The Red Poll Girls, As Snow Arrives

Autumn was proceeding smoothly and the Red Poll girls were eating hay out of their hay bale feeder:

Little Rosella wasn't really so little anymore and she was becoming more curious and bold:

But then winter arrived, and it arrived with force:

The cows continued to try to find grass to eat in the pasture but what little remained was quickly buried beneath the new snow:

The winds howled, the snow flew and any wet snow quickly turned to ice:

I began feeding grain twice a day and, if the weather were truly bad, leaving the barn door open for some of the day and all of the night so they could come in to get out of the cold:

I now always let the cows sleep in the barn at night:

Really girls? Really? Is this how you abuse your bedroom? Yes, this is the mess I have to clean up every morning (and this is only half of the space they soil):

These wide bodied bovines spend most of each day eating hay:

One five foot diameter bale weighs about 1000 pounds and lasts about three days. I've found that it's difficult to get the bales to the feeder because the cows stop the tractor, trying to eat it while it's still in the air:

But all my girls still look fat and sleek. They seem happy and healthy:

And they still have fun. I caught Gracie trying on a fright wig made of hay one day, while Jasmine gave her the stink-eye: