Calling The Cows Home

Four of the cows learned to stick their heads through the pipes to get at their grain. Two of them even began letting me stroke their necks and foreheads:

A different two learned how to get their grain but were still skittish about letting me touch them. The fifth cow was very timid and I had to keep tempting her with grain on her own side of the pipes:

This is number 32 and number 1, the two tamest, boldest cows. I was still waiting for paperwork to learn their names, but the ear tags sure helped. I'm learning every day of their individual personalities and watching them evolve. Number 32 is the cow who first threw a kick at me. Now she is perhaps the tamest of them all:

"Hello. Are you going to feed us now?":

It sure looks summery in this photo, but our weather has turned cold and snowy:

"I'm not sure I want you any closer, Mister:"

A new addition - a feeder full of free choice minerals and an indoor stock tank full of water. When it freezes, they'll just have to use the outdoor tank which has a heater. Notice that the chickens were the first to investigate. They stick their little beaks into everything, curious little birds that they are:

And the cows have been getting hay since early November. I'm sure it's a welcome treat on cold, snowy days:

But they also find grass to eat, even with the snow:

They know every inch of their field:

And really like it if the snow melts:

I've been working on taming my girls by giving them grain twice a day. Then I began ringing a cow bell when dinner was served and they picked up the meaning of that almost instantly. So when I saw them clear across the field, I grabbed my camera and began ringing the bell. It's a little shaky in places because I was simultaneously filming, ringing the bell and adjusting the zoom lens, but you can clearly see the joy with which these cows frolicked toward the barn.