At 14:30 this afternoon, the cattle were just entering the woodland to the west of the tarmac road by the entrance gate, having been grazing in the pasture to the south. They spotted me approaching and welcomed me with a chorus of moos before wandering over to meet me near ///snows.hazel.glider. The boys were all very friendly, saying hello before happily accepting plenty of strokes and rubs. Youngster 276 greeted me with gentle head rubs, and I immediately noticed that he wasn't wearing his collar. He thoroughly enjoyed having the sides of his neck scratched, thanking me with more head rubs and licks. There were many flies around today, but the boys didn't seem too bothered, despite them persistently landing around their eyes. I also noted that they all had lots of ticks on their undersides and in their “armpits”.
After our initial greetings, the boys soon gathered around me to rest and chew their cud. They would take turns stepping forward for more attention, all thoroughly enjoying long neck and back rubs. When not being fussed over, they would stand close to each other or the trees, presumably trying to keep the flies away. The boys were happy to stand and soak up the attention, inching forward and back to ensure I reached all their itchy spots. They also appreciated having the flies brushed from their eyes and would regularly stand with their heads tucked into my side for more shelter. All four were happy, relaxed, and looking well.
Around 15:40, I set off to check the trough, with the boys following closely behind. As we were walking, I spotted youngster 276's collar lying in the grass near ///toasters.sits.robe. We stopped, and although he was more than happy to receive some more neck scratches, he was not at all keen to have the collar put back around his neck. Not wanting to stress him out, I simply placed the collar beside a tree after removing the battery, and we carried on into the woodland by the trough. The boys all watched on as I gave the trough a clean, removing the layer of pine needles and leaves that had fallen from the trees overhead. I gave it a thorough clean and, when I was done, youngster 278 came over for a drink.
Afterwards, the boys gathered around again and continued to relax and chew their cud. One by one, they returned for more fuss, each thoroughly enjoying long shoulder and back scratches. After a while, we moved out into the pasture, where the boys continued to stand and chew their cud. At one point, youngster 276 wandered over to his collar and gave it a good sniff before returning for a final neck rub. At 16:30, I said my goodbyes, leaving them all gathered near where I'd found youngster 276's collar earlier. As I started to head off towards the woodland, a few moos behind me soon had me turning around to find all four following me. I stopped to say one final goodbye to each of them before leaving at 16:40.
As agreed with Sean, I have removed the collar from site and will arrange to get it back to a member of HIWWT staff in due course.
The cattle were all good today.
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