The Red Poll Ladies

The ladies enjoyed the luxury of summertime in the south field, a time of leisure with a lot of variety and quantity of plants to eat:

They still got grain each morning, though, and often would be waiting for me by the barn as the sun came up over the horizon:

I told my neighbor that the cows were not eating the grass clippings he brought because they had so much else to eat. But one day they seemed to discover the clippings and feasted on them with great enthusiasm, even keeping the horses away from their found treasure:

Things were going smoothly, but I'd already sprayed the fence line around the north field and had a neighbor boy scraping paint around the barn windows. It was time to move all the animals to the north field:

The cows went willingly because they'd made this trip across the road before and knew there'd be fresh, lush grass when they got there. The horses balked to be forced to leave their home field, but I had help getting them across the road and they were happy horses once they arrived:

There seems to be more flies in the north field but otherwise, everyone is happy there:

This is Gracie, hoping I brought her some grain:

I think Gracie has a crabby look on her face but she's quite sweet with me. She can, however, be crabby with the other cows when she wants to eat their grain:

In spite of all the lush grass, the girls seem unusually eager to get the grain I bring them twice a day:

Violet, however happy she was to get a bowl of grain, could not be bothered to stand up. Do you suppose these cows are a bit pampered?

Morning and evening, they each get a small bowl of grain:

And so do Blue and Remy, the miniature horses. The problem comes after that, when they begin fighting over the bowls. Like dogs and people, horses and cows also seem to believe that the others got more and better food. Then begins the struggle, the game of musical food bowls: