Cows, Calves And Snow

Part of the reward of doing morning chores is seeing skies such as this. The eastern heavens appeared to be on fire, spread out over the cattle as they munched their hay:

Then there are the downsides, as represented by Tabitha sticking her tongue out at me. One night after dark, a woman knocked on my door to tell me that both my calves were in the road. I quickly went out to herd them back in and finally did so after I got into my car and used it for speed, headlights and a "driver" of formidable size. I had to then turn the electric fence back on and check the perimeter the next morning, looking for shorts in the electric wires:

The cattle don't seem to mind the cold and snow. In fact, the snow on their backs is an indicator of how much insulating value their fur has. The snow would melt if they were losing body heat:

I mostly keep the bale feeder on the east side of the barn so they have some protection from the wind:

And the little horses often join them now. In fact, they all seem to be getting along much better than formerly:

Amy still has not been inseminated for this year and I keep watching her for signs she's in heat. So far, no luck. The same is true of Violet. In both cases, I blame myself for letting them get too fat:

The calves have grown rapidly and I have now put them for sale on the website:

The cow in this picture was Scarlett, and she has gone after the horses a few times. I watched this scene for a bit to be sure there would be no unpleasantness, but there wasn't:

Rosella, born here and my first calf, is now a mother herself. Feeding her calf requires a lot of food, so she seldom leaves the bale feeder:

In fact, eating hay is the primary occupation of all the cattle. They only seem to take a break when they chew their cuds, an essential step in digesting the hay: