Weaning the Cows

It's that time of year again...  Time to separate the cows from their calfs.  We take them out of the pasture where they've spent all summer (and eaten all of the food - there's nothing left for them to eat in there) and put them into the corral.  We put the cows (mammas) into the bigger part and the calfs into their own pen that's attached to the big corral, but separated by a fence.  It's easier to feed them this way than out in the pasture, and it weans the calfs so they are ready to sell at auction in a few weeks.

There's only one real problem with this.  The cows don't like it.  Many of the mamma cows have already weaned their calfs, and there's no problem with them.  But there are always a few cows who are still nursing and they and their calfs don't like the weaning process, and they let us know in the only way they know how (i.e. mooing - loudly) that they are unhappy with this new arrangement.  It takes a couple of days for everyone to get on board with the idea, but by about day three they all calm down.  It's not so bad during the day, but bed time is a different story...  Every time I think I'm about to fall asleep, I get serenaded by the cows. 

It's going to be a long couple of days...