For warning this is a very long vent post.
First let me say I seldom go anywhere overnight that requires me to have to have somebody other than my partner take care of the animals. Well we decided to run to her parents this past weekend. They have been helping us out for months to get our house fixed, livable and healthy again so we felt we needed to go help them empty their storage shed.
We left Friday night and got back last night. I had asked her sister in law to take care of our calves while we were gone. I only have one horse on grain and figured he would be ok missing one day of meals as they do still have grass. Plus they don’t agree with what or how much I feed him so I didn’t want them messing with him. He is old and does require a lot of food to keep weight on.
I fed the calves Friday before we left. They only get grain once a day and have free choice hay. I had just given them a new bale of hay Thursday so they were good there. I have two pens of calves. The two older ones get one ice cream bucket of grain a day. I have cut them back some from what they were getting because I want my freezer meat mostly grass/hay fed. The other calf (my blind calf) is in a pen by herself right now as she is learning the area and I am trying to get her over some ring worm. She gets an ice cream bucket of grain to herself each day as well. She requires more as she was on deaths door when I got her and I am still brining her back, plus she doesn’t really have any grass left in her area, nor is she going on hay as well as the older two.
To make it simple for them I had fed Friday before I left. Dumped a new bag of grain in the bin and then filled the two buckets for them so they were ready. All they had to do was grab the buckets, dump them the feed and go. They had plenty of hay, and the water tanks are big enough to only need to be filled once a week. Between the 3 calves they get about 10 pounds of grain a day. A 50 pound bag lasts about 5 days. Well while we were gone they were complaining that I wasn’t feeding them enough. Now these people shouldn’t talk. Their dogs have ribs showing. I am the last person that anybody would say I don’t feed enough. My animals are all typically over weight instead of skinny. My calves are a bit boney but that is part of the breed they are not heavy calves, and its only across the back/hips. Their ribs are covered and they have nice flesh. No pot bellies like a lot of calves I see around here. Plus being they were bottle fed instead of mother raised it takes a bit more to get them where they need to be. The oldest calves are only 5-6 months old. Well, I knew when they said that they didn’t think we fed them enough I would going to have problems. I went out to fed this morning when I could actually see what I was doing. The brand new bag of grain that should still have a good 3 days of feeding from it, is over half gone, and they were all out of hay.
Now here is what I don’t get. 1) so much grain is gone 2) hay is gone 3) they acted like they haven’t been fed in days. Now, I am the only one that takes care of the animals unless I am sick or gone. They are my thing and I don’t like others taking care of them. I know who eats what, and what is normal for all of them. Some would say I am actually a freak about them, what they get fed and just the overall care/inspection of them on a regular basis. The older calves acted normal other then they had gone through way more hay than normal. Not a big deal they still have some grass in their field and I threw them more hay so they are good. Now my blind calf is the one that really tickes me off. Normally it takes her a few mins to come up to me, after all she can’t see. However she is a pretty loving calf so not normally and issue. I went out to feed her today and she came running right up, stuck her head in her bucket and went to town. Normally her grain lasts her all day and she nibbles throughout. Not today she would not leave her bucket. Her hay was also gone and typically I only have to give her hay every week or so as she is that slow on it. I made sure she was stocked before I left. So why is it that so much grain is missing, yet their hay was gone and they acted like they were starving? Granted calves always act like they are starving because they are calves however they were different than normal. And to top it off, when I went out this morning it was lucky the calves were even in as the gate wasn’t tied shut and it was actually open a little. Granted the calves won’t go far, but I shouldn’t have to worry about adults leaving gates open.
We also left the dogs home this time. The weather was nice so I just put them outside with food and water and asked them to put them in their crate at night. Now, all three dogs share a crate. Before anybody jumps it’s plenty big enough for all of them and its by their choice. Each dog has a individual crate but they opt to go together and if we try to separate them they will whine all night and have a dirty kennel by morning. So instead of trying to fight them we let them do as they wish and it has worked fine for years now. However, when we locked them in for the night last night it was apparent by the moved and open kennels that they were forcing them into their own. Now the people that were “caring” for them used to live with us so they do know how things work. There really isn’t a reason for it.
Ok so my vent is over. Just drives me nuts that I can lay everything out for people so they have to do very little and it would only take about 5 mins to do, yet they can still screw it up and not follow simple directions. Up to this point it has been about 4 years since I have gone anywhere for a extended amount of time requiring needing others to help, and now I remember why.
First let me say I seldom go anywhere overnight that requires me to have to have somebody other than my partner take care of the animals. Well we decided to run to her parents this past weekend. They have been helping us out for months to get our house fixed, livable and healthy again so we felt we needed to go help them empty their storage shed.
We left Friday night and got back last night. I had asked her sister in law to take care of our calves while we were gone. I only have one horse on grain and figured he would be ok missing one day of meals as they do still have grass. Plus they don’t agree with what or how much I feed him so I didn’t want them messing with him. He is old and does require a lot of food to keep weight on.
I fed the calves Friday before we left. They only get grain once a day and have free choice hay. I had just given them a new bale of hay Thursday so they were good there. I have two pens of calves. The two older ones get one ice cream bucket of grain a day. I have cut them back some from what they were getting because I want my freezer meat mostly grass/hay fed. The other calf (my blind calf) is in a pen by herself right now as she is learning the area and I am trying to get her over some ring worm. She gets an ice cream bucket of grain to herself each day as well. She requires more as she was on deaths door when I got her and I am still brining her back, plus she doesn’t really have any grass left in her area, nor is she going on hay as well as the older two.
To make it simple for them I had fed Friday before I left. Dumped a new bag of grain in the bin and then filled the two buckets for them so they were ready. All they had to do was grab the buckets, dump them the feed and go. They had plenty of hay, and the water tanks are big enough to only need to be filled once a week. Between the 3 calves they get about 10 pounds of grain a day. A 50 pound bag lasts about 5 days. Well while we were gone they were complaining that I wasn’t feeding them enough. Now these people shouldn’t talk. Their dogs have ribs showing. I am the last person that anybody would say I don’t feed enough. My animals are all typically over weight instead of skinny. My calves are a bit boney but that is part of the breed they are not heavy calves, and its only across the back/hips. Their ribs are covered and they have nice flesh. No pot bellies like a lot of calves I see around here. Plus being they were bottle fed instead of mother raised it takes a bit more to get them where they need to be. The oldest calves are only 5-6 months old. Well, I knew when they said that they didn’t think we fed them enough I would going to have problems. I went out to fed this morning when I could actually see what I was doing. The brand new bag of grain that should still have a good 3 days of feeding from it, is over half gone, and they were all out of hay.
Now here is what I don’t get. 1) so much grain is gone 2) hay is gone 3) they acted like they haven’t been fed in days. Now, I am the only one that takes care of the animals unless I am sick or gone. They are my thing and I don’t like others taking care of them. I know who eats what, and what is normal for all of them. Some would say I am actually a freak about them, what they get fed and just the overall care/inspection of them on a regular basis. The older calves acted normal other then they had gone through way more hay than normal. Not a big deal they still have some grass in their field and I threw them more hay so they are good. Now my blind calf is the one that really tickes me off. Normally it takes her a few mins to come up to me, after all she can’t see. However she is a pretty loving calf so not normally and issue. I went out to feed her today and she came running right up, stuck her head in her bucket and went to town. Normally her grain lasts her all day and she nibbles throughout. Not today she would not leave her bucket. Her hay was also gone and typically I only have to give her hay every week or so as she is that slow on it. I made sure she was stocked before I left. So why is it that so much grain is missing, yet their hay was gone and they acted like they were starving? Granted calves always act like they are starving because they are calves however they were different than normal. And to top it off, when I went out this morning it was lucky the calves were even in as the gate wasn’t tied shut and it was actually open a little. Granted the calves won’t go far, but I shouldn’t have to worry about adults leaving gates open.
We also left the dogs home this time. The weather was nice so I just put them outside with food and water and asked them to put them in their crate at night. Now, all three dogs share a crate. Before anybody jumps it’s plenty big enough for all of them and its by their choice. Each dog has a individual crate but they opt to go together and if we try to separate them they will whine all night and have a dirty kennel by morning. So instead of trying to fight them we let them do as they wish and it has worked fine for years now. However, when we locked them in for the night last night it was apparent by the moved and open kennels that they were forcing them into their own. Now the people that were “caring” for them used to live with us so they do know how things work. There really isn’t a reason for it.
Ok so my vent is over. Just drives me nuts that I can lay everything out for people so they have to do very little and it would only take about 5 mins to do, yet they can still screw it up and not follow simple directions. Up to this point it has been about 4 years since I have gone anywhere for a extended amount of time requiring needing others to help, and now I remember why.
