So today was our cattle practical. Was nice today, no classes and only a practical at 2pm. We arrived at Langhill Farm a tad late because the bus was stuck in traffic. Once we arrived, we walked to the teaching shed and met Wilson and the other instructor there. The first bit was a talk about putting a halter on. This was quite easy. We had to put on a pre-made halter and then make a halter out of a piece of rope and put it on. Next, we then had to learn how to restrain the head. You basically reach your arm over the cow's nose and grab the lower jaw (similar to a head lock, would call it a nose lock?...). This was actually fun, there were a couple of times where the cow thrashed about and I was tugged around a bit. As long as you stay with the movement of the head, you maintain complete control. They were in crush cages, so that definitely made it much easier since they were unable to backup and move around. After the head restraint, we then had to learn how to put a mouth gag in. This was by far the most difficult portion of the practical. You basically have a metal mouth gag and have to reach in the mouth and slide it over the top and lower molars. It took about 3-4 times before I could actually get it secure. The hard part was that you also had to restrain the head at the same time with no help.
Once that was over, we then had to learn how to raise the hindlimb and suspend it using a pulley system. After that, we learned how to put a restraint rope over the entire length of the cow. This type of restraint is used predominantly when there are no proper facilities to restrain the cows and they are out in the open. Once these ropes are in place, you basically pull on them really hard from behind and someone in the front pulls the halter rope to the side. This forces the cow to lay down. Those were very easy to put on. Like I said, the only challenging part was the mouth gag. Well, I should get going so that I can study some. Hope everyone is doing well!
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Hey! We got to do that lay-the-cow-down restraint thing in school, too! The smallest girl in our class did it all by herself (to the amazement of the old cowboy teacher we had) - it was pretty fun. And funny to see that poor man's face when the cow hit the dirt for that girl. He had just finished telling us that anyone should be able to do it if the ropes were in the correct position, but you could tell by the look on his face that he didn't really believe it. Hee, hee.
It's supposed to rain here this weekend, so I'm guessing you're getting sunshine?
Never underestimate a girl- Right Tanya? I bet that teacher was surprised, as well as the girl and the cow! Glad that practical is over and no one was injured. I hope studies are going well. Everyone here sends their love.
Mom and Brownie
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