Cattle kindergarten duty

To my relief I managed to have some success on cattle kindergarten duty.
The calves hung around me till it was time for the mid-day feed, then they scampered back to their respective mothers and I headed home to avoid the afternoon shift.

We'd filled in the morning weeding wild cotton bush, a job that has to be done preferably before flowering finishes and seed sets.

The calves were very interested in the concept of pulling something out of the ground and not eating it, one of the small things their mothers had obviously forgotten to teach them.
They sniffed the growing mounds of weeds with interest. Some taste tested the plants and soon decided that it did not taste good.

The more adventurous discovered that there was good grass where the cotton bushes once stood and took full advantage.
It didn’t take long before they were all feeding around in the area cleared of weeds.

It soon became apparent that calves can eat grass quicker that one lone human can weed cotton bush.
Luckily we were near the dam, I went for a swim and the calves paddled and played chase on the bank.

By 11am we were under the trees on the north side of the dam, the calves had their naps as I dried off in the sun with young Arnold Bully lying next to me contentedly chewing cud.
I think he is proud of his surrogate mum.

Featured drawing from Simon Streatfeild's The Animator