Bull Gates and Baler Twine

One of the joys of wondering around the countryside is that of getting up 'close' to some beautiful animals.     Not too close, in this instance,  I like the security of a strong fence between us.   The next photograph shows just how enormous he is - no trickery involved, he is massive.

There is a public footpath which cuts across a corner of his field, I always make sure that the bull and his family are at the far end of the paddock, before I use it.    He is huge, but he seems very placid when his very young offspring have a mad five minutes of leaping and playing around him.   The first time I saw it happen I held my breath, fully expecting him to get grumpy, but he was fine with them.

This handsome old bull has now been replaced by some youngster.    I shall miss Big Daddy, he was quiet and contented to have his wives and family around him.   He had a good life.   

I never cut through the fields when I have the dog with me, that would be asking for trouble - not so much from the bull, but from the anxious mama's.   

I'm always fascinated to observe their system of social behaviour.    I'm sure there must be books about it, it seems to be quite structured.   One or two females look after the calves, a kind of creche, for a while.    Another is always on look-out duty.    There is usually one female who stays fairly close to the bull,  though whether that is simply the wife of the day, or his favourite wife, I haven't worked out.   😉

This is the replacement - a little white bull, his lady for today was the one lying down just in front of him.    Just after I took this photograph they took a nice little stroll along the side of the fenced-off river.    I was walking the dog home, along  the other bank of the river, using an unofficial path through a barley field, rather than risk any trouble.

Three little beauties with a guardian.

These two were having a good old munch but stopped to watch me watching them.


Good strong fences keep them in, along with some electric fencing here and there.     More worrying though are the gates...

Where would a farmer be without his bits of baler twine!   Luckily, there are no bulls in this field, only a handful of cows with their calves.

Another gate on the same farm - this one is only trying to keep the weeds and nettles at bay, so that is alright.

This is the main gate  to the field which holds the bull and his many wives and families.   Already a stout and strong one, reinforced this year with an old metal hurdle ... tied on with baler twine, of course.