Goodbye To Lucky

The herd was peaceful and relaxed, with our drought ended and so much grass growing that I couldn't tempt them into the barn for grain. They were happy:

Little Lucky wasn't so little any more. He'd become a big boy:

The herd basked in the sun, and Lucky was part of the herd, though I knew I'd need to sell him soon:

The problem was how to get Lucky to come into the barn for grain. I placed an ad in Craigslist and got a call within the hour:

A family came out to see him and liked what they saw. They gave me a deposit and I promised to call them when I could get Lucky trapped in the barn:

When the day came, I rang the bell for the cattle. They ignored me, so I walked out into the field with the bell and two bowls of grain. I put the grain right under the nose of Rosella and Scarlett, the two who would be most likely to come to the barn. They were also Lucky's mother and grandmother, who he'd almost surely follow:

It took a lot of coaxing, but I finally got them into the barn. Then I closed the door on just Lucky. He was not happy:


I went inside to call the buyers and when I returned to the barn, Lucky was staging what he thought was his escape. I shooed him back inside the fenced area:

The buyers couldn't get here until afternoon, so I walked to the barn every half hour or so to check on Lucky, who was determined to escape. He couldn't get out of the barn, but he could get out of the barriers - and he kept trying:

He finally broke through that pallet I'd chained to the wall on the right side of this photo, ripping the chain right out of the wall. I found him wandering around the barn, knocking things over and searching for an escape route. I shooed him back inside the barriers and put the pallet back up:

He spent a lot of time at the barn door, mooing to his mother, Rosella. She stood on the other side, mooing back to him. It was sad, but had to be done. They generally get over the separation quickly, though in this case mother and son had all day to lament their parting:

Lucky was never as friendly as Rocket, my purebred bull calf, but he was every bit as much of an escape artist. The family arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon and backed their trailer up to the barn door. Lucky jumped right up inside the trailer, no ramp needed. He's now at his new home, where I know he has a couple of miniature horses to hang around with, just like he was used to here: