Such a good little Sugar cube...and She's oh so Sweet

Well, sometimes I do smart things...other times not so much. Today was one of those in between days. Sugar, aka the calf I bought last month at the Coby Fashion sale, has been growing very rapidly. And as growing calves tend to do, getting more and more rambunctious. Last night little miss Sugar jumped THROUGH the slat gate seperating her tie stall from the yearling pen, neatly nearly hanging herself in their feed bunk. Alan, baby brother who claimed to hate her the first few weeks, was so terrified for her he ripped a two by four off the wall, splitting it right in half, thinking it would help get her back out. While I was afraid one of the bigger calves might hurt her, I managed to maintain a semblence of sanity, and cut the other gate loose. Picked her up, got her off her tie chain, and pushed her back out through the opening. Brought to mind a saying 'You know you're a cattleman when you know all calves have no will to live', and I personally think we need to add in, 'and you know most will try and find a way to committ suicide before they join the main herd'. We then decided perhaps tieing a bigger calf, Magic, there might be the best solution. So once again little brother came to the rescue, as it is hard to hold one calf and lead another. He pulled Magic up to the far stall, and I tolled my little baby down by the cabinets (the source of all medications, records, and MUSIC...gotta crank up the country). Sugar was unharmed, and seems to enjoy her new stall.

However, I decided that just wasn't good enough. It is spring, and calves love to get out and run around and generally kick up their heels a bit. So I asked Mom if she thought the mud had dried up enough to safely bring my baby out for the first time since I got her home. Since Mom figured she'd be fine, so long as I could get her through the barn yard without the two year olds and the old cows we put out making any trouble, I put a nylon halter on her and brought her over (the halter was WAY too big, somebody want to invent a halter for small calves that will actually hold up to having a calf in it?). Let's just say she is one of those calves that got the idea of walking and freedom real REAL quick. I had more trouble keeping her from taking off than anything else. And she managed to slide through the mud on her hocks, fall in a massive pile of cow excrement in the barn, and just generally make a mess out of herself. But Mom did take a picture of her, though it isn't the greatest. Something about a moving target. Anyways, I let her race around the lawn on the end of the lead rope and she seemed to have a great time. Funniest thing was when she started stalking my little yellow cat Blondie. Blondie was also stalking her. Guess who won? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the cat.

Note: I'll have to post the picture later. Blogger is being a pain in the rump.