Snowy December Red Poll Girls

'Tis the season for snowy fields, cold winds and Red Polls, munching hay:

The girls spend nearly all their time now at the salad bar, their bale feeder:

They get a new bale every other day and I move the feeder ring with each new bale. This helps prevent it from getting frozen in place and also leaves a circle of wasted hay, which the cattle use as a bed:

Sweet Jasmine is shy and reticent, but always pleasant to work with. She often doesn't come in for grain, so I usually carry a small bowl out to her:

The bale feeder moved farther and farther away from the barn until one day, the heavy snow, bitter cold and strong winds inspired me to move it all the way back to east side of the barn. I hoped they'd get some shelter from the west winds there:

Rosella and her calf, Tabitha, rested in the hay:

One horribly cold and windy day, I tried to walk out the barn door and found these anxious faces, wanting to get inside. I did eventually let them in, but first I had to prepare the barn and give them a new (outdoor) hay bale:

While working, I tried to reenter the barn through the usual door but found the girls so tightly packed around the door that I decided to use a different entrance. They wouldn't hurt me on purpose, but they are so big that it could happen accidentally.

Once the bale feeder was on the east side of the barn, life became more pleasant for all of us and I let them spend the night inside the barn. You can imagine the mess I had to clean up on the next day: