The cows that vacated the back row are nicely settled into the swing-cow routine, so instead of bringing them back into the barn and throwing off their newly discovered rhythm, we decided to bring in some heifers for what I like to call "heifer practice".
"Heifer Practice" is the process of aclimating and young heifer to life in the dairy barn before she has her calf. There are a great many things that they have to learn about life in the dairy, so if they can figure all of those things out before the calf comes, their stress level is greatly lowered.
Until now, all each heifer has ever really been exposed to is life in the livestock barn. They can run around and headbutt each other. They have to compete (even if only a little) for feed and for a drink from the big water tubs. There is no routine really, and no structure to their daily activities. Life in the dairy is much different.
Things that heifers learn include such challenges as wearing a collar, drinking from a waterbowl (this requires learning to push a button with your nose), lying down and standing up on a matress, interacting with the other cows, having a routine, having their udders touched, etc. Having a calf for the very first time is stressful even in the best of situations, so if we can take away all of the other stress factors (like learning about dairy life) a heifer's introduction into the dairy world goes much smoother.
We have 9 heifers in the back row at the moment. Currently Ritz is the only one who has learned how to use the waterbowl. The others all need to have their bowls filled for them. This means that somebody has to go to each waterbowl and push the button for the heifer so that she can have a drink. They are learning the routine, but it is a slow process... Our heifers are very friendly but their heads seem to be rather empty.
Wisdom comes with age I suppose. Hopefully they will retain some of their newly found knowledge after they calve later this summer. Until then, turnout and bring-in will continue to be a fiasco, and somebody will need to continue to fill the waterbowls for them... Hurray for heifers!