lovesfortune
10-23-2008, 09:25 AM
Well my day has just been a bucketfull of fun! :) This morning I happen to look outside and see FIVE baby calves in my driveway!! :eek:
A little background: We (hubby and I) have two horses. We keep the horses on my father in laws land which is connected to our house. We bought the old farmhouse from them. They keep about 15 head of cattle in with the horses. I can see the barn and the front pasture from my front window. My inlaws live down the road a mile or so and both work within 5 min from home.
Anyways... I see the calves out and immediately call my inlaws. I know most cows come to a bucket, but these are babies and they don't know that yet! :rolleyes: So of course no one is home... so I try calling their cell phones. No answer. Meanwhile the 5 have wandered into the road. AH!!!!!!!!!!
So I leave the kids to fend for themselves and run out to try the bucket anyways.. no dice. They scatter. So I fill the bucket and just leave it in the middle of the driveway thinking they might get interested and check it out. Nope.
Go back in and manage to get a hold of my father in law and tell him the calves are in the road and to come home and get them in. 15 min go by.... TWO cars stop. One nice old man comes to my door to tell me they are in the road. I thank him and tell him I'm working on it. A truck can't even pass in the road because the calves are everywhere. He waits patiently for a few minutes and then goes on his way.
I call again to make sure he's on his way. He's NOT!!!!!!!!! :nono: So... I start yelling. :innocent: Telling him he needs to get himself here, etc.
The way the calves are getting out is part of the fence in the lower pasture isn't working. The bottom wire isn't hot. So the horses and cows can't get out, but the little ones just go under the bottom wire. Now this has been a problem for the last week. I know about it, my hubby knows about it, my father in law knows about it. He's always "too busy" to fix it. So this is why I'm even more pissed off that there are now cows in the road and he's not coming.
Meanwhile, in the pasture the mama cows and the horses are going crazy running fencelines because the calves are calling for their mama and the mama are calling for them, etc. So now I"m even more stressed we are going to have a major issue.
So after yelling at father in law, I manage to get ahold of my mother in law and basically tell her that she needs to call her husband or get here herself and take care of it. I have two small kids, I can't be out there trying to wrangle cows in all day. I told her her husband needs to get the ****ed fence fixed NOW and he needs to get his butt over here. I then apologize for being a witch and explain that I have tried to go out, and how cars are passing, etc.
She gets mad at my FIL and calls him and tell him in no uncertain terms he WILL leave now and He WILL gets the calves back in. Meanwhile a nice truck has managed to "herd" the calves back into the driveway for me so at least they aren't on the road.
So I run out again, jump in hubby's truck and manage to further herd them around the barn, back into the hay shed. I locked them in. They still weren't in the pasture, but at least they weren't in the road.
15 min later... FIL shows up and I yell out, "they are in the hay shed" and close my door.
I KNOW he's mad at me for making a big deal and him having to leave work, and having his wife call him and yell. But honestly, I'm about ready to pull my hair out with this. So tonight if my FIL isn't out fixing it, hubby and I will be going to town, buying a new fencer, fixing it ourselves and then sending him a bill. WHich I know my mother in law would make him pay.
A little background: We (hubby and I) have two horses. We keep the horses on my father in laws land which is connected to our house. We bought the old farmhouse from them. They keep about 15 head of cattle in with the horses. I can see the barn and the front pasture from my front window. My inlaws live down the road a mile or so and both work within 5 min from home.
Anyways... I see the calves out and immediately call my inlaws. I know most cows come to a bucket, but these are babies and they don't know that yet! :rolleyes: So of course no one is home... so I try calling their cell phones. No answer. Meanwhile the 5 have wandered into the road. AH!!!!!!!!!!
So I leave the kids to fend for themselves and run out to try the bucket anyways.. no dice. They scatter. So I fill the bucket and just leave it in the middle of the driveway thinking they might get interested and check it out. Nope.
Go back in and manage to get a hold of my father in law and tell him the calves are in the road and to come home and get them in. 15 min go by.... TWO cars stop. One nice old man comes to my door to tell me they are in the road. I thank him and tell him I'm working on it. A truck can't even pass in the road because the calves are everywhere. He waits patiently for a few minutes and then goes on his way.
I call again to make sure he's on his way. He's NOT!!!!!!!!! :nono: So... I start yelling. :innocent: Telling him he needs to get himself here, etc.
The way the calves are getting out is part of the fence in the lower pasture isn't working. The bottom wire isn't hot. So the horses and cows can't get out, but the little ones just go under the bottom wire. Now this has been a problem for the last week. I know about it, my hubby knows about it, my father in law knows about it. He's always "too busy" to fix it. So this is why I'm even more pissed off that there are now cows in the road and he's not coming.
Meanwhile, in the pasture the mama cows and the horses are going crazy running fencelines because the calves are calling for their mama and the mama are calling for them, etc. So now I"m even more stressed we are going to have a major issue.
So after yelling at father in law, I manage to get ahold of my mother in law and basically tell her that she needs to call her husband or get here herself and take care of it. I have two small kids, I can't be out there trying to wrangle cows in all day. I told her her husband needs to get the ****ed fence fixed NOW and he needs to get his butt over here. I then apologize for being a witch and explain that I have tried to go out, and how cars are passing, etc.
She gets mad at my FIL and calls him and tell him in no uncertain terms he WILL leave now and He WILL gets the calves back in. Meanwhile a nice truck has managed to "herd" the calves back into the driveway for me so at least they aren't on the road.
So I run out again, jump in hubby's truck and manage to further herd them around the barn, back into the hay shed. I locked them in. They still weren't in the pasture, but at least they weren't in the road.
15 min later... FIL shows up and I yell out, "they are in the hay shed" and close my door.
I KNOW he's mad at me for making a big deal and him having to leave work, and having his wife call him and yell. But honestly, I'm about ready to pull my hair out with this. So tonight if my FIL isn't out fixing it, hubby and I will be going to town, buying a new fencer, fixing it ourselves and then sending him a bill. WHich I know my mother in law would make him pay.