Chasing Bulls

We allow grazing on our 20 acres of land to keep the property taxes low.  The local rancher with whom we have a grazing agreement brings several bulls to the area in late November or early December, and then takes them up to higher ground (and to be with his cows) during the first week of May.  This year we have four bulls.  They don’t just graze our 20 acres, but wander around several square miles.  However, the rancher drops off their supplemental hay on the 20 acre parcel directly north of our property, and their main catch basin for water is about 300 feet directly south of our front door (across the dirt road), so they are fairly close to us most of the time.  Several times each day, if they are in our immediate area, they walk up the rancher access track to the water basin, which brings them within a hundred feet, or closer, of our house.  If our smaller dog sees them walking towards us, or what she thinks is towards us, she barks like crazy.  The bulls just ignore her, unless she goes outside when they are near – if that happens she chases them until she is tired.  Since she was raised as a “city dog” and not a ranch/country dog, we worry that she might get hurt, so we don’t purposefully let her chase the bulls.

Anyway, it is now April, and only a month until the bulls will be with the cows.  And you better believe they know what is coming.  As of a few weeks ago they started to vocalize more, they are getting into fights, butting their heads (their horns are clipped), more often, and they frequently have their full erections dragging the ground as they are grazing (they may not be called erections, since they hang down, but you know what I mean).  They are much feistier than they were during the winter.  Add that to the fresh green grassy weeds that are growing in clumps all around close to our house, thanks to the copious moisture we have received, and we have some horny, feisty, irritable bulls grazing within a foot of our house.  This evening one of the black bulls was grazing within a few feet of our front door, and kept coming back again and again after being chased away.  I would chase him across the driveway by our house into the “teardrop” between our circular driveway to our road – but he would just stand there and stare at me until I went inside, and then in a few minutes our dog would go nuts again because he was back at our front door, breaking the rocks on our walkway.  I even got in my car and drove straight at him, across the sage and brush, while he was in the teardrop, and he just stared at me.  I even bumped him with my car, and he just stared at me.  That tender green growth must have been worth the harassment, and he must have known that my little Ford Escape posed him no risk.  I finally called my husband at his neighborhood Saturday night nickel poker game and said “I need help with the bulls.”  He quickly drove over, and chased that stubborn bull away – the bulls respond to a male chasing them with a deep, loud voice, and a big stick, better than they respond to me.  They must sense the challenge of the testosterone!  My husband is going to put weed killed on the green weeds sometime soon so we won’t tempt the bulls to the house. 

Only a few more weeks and they will be gone until next winter, and then we start all over again.  But no matter what the hassle, it is worth the decrease in our property taxes.