It’s time for a chute

My big girl stepped on me recently while she was jockeying for position at the food bowl. I was screaming in her ear "get off of me" but ended up having to push her off. I don't think she even realized she was standing on my toes. I came inside and of course my husband didn't hear me banshee screaming at all. I probably need a whistle around my neck, and steel toed shoes. My breathable light tennis shoes that I never usually wear in the pasture did me no favors that day!
I had thought for some reason that you were single. Can your husband not help you dig a couple of post holes, and nail or lag a few boards? Just curious.
 
Pour on Ivermectin will take care of most or all of the lice... pour it down their backbone line... it will get absorbed into their skin and will do the job. Without a way to CONTAIN them, giving them a shot out in the open is a way to get them to NOT want to come to you.... STOP doing that... it will come back to bite you, if you do not get hurt in the process... Use the pour on... at least until you figure out what you are going to do about a way to contain them.
ANY and ALL cows often panic when they are in a tilt table and their feet off the ground.. Dairy cows that routinely trimmed do not like it. It is a flight response to being trapped and they cannot fight it. There are places where a tilt table could be helpful... but our vet will put them down on the ground with a shot, do the work, and then get them back up with an antidote.... the tilt table is like the last resort...
 
If you can pet them. lay down beside them, etc...go to TSC or any tack store, and you can buy any number of fly spray products for horses. It comes in spray bottles, Years ago, I bought a gallon of a concentrate. The label is gone, but I think it was called Malathion, or something like that. It was for spraying dairy barns stables, etc, and can be used on cattle. I just mix a little in this hand-held, 1 quart, pump-up sprayer, and spray my horses every day with it. I also have a few game chickens and 2 guineas that hang around the barn. They keep the turds scratched apart, looking for pieces of corn that passed through, and they eat all the maggots in it. This does a lot to help hold down the flies, too. And hang a few fly strips in that run- shed you have, too.
 
I had thought for some reason that you were single. Can your husband not help you dig a couple of post holes, and nail or lag a few boards? Just curious.
No, he cannot. We are learning but he's a journalist who was never taught anything about tools or fixing things. Our big issue right now is the screw that holds the gate to the post fell out. We have tried to stuff the hole full of wood pieces and rethread it for sturdiness. But digging post holes and cementing in posts is a little advanced, especially if they need to hold a 1,500 lb animal trying to escape.
 
If you can pet them. lay down beside them, etc...go to TSC or any tack store, and you can buy any number of fly spray products for horses. It comes in spray bottles, Years ago, I bought a gallon of a concentrate. The label is gone, but I think it was called Malathion, or something like that. It was for spraying dairy barns stables, etc, and can be used on cattle. I just mix a little in this hand-held, 1 quart, pump-up sprayer, and spray my horses every day with it. I also have a few game chickens and 2 guineas that hang around the barn. They keep the turds scratched apart, looking for pieces of corn that passed through, and they eat all the maggots in it. This does a lot to help hold down the flies, too. And hang a few fly strips in that run- shed you have, too.
I've seen the horse stuff, just didn't know I could use it on cows.
 
Don't make it so hard on yourself. For lice, a simple pour-on will do. I just dump some cubes, walk up to them and spray it down their back using a drench gun. One 'n done. I used Clean Up II this past winter, but Fly Ban also works for lice. And yes, I also use Fly Ban for flies and ticks. Here area couple of links. BTW I get my Fly Ban from a local Co-Op and get a free drench gun when I buy two 2.5-gallon jugs.



This sounds much better than what I've been doing!
 
No, he cannot. We are learning but he's a journalist who was never taught anything about tools or fixing things. Our big issue right now is the screw that holds the gate to the post fell out. We have tried to stuff the hole full of wood pieces and rethread it for sturdiness. But digging post holes and cementing in posts is a little advanced, especially if they need to hold a 1,500 lb animal trying to escape.
Go to TSC or any farm supply store. You can buy one that uses a nut and washer on the end, instead of screwing it in.
 
No, he cannot. We are learning but he's a journalist who was never taught anything about tools or fixing things. Our big issue right now is the screw that holds the gate to the post fell out. We have tried to stuff the hole full of wood pieces and rethread it for sturdiness. But digging post holes and cementing in posts is a little advanced, especially if they need to hold a 1,500 lb animal trying to escape.
Most anyone can figure out how to use post hole diggers by just looking at them. But you can probably see it on Youtube. :)
 
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Is there a picture of these medina hinge gates? The links I find to photos are no longer good.

Can you work on hooves with this setup? (It's very pretty, by the way!)
Yes. We actually did back when. That is why I say yes. But I wouldn't advise taking the risk if you have an alternative. We've slid in blocking boards and palpated in a medina. Put prolapses back in. Just about everything you can think of, we had to do because we didn't have a squeeze. You have to remember folks with long horns can never get some of them in a head gate.
 
I had thought for some reason that you were single. Can your husband not help you dig a couple of post holes, and nail or lag a few boards? Just curious.
there are alot of people that do not know how to use a post hole digger, They thinkit should actually be used to dig and don't realize it's actually a cutting tool first and a cleaning tool second, so after they try digging and prying they will break a lot of handles, go buy new handles, them buy ones with steel or fiberglass handles and still can't dig a post hole. I shudder when I see new hires try to dig a hole with them and I almost always have to show them how to do it before they break the handles thinking you just jam it into the dirt, pull the handles as hard as you can and pull the dirt out
 
there are alot of people that do not know how to use a post hole digger, They thinkit should actually be used to dig and don't realize it's actually a cutting tool first and a cleaning tool second, so after they try digging and prying they will break a lot of handles, go buy new handles, them buy ones with steel or fiberglass handles and still can't dig a post hole. I shudder when I see new hires try to dig a hole with them and I almost always have to show them how to do it before they break the handles thinking you just jam it into the dirt, pull the handles as hard as you can and pull the dirt out
I don't know how to use a post hole digger. I bought one, spent a day trying in my hard as cement dirt and gave up and took the mailbox with a post back and bought one with a spear instead. I'll be looking up videos to watch because I just assumed I wasn't strong enough to use it.
 
I don't know how to use a post hole digger. I bought one, spent a day trying in my hard as cement dirt and gave up and took the mailbox with a post back and bought one with a spear instead. I'll be looking up videos to watch because I just assumed I wasn't strong enough to use it.
Yeah... you have to use it like you mean it.
 
Hire a neighbor with a post hole digger on a machine. Or rent a skid steer with a post auger. Or hire a fence contractor. Get everything planned and marked out what you want to do. There are ways to get stuff done if you really want to get it done.
 
Hire a neighbor with a post hole digger on a machine. Or rent a skid steer with a post auger. Or hire a fence contractor. Get everything planned and marked out what you want to do. There are ways to get stuff done if you really want to get it done.

X2. Contractors with skid steers are everywhere nowadays. Find one that is reasonably prices and have your holes done in 15 minutes.
 

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