Farm Excitement - Bull!

The boys and I came home from town this afternoon and noticed a large black object in the alfalfa field. That's unusual! George said "It's the bull!" I said that I didn't think so but grabbing the binoculars out of the farm truck which proved George right... again. My first thought was I have a bull laying down in a field of alfalfa and that isn't a good sign. Bloat is a real concern with ruminants eating green legumes. Green legumes build acid in ruminant stomachs that produce gas bubbles which cattle can't pass. As the legumes continue to produce gas bubbles their stomach eventually crowds out everything inside of their abdomen and they go down for the count and eventually death. While we were formulating a plan the bull got up and started walking toward the paddock where he had escaped. That was a good sign and so a plan hatched to use the bobcat skid-loader to persuade the bull to go though one of the gates into the pasture or back into the paddock. After trying to show he was boss which didn't really work against the skid-loader, the bull eventually ended up going through the main gate into the pasture. Tomorrow I'll get some step-in posts and run electric along the cattle panel that he's figured out he can overpower and then push him back into the paddock with the steers. Hopefully that process goes without a hitch. I don't need that type of excitement.