Bull Stuff

Yesterday morning as I began work a noise caught my attention.

It was a low rumble, so low in the bass that I felt it in my belly as much as heard it.

Ummmm. Ummm.

Whatever was that? I wondered. I listened a moment.

It was the bull.

I hurried outside to stand on the front porch because for the first time our bull and the neighbor's bull were in sight of each other. Our neighbor fenced off what used to be a hay field and moved her cattle over there.

In the fog and close early morning hours, the sound of the bulls bellowing at one another was echoing off the house.

Umm. Umm. They both made a very low guttural noise.

Our cows had all stopped eating and were looking at the two bulls. I was reminded of a schoolyard with two bullies going at each other while everyone else stood around and watched them fight.

Suddenly, one of the bulls could stand it no longer!

Miii...nee! Mii... neee! Miii...neee! If you've never heard an angry bull bellow, well. I can hardly describe it. Very loud, very angry and very constant for at least a full minute.

I don't know of course what the bull is "saying" if anything, but it certainly sounds like a very low "Mii...neee!" to me. As in, Mine, Mine Mine! My herd, my women, you get the #@$ away from here!

I was very worried that the electric fence, hot on both sides of the wires, would not be working properly and the animals would get at one another. But thankfully after a while the two males tired of their game and went on about their business.

I didn't get any pictures because it was damp and drizzling and they were not close enough to the house for me to take a shot without getting my digital camera wet, which I did not wish to do.