Routines (A short thought for today)

I don’t know about you, but I am the kind of person that has to stick to some type of routine. I use those routines when working in the barn with the cattle. Maybe ‘routine’ becomes OCD when I have to have the buckets in the same exact order every night when dipping feed and I have to set them in the same exact spot while the heifers are coming in from the field.

Aha, here is one difference between cattle ranches out west and small family cattle farms in Maryland! Ranches either feed their cattle by dumping feed into long lines of feed troughs, dumping feed on the ground or in big tubs, or most of the time they eat hay. Of course, that’s all the ones I can think of. Well here in Maryland, or at least on my farm, we hand feed personally feed them every day. I’m not insulting the ranches if that is what it sounds like… I’m just pointing out a difference. Now of course, ranches with show cattle are probably more similar to our method of feeding. But think…. How nice would it be if I could just use a tractor or whatever to dump feed to massive amounts of cattle periodically? If any of you are from a big ranch out west and are reading this, you are probably laughing at me. I laugh at myself. I try not to act amazed at big ranches but I can’t help it. I ENVY them.

Back to routines….. is it bad that I make my cattle listen to routines too? They are all ‘trained’ to go to their correct feeding spots… and if they don’t listen- watch out. I get pissed! I don’t like change. I can admit that. Some changes are okay, but if it is a change to something I like or am used to, it does not make me a happy camper. Jus’ sayin.

Your Marylander,

Taylor