up being born into the ice. I came out the next morning and found her wailing over three dead kids frozen solid to the ground. I cleaned it up, got her moved to another barn in a clean, dry stall. She never stopped bawling, just lay in her fresh stall with her head thrown back crying for almost three days. Not that frenetic pacing bawling they do when they are trying to find a lost kid or when you wean them off, but just lying there staring at the wall and wailing like she knew her babies were all dead. Broke my heart. I'd go into her stall and she'd come and lay her head against me and just keep on bawling. They know, a lot more than people give them credit for.

 

Happy Days again.

Went to feed and found a brand new calf and mom. Both healthy albeit a bit cold.

Pictures later.

 

Pic of new Calf

 

AWWWWWW!

 

What great thread and posts in it. I had an arabian in high school named parashola, an amazing animal. I went away for the summer and i came back she was so excited to see me. That was over twenty years ago and still remember as fondly as any dog i have had.

 

We're down to 2 chickens of our 6 we started the winter with. Pretty sure it's a fisher cat, more evidence is that I saw paw prints over cat food container outside that correspond to what fisher cat looks like, and another neighbor told me they've seen an animal fitting that description around. The last chicken we lost, last time the fisher cat tried to get a free meal, that chicken lost an eye, but I thought she'd recover, few mornings ago I found her half-dead. I had to finish the job. Put the body far off in the empty lot that is the fisher cat's territory. They will eat carrion. Am gonna ask neighbor(retired contractor/handyman) for their input on redoing the chicken coop roof, it's trashed pretty much anyway. One of the chickens however was not upset about the loss of the last chicken, because prior to losing its eye, that chicken had started picking on them. The day I had to put the blind chicken down, the other chicken was strutting around the coop as if to say "No one's gonna bother me now, I'm Queen of the World!". When we've lost cats though, it HURTS to watch the others look for their lost companion.

 

True , So if we "SHOULD" realize that , Learn & respect , then trick as you do your kids , It works longer with animals , then most kids .
Mine are getting wise , but i change up the treats .

Kiddless & wise .