old habits

[Malinda]

I was out bedding with straw this morning and got to thinking about how many things I do a certain way and only that way.

Here are a few examples:
    When I bed with straw I break it up a certain way; not too much but just enough. I will only bed to about 18 inches from the wall, to keep the cattle from piling
    the straw up around the walls and wasting it.

    When I pour feed out of a sack, I am very careful not to waste any. My Dad fussed at me once for spilling feed or silage (can't remember which). He told me 
    to picture wasting that much feed everyday for a year and then for a lifetime. At that time I was too young to picture 'a lifetime', but I get it now!
   
    EVERY time I am around the cows I count them. I took a head count last Thurs. morning and everyone was present and accounted for. I was out around the
    cows that afternoon doing something totally unrelated to the cows, but out of habit I counted tham and sure enough one was missing. She had somehow
    gotten into the homemade working chute and had herself pinned up with no way out; the gate that was to keep her out was still in place and was blocking her
    exit. Can cows fly? If I was not a religous cow counter she could have been there for an extended stay.

    When I finish chores, I redo the chores in my head, making sure everything got the hay, feed, water they were supposed to. I also try to remember if I shut
    the gates. My short term memory is fading fast, so I have left the water running a few times!

Call me obsessive compulsive, set in my ways, an old dog with no new tricks or stuck in a rut because I could go on and on with examples.

I was wondering if anyone else has any of these habits and thought it would be fun to hear them.

A good day to all,

Malinda

 

[frostback]

I am a cow counter too. My calving superstition is that I dont make a tag for the new calf till it is up and nursed that first time. When I first started making the tags for hubbys cows I made one for a cow just starting to calve and the calf died so after that no tag till calf is up and nursing.

 

[red]

Old habits, hum... lots!

Same time to wake up every morning. Eat the same breakfast alomost every day. Drink the same diet pop I've drank for years. Sleep on the same side of the bed & always on my stomach.

Cows, I'm a cow watcher. Look at them several times a day in the barn & from the window. I wait a while before making up registration papers for Frostback's reasons. I also have to go into the pen to feed because if I por it over the gate I spill it of the heifers bump it out of the way. Always want new Kamar tags on the cows as soon as they're bred. Never know when they'll come back in heat. Also habit of picking up anything that is dropped like a glove or bag so it doesn't get eaten or just cluttered.

Red

 

[rtnok]

I walk out and check the cows after work every day even when its midnight during harvest some times my wife calls me to see of I'm home.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I think it is just second nature to count cows just to make sure everybody is where they are supposed be. I can tell most of the time when a cow is missing and who she is when I'm doing pasture tours but I always count them just to make sure. Another habit I have is setting up stalls at shows. I do it the same everytime reguardless of what show we are at - even the kids know the routine by heart.