I heart Cows.

Today was my first calf wrangling experience.

Yes, calf wrangling.

I never in a million years thought when I was younger "how fun would it be to get all dirty and stinky running around a calf pen trying to rope an unbroken calf and then force it to walk around a paddock so it gets used to being roped?".

Don't get me wrong, I've always loved cows. From a distance. I moo at them on the highway, watch them every day frolicking in the fields on the way to and from campus...but really real cowgirl stuff? Totally a pipe dream.

Until today.

Practicing our rope tying abilities...

Yup, I think we can hold a couple of calves with these!

Kristin #1 came along for the ride, and between us we were able to sneak some good photographic proof of the event (no pics aloud on campus, thank you very much PETA). Unfortunately, there were no action shots of me with a cow...but I wrangled like a pro. Kristin is all of 80 pounds wet and she would not let her calf have any power. I was very proud of her:

Yes, that is a young adolescent calf. Kristin is just THAT tiny.

You cannot even begin to understand how excited we were to get in there and learn about handling cows.

Kristin and I super duper excited. Notice my Dickies coveralls I have been dying to wear all semester. Blasting HOT.

They are really interesting, for example they have something like 180 degree vision, and they get really nervous when you stand in certain areas of vision/non-vision (very prey-like behavior). They don't kick like horses (backwards), it's more like a roundhouse kick out to the side. They don't like change much, and are really really distracted/nervous when something is different in their environment or route (ie. to/from the paddock to the barn). Designing a good cow facility is like an art form. You have to Be The Cow to truly be successful and have Happy Cows.

Our first victims round the corner...and stop so short that the one in the back ran into the front one's butt.

This little newbie calf really did not like us.

Hmmm...maybe if we just mill around over here they won't notice us....

These were not Happy Cows. They were not interested in the least in playing nicely.

I now have mucho increased respect for my fellow large animal vets/techs/workers/etc. Those little guys were bucking, and it took all of my attention and energy to maintain control on them. I cannot imagine (or wait!) until we are working on the donkeys and adult cows. Super excited.

Slipping the halter over the calf's head.

Properly aligned harness.

This little guy was an absolute pain-in-the-ass.

Anna's turn for some harnessing.

The harnessing is really the easy part...it's the forcing an adolescent animal who weighs more than you to walk where you want them to that's difficult.

Very stubborn calves.

Notice the ineffective screwing of the tail. Supposedly that makes them walk forward, but statistically it didn't work that well. Of course, it could easily have been user error.

Success! Sort of...still need to go to the next paddock!

After rounding them all into the bigger paddock, we practiced walking them back and forth to get them used to handling. Sounds easy and all, but seriously folks. They're not just big Labs.

Post-Calf-Wrangling-Glow. Or it could be the smell wafting around me. Whatev.

Post-cow hands. Haven't been this dirty in a long time. You know you've really worked hard when even your boogers are dirty. (that one's for Kristin!) :)

And what better way to celebrate a successful calf wrangling afternoon than to shower up and receive a free catered meal with my fellow on campus mates?! With those crazy dorm fees you betcha the meal was free and all-you-can-eat-until-its-gone.

Clockwise from top middle:
*Pasta salad with some sort of italian dressing (yum!)

*Curried goat. Yes, goat.

*BBQ chicken.

*Some sort of hash brown vege deliciousness.

*Corn. Duh.

*The little puff pastry looking goodness are called Johnny Cakes. A little bland, but delish with the curried goat sauce!

And for dessert: ginger ice cream on spiced pound cake. The ice cream was a bit spicy for me, not a very typically ice cream taste...but mixed with the spice cake it was FABULOUS!

Time to return to the books!