Equipment Review: Barnyard Cat

Socks, Pasture Bad Boy.


One of the best things about living on a dead end dirt road is the lack of traffic. One of the worst things is people drop off their unwanted pets on our road quite often.  That's how this bad boy came to live with us. Of course I let him stay after my kids gave me the pitiful eye all day. He was weeks old and was nothing but skin and bones. My daughters nursed him and his two brothers back to health and I took them to the vet and had the whole bunch neutered. That little act must have really pissed his brothers off because they didn't hang around to see what I had in store for them next. He's missing part of an ear and he's had his hide ripped clean off of his back a couple of times, but he is durable. No matter what happens to him, he always makes it.  Notice I didn't say he's my cat, I don't believe anybody owns Socks. He's his own man and comes and goes like he pleases. He's 14 years old now and I hear that's pretty old for a cat that's never spent a single night in a house.  I will say this, he does a fine job of keeping the rodents and snakes out of my barn and feed containers, and in turn, I feed him. Here's how he stacks up on a scale of  1 to 10:

Rodent Control-10
Snake Control-7
Value vs Feed Cost-9
Hugability-10

On a more serious note, Shadow our new bull calf is doing good. He is getting more active everyday and he's a joy to watch as he runs and hops around the pasture. I'm gonna put him and his mom in with the big cows at the end of the week. His mom has a bad milk bag. The ligaments that hold her udder up are torn or stretched so bad that her bag hangs way too low. It would be very easy for her to scrape it and have it get infected. It breaks my heart but I don't plan on breeding her again, and that was the main reason I bought her. I think I got snookered.  I have read that it's a genetic thing and will be passed on to her offspring.  Next time I buy a cow, I'm gonna have to have some kind of Udder gauruntee. I'm gonna have a real equipment review soon. I just bought a motorized auger for fence post. I plan on using it on Thursday and then I'll tell you all about it. 

Shadow checking Bonnie out. 

He's filling out nicely.