The Red Poll Girls As The Seasons Change

Autumn has been in the air for quite some time now, but the weather has been glorious and the Red Poll girls have continued to eat well. They get grain in the morning, apples in the afternoon and grass all day long:

Little Pearl is the youngest and smallest calf. She's also the only one not eating grain yet. I haven't seen her eating grass either, but I assume she has been:

I wanted my cows to be friendly and tame. It's taken a couple of years to get there, but I think we've reached the "happy and tame" status:

I give Gladys her own personal bowl of grain every morning and it has resulted in her trusting me and looking to me for goodies

Loretta began life as a thin, leggy, deer-like calf but she's begun to bulk up like the beef cow she was bred to be:

I give the cattle a five gallon pail of apples every afternoon, and will continue to do so until the apples are gone:

Pearl and Loretta:

Jasmine was the third cow to come into heat this year. I called for the artificial insemination man and put Jasmine in the head-lock gate:

Artificial insemination is not a job for the squeamish but the cows don't seem to mind at all. I now have three cows bred for next year - Amy, Gracie and Jasmine:

Idyllic weather, clear blue skies, sunshine glinting off the cattle's red coats - I'll have to remember these days when the temperatures drop and the snowy winds howl this winter:

One last calf photo - Loretta again. She too was eating apples: