My new baby, Molly

[MurraysMutts]

U better be careful bending down to scratch!
Watch her big ol head!

Brandy is allowing a touch on her shoulder while she's eating, but don't really wanna be loved on. She's so easy I don't mind. And not all pushy and shovey like Bessie.
Maybe I'll keep it that way!

 

[Lannie]

Her head's not very big yet, but I WAS watching those little horns. I actually had my other hand up there, ready to grab one just in case she moved, but she was zoned out. Hopefully, she'll learn to raise her chin for scratchin' and then it's a lot safer, head-wise.

I couldn't get close to her this morning at all. She was really jumpy again this morning, just twitching at every little sound and not letting me even brush her while she was having her treats, and brushing had become one of her favorite things up until yesterday. The dogs have been yarking at something at night, and I wonder if she's gotten a whiff of whatever it is they're warning away. It's likely just a coyote, but maybe that's enough to spook her. Later in the day yesterday, she was totally fine, and I expect she will be again this afternoon. Maybe it's a good thing I'm locking her in the barn at night.

 

[Lannie]

I hope Molly's not too miserable. We got several inches of wet snow, then dry snow, from this big storm and it's currently dropped down to 15 degrees. Not supposed to get back above freezing for a few days, and two more nights in the teens, ugh. She's dry and out of the wind, and she's got plenty of hay, but her coat's just not that thick, so I worry. She'll probably be just fine, but it doesn't stop me worrying about her. The wind is still pretty fierce, and the barn is not airtight, so there might be some breezes in there, blowing through under the door.

Next weekend (not this coming weekend), the weather guessers say we'll be in the low 70s. I can't wait!

 

[MurraysMutts]

I bet she will be OK!
Plenty to eat and drink, and giver some good scratches.

U could always let her out and see if she changes her mind...

 

[Lannie]

Well, she was just fine this morning. I was worried she'd be cold, but she was tucked in one of the stalls, chewing cud when I came in, and luckily, there's no bad breeze coming in under the big door. She seemed disinclined to want to go out this morning, so she must know what's going on outside. She wanted her warm breakfast, some fresh hay, and a good brushing, and she was good. We're having a raging ground blizzard today, so I'm not opening that big door AT ALL. Maybe not even tomorrow. We'll see what the wind is doing by then.

She's such a good girl. I know at some point, I'll want to kill her with my bare hands, but she's been an absolute sweetie ever since she got here. Maybe she'll be different from all the others, and I won't ever actually want to kill her. Wouldn't it be nice to go directly from "sweet yearling" to "sweet milk cow" without any of the dramatics in between? (Well, I can DREAM, can't I?)

 

[MurraysMutts]

Remember Judy Tenuta?

It could happen!!!

 

[Lannie]

Nope, who's Judy Tenuta?

 

[MurraysMutts]

Nope, who's Judy Tenuta?

Kinda her tag line...

 

[Lannie]

I must have missed her, I don't remember her at all. But you're right, it COULD happen! I just have to think positively.

I actually had a very easy time with my first girl, Bandit (back when I first joined here). She didn't have any kind of hissy-fits or foot-throwing activity at all, just a mellow, sweet girl right from the start. I didn't have a clue what I was doing back then, so there were some holding-up issues during milking for a while, but I'm wise to that now and have a method for tricking them. So there's no reason Molly couldn't be a perfect little angel, too.

She made it through the storm just fine. I've kept her inside, out of the brutal wind (which we are STILL having!), with as much hay as she can eat, and she's done very well, in spite of the cold. She's packing the groceries away, too! She's eaten twice as much in the last three days as she did before, and you can tell by the number and size of her poops, LOL! I'm keeping her in again today, just because of the wind chill, which is just above zero, but it seems a lot colder than that even, when you're out in the teeth of it. The wind is blowing 40 to 55 mph today. Ugh. But better than yesterday when we had a couple of 65 to 70 mph blasts. And, it was colder. Today we're up to 24, YAY! (That's a bit of sarcasm...) We should be back to normal temps by this weekend, so she'll get to go outside soon.

 

[Lannie]

My sweet little angel has earned her "horns." She managed to jump out of the pen where the fence dips down to go under a large tree limb. None of my other girls went over at that spot because it's a fluffy pine tree, and the branches and needles obstruct a clear jump, but Molly blasted right through. Hoof prints never lie. LOL!

She seems to want to spend time with Horus (the gelding), and they're happy together, so I'm leaving her free. The gate's open to her barn, and she's coming in every morning for her special breakfast, and that's really all I need her to do right now, so it's OK. If I need to catch her for some reason, I can shut the barn door on her while she's eating her treats, but so far, I've left it open so she doesn't feel like I'm trying to trap her. I want her to think GOOD things happen in the cow barn, but pretty soon I'm going to have to get a halter on her. I'm waiting until she's good and solid in her breakfast routine and coming in regularly, then we'll add the next "scary" bit (the halter). Meanwhile, she comes in for breakfast, then goes right back out to eat hay with Horus. It makes me happy to see them together, even if it was a couple weeks ahead of schedule.

 

[MurraysMutts]

And no pictures!!!

We all wanna meet Horus too!

Just for s&g heres 2 old shorthorns...

 

[Lannie]

Sorry, I don't have a current pic of Molly at the moment, and I can't post a current picture of Horus because of his overgrown hooves. Someone would report me. That picture is from a year or so ago. I don't know if he's getting old or what, but he stopped frisking last fall, and they were starting to get kinda long. Then I stayed in the house from the time the cows went away. Rich "never noticed" how long his feet were getting... When I saw how long they are now, I freaked out, but we can't find anyone to come trim him. He's always trimmed his own feet, so it was never a problem before, but now it's just awful, and I can't even get a halter on him. He tries to run from me whenever he smells a halter, and I don't want him hurting himself. I'm still trying to do a sneak-up on him, and we got a set of ground trimmers to try. Don't know how well they'll work, but supposedly they work on horses as well as cows, so I'll give it a try. When I can catch him.

Meanwhile, I'll try to get a current picture of Molly in the next few days.

 

[MurraysMutts]

idk why I thought Horus was a mini!!
Looks like a nice lil horsey. I know nothing of horses, but occassionally think I'll get one to ride occassionally.
Probly a bad idea. It'll turn into never enough time etc etc..

We had a couple donkeys for a while. Stepson had an old white male horse. Those guys would fight all the dang time. Always rearing up and slapping at each other with their front feet.
That ol horse made the mistake of walking behind 'Ol Clyde at the feed trough one time. I've never seen that donkey kick before, but he kicked the everloving shot outta that horse. Horse always kept his distance after that.

I don't really miss any of em. Tho Bonnie, the other donkey, was probly the sweetest donk. All white.
I'll see if I can find a picture. I know I have one of Clyde, but not sure about Bonnie

 

[pleasantpasturesbeef]

View attachment 15883

Sorry, I don't have a current pic of Molly at the moment, and I can't post a current picture of Horus because of his overgrown hooves. Someone would report me. That picture is from a year or so ago. I don't know if he's getting old or what, but he stopped frisking last fall, and they were starting to get kinda long. Then I stayed in the house from the time the cows went away. Rich "never noticed" how long his feet were getting... When I saw how long they are now, I freaked out, but we can't find anyone to come trim him. He's always trimmed his own feet, so it was never a problem before, but now it's just awful, and I can't even get a halter on him. He tries to run from me whenever he smells a halter, and I don't want him hurting himself. I'm still trying to do a sneak-up on him, and we got a set of ground trimmers to try. Don't know how well they'll work, but supposedly they work on horses as well as cows, so I'll give it a try. When I can catch him.

Meanwhile, I'll try to get a current picture of Molly in the next few days.

He's beautiful!! My mom used to raise and show horse down in Arkansas growing up, but we've never had one at our home when I was growing up. Sure are beautiful, majestic creatures, but I'm sure must take a lot of investment, time and money wise.

I've really been enjoying following your story of Molly, since I had purchased a "semi-wild" heifer last year, and I had to really work a lot with her to get her to trust me and finally get a halter on her that she would keep on! Cows are so fun and silly lol

Is that a great Pyrenees lying in the shade in the background? My mom is considering getting a Great Pyrenees this summer, since we have free-range chickens, with lots of free-range foxes to go around... I've been considering getting a Pembrook Welsh Corgie to work with my cows...not sure if I have to time to train a dog, tho, and I really dislike untrained dogs lol!

 

[Lannie]

Horus is definitely not a mini! LOL! I've had bigger than him, but he's a normal, standard sized Arab. 15-2 hands if I remember. He's purely a pasture ornament, though, not broke at all. He was a stud for his first 7 years, then he was gelded and we took him when his previous owner got out of the breeding business. Needless to say, you wait 7 years to geld a horse, he really doesn't realize he's been gelded. He's so FULL of himself all the time, but he dances beautifully and I love watching him. When his hooves are shorter... Anyway, we got him as a companion for my old mare years ago, but when she finally died, he hooked up with the cows and they were his pasture mates up until they went away in January. He's so happy to have another little cow to keep him company now.

And that IS a Pyr in the background of that picture. That's Jasper, our old grumpy guy. He turned 12 in January. We have a new "puppy" now, a female Akbash (Maggie) to help him, and take over for him when he can't work any more. She's doing a great job so far, and she's only 9 months old, so I have high hopes for her, and Jasper is a good teacher.

 

[Lannie]

I managed to get some pictures yesterday. It was a pretty nice day, actually, and enjoyable enough to walk around with the old camera, LOL!

Some new ones of Miss Molly:




She seems to be filling out, finally. She just needed some good groceries, I guess. Here's a comparison. First one is right after she got here, and the second one is yesterday. So just under a month in between, but I can see the difference in her, in spite of still having a winter coat on her.





Her back is a little flatter now, not so much spine sticking out, and her coat looks better, too. Maybe a result of being wormed last month, too, I don't know. But I can feel a lot less bones on her now. No short ribs at all anymore, and I can feel her long ribs, but not see them, so I think she's in pretty good shape for the moment. She definitely feels good! She romps and plays and is generally having a wonderful time here.

And a little sneak peak of things to come! Teeny-weeny-teaties!



And just to prove that horses and cows CAN get along, here's Molly and Horus having breakfast together. Although Horus is snitching chicken scratch off the ground right there because he's a pig, and those stupid birds shouldn't be eating HIS treats anyway!

 

[cjhames]

We just sent our Molly to the processor. She has never looked better!

 

[pleasantpasturesbeef]

Love those before and after shots from behind her. She's looking good!

 

[Lannie]

Well, I think I'm going to have to think about dehorning Molly. She's having a hell of a time figuring out how to get her head in and out of the headlock in the milking stanchion, and these are still her baby horns. She can eventually get them in, with a bit of head-turning, but coming back out, she panics and pulls really hard straight back, which (I think?) is hurting her horns, because then she'll walk around with her head sideways for a few minutes after. I sure don't want her to associate the milking stanchion with pain all the time. I also don't want her to accidentally knock one or both of her horns hafway off, ugh. The only way she fits in there comfortably is if I tip the "locking" board over and she puts her head in the wider opening, but then I have no way to close it on her because she's on the outside of the locking board.

I still don't have a halter on her, because I was GOING to lock her in the headlock and then put it on (otherwise she spins away), but she doesn't try to go in from the center much anymore. I tried to wait her out yesterday, and she finally left her yummy treats in the feed box and walked away because she kept bumping her horns trying to get in.

Has anyone had any luck banding horns? My neighbor with the bulls can band her for me - he did it once before on my one-horned wonder cow, Cricket, and she rubbed the band and snapped it off within a few days. Her horn wasn't that big, so I never fussed over it, but Molly has two, and there's a span to deal with that my headlock can't accommodate. If she'd just tip her head going in AND coming out, it could work... but she's just not getting it.

My other option is taking her to the vet and having them cut off, but coming up on fly season, I don't really want to do that, but I need to do SOMETHING before she's pregnant, so the sooner the better.

Any advice, anyone?

 

[MurraysMutts]

The easiest is dehorning.
I've no experience with banding to dehorn. I've got to get a couple pics up of Opal. Her horns are getting pretty impressive even after she messed that one side up.

Or have hubby modify the headgate!