The weather report for this weekend was for 39°C, about 102°F. That’s hot for Salers cows, although the Mirandaise like to sunbathe in that temperature. To aid in herd comfort I moved them to a new paddock where there were plenty of trees.

The new paddock is in the background of the picture above with a line of trees down the left hand side. The gate is at the bottom of the interior fence, which is not a great place to switch paddocks because you can lose the odd heifer who panics and runs up the fence line.

Here they are coming when I say ‘sai sai sai’, which is the Gascon cow call. Yes, my cows speak Gascon. Even the ones from the Auvergne speak it now.

Now they have plenty of shade for the hot weekend. I gave them a big chunk of paddock so they have plenty of food if the hot spell lasts longer than forecast. Now I can rest easy….

…except that Fevette decided to run up the fence rather than go through the gate.

She spent a few minutes watching the herd over the fence.

I gave her a pat and tried to coax her down the hill to the gate but she didn’t want to move further away from the herd. I had placed the water dish just the other side of the gate and left the gate open, so she would figure it out when she finally went for a drink.

I wandered off to leave her to her puzzle, walking through the gate on my way back. She saw me walking away and ran after me and ended up trotting straight through the gate. I am not quite sure why she ran after me, maybe she didn’t want me to go now she had lost the herd. Once she passed through the gate she figured out she could join them and trotted up the hill to the other cows.

Grass and shade: a good place for a cow on a hot day.