Mrs Down's Diary April 22 2009

THE wistful longing for his cows should soon be over for our Limousin bull. He has put on loads of weight since he has been in with the bulls on their ad-lib barley feed. He spent the first part of the winter with the cows in the main foldyard, but once they started calving and then coming back into season, we took him away.

A small mismanagement last year i.e. leaving him in with the cows after they started calving, meant we calved a lot earlier than intended this year. Next year, the calving should be later so that we will not have such a crowded foldyard with lots of young calves at foot as we have at the moment.

The bull yard is next to the big foldyard. They are separated by a massive steel gate which has about a foot square hole in it where the closing bolt is, to enable us to open the gate from either side.

Mr. Bull spends huge amounts of his time with his head on one side peering mournfully through this gap. It is touching and tender to see him from the bull yard's side, but rather creepy to glimpse this huge , leering eye form the cow's side. Must scare them to death. Does me.

But tomorrow is his big day.

Or the cows. Depends which way you look at it. The herd are off back to their fields, and he will be going with them. At least out in the open, with plenty of room for the onlookers to get out of the way, he can carry out his passionate exploits without fear of trampling one of the calves who might inadvertently get underfoot. Or hoof.

We have organized a gang of friends and family to ensure a safe transition from yard to field. Two placed way back on the road to stop oncoming traffic. Two to help move the cattle out of the foldyard into a holding area next to the road. One to swing open the gate on the order to "go, go, go" and another couple ( the bravest) to stand on the roadside where the cows cross to make sure they are not tempted to turn on to the highway.

Not that there is much chance of that. It's more a case of making very sure you are not in the way. Gates open and it is a mad stampede. Tails up, full bellow, full gallop.

Followed by a gang of bewildered calves who wonder what on earth is happening, where's Mum gone, whose that big feller, what's this green stuff and just generally "help". They need the most encouragement. If the calves haven't actually gone with the flow so to speak, they need a lot of coaxing and herding to make sure they cross the road safely.

With no idea of what to do and where to go, they are liable to just leg it off down the lane if they chance to break out of the human barriers. That has only happened to us once, many years ago, but it did take a long time to catch up with the escapees and we'd rather not risk it again.