by Jan Fielden
This is the saga of “the BadOs” from the Back Herd. The only mean cows/bulls/heifers come from the Back Herd, and they are all mean; hence the name BadOs. We decided to bring two heifers up to the Middle Herd not only to calm them down and make them play nice but also to put in the Yearling Herd. At first, every time we got close to the corral gate up here, they would run to the back pen as if that would keep them safe…so no problem with them being mean already, right? Wrong!!
They kept their distance every time I went in to put hay down from the loft for everybody. Fedora is still in the corral. She is still a loner and hasn’t had much to do with them. They have taken meal away from her, cubes away, and have run the show. Well, after a week or so, we figured we should open the gate to the corral and let them run for a spell and there is plenty of grass in the trap for them to eat. They ran through the gate kicking up their heels, Fedora was jumping up and down while running. It was fun to watch. Should have left it at that! The hay pen runs in to the trap, and to get hay out of it…you must go through the lower part of the trap.
Feeding day came and I realized the gate into the trap from the corral was still open and the hired hand was going to have to into there to get bales to feed the herds. So, I got down there to close that gate before that could happen. Climbed over the outside fence of the trap and the BadOs ran but not the right way…not to the corral. I took off my gloves, started slapping them together and saying in a not too gentle way to “get up there”. They stopped, planted their feet and one of them looked at me with head down, eyes trained on me as if saying, “I want to take you out”. Called their bluff (with a prayer) and they took off running up to the corral. Gate closed. Red Oak Ranch deals with BadOs!
