Making Friends With My New Red Polls

My five new Red Poll cows found a spot near the woods at the far end of the field where they decided to hang out. For the first few days, I had to walk across the field and herd them back to the barn for grain:

But once they learned about the joys of eating grain and where it would be served, they began hanging out near the barn as much as possible:

And they learned that I was the provider of that sweet feed:

I also collected five gallon pails of apples and spread them on the ground. They didn't at first know what they were, but learned quickly that they were very tasty:

I put the food bowls out on the grass at first:

And moved them closer to the barn with each feeding:

Then I moved them inside the barn, hoping to tempt the cattle inside. Look well at that clean, clean floor. Neither you nor I will ever see it again like that:

Then I began moving the food bowls to the outside of the tie stalls, hoping that they'd stick their heads through to get at it. It worked for three of them, but two cows just stayed outdoors:

Things were looking promising for three cows, though not for the other two. I still wasn't ready to try and hook their chains, though. And look at that formerly clean floor!:

We had some decent weather for their first week:

They were drinking 300 gallons of water or more each day. I had to check the 110 gallon stock tank three or four times daily. I later concluded that I was giving them too many apples, causing diarrhea and a corresponding big thirst:

They seemed to be happy girls and were getting more comfortable with me being around. Still, they were very large animals and could hurt me without even trying. So I endeavored to be careful, a wise decision, I realized, when one of them became frightened and threw a kick in my direction. I determined to go more slowly after that: