The Red Poll Cattle, An Update

It's been a busy springtime for the Red Poll girls, what with burgeoning pastures, new babies, moving from one field to another and temperatures ranging from 30 to 90 degrees:

Gracie has been a wonderful mother although her udder produced much more milk than her baby could use, at least at the beginning. But she stayed even tempered and kindly disposed toward me in spite of her protective instincts toward her calf:

While they were in the north field, they had Shadbush in bloom as a backdrop:

And they spent much of every day lounging in the sun. That smaller animal in the foreground, by the way, was Annie. She was born on March 27 but grew at an astounding rate. Rosella, who was born last August, is almost full grown already and difficult to pick out when viewing the herd:

Gladys, Gracie's new calf, could run like the wind from her very first day. And run she did, as much as possible:

Annie and Gladys stuck together. They stayed with the herd, but I could almost always find one of them beside the other:

The chickens quickly figured out my routine and also learned that the cowbell meant I'd soon be putting bowls of grain down for the cows. And they were not shy about stealing whatever grain they could get their little beaks on:

Gracie, Gladys and Annie:

See anything odd about this photo? Look on top of Annie's head, clicking to enlarge the picture if necessary. She had been standing too close to the rear end of one of the cows and wore a dried poop-cap for a few days:

When I moved the cattle back across the road to the south field, they were happy to reclaim their shady spot beneath the Box-Elder trees:

And they again began eating grain inside the barn, not that the chickens were impressed. They were just as happy to steal grain inside as outside:

And I learned one day that drainage ditches have a second purpose. They're cool and damp, just right for two calves to get into on a hot day: