An Apple Frenzy

All the apple trees in my little grove caught some disease this year. Their fruit failed to develop and the trees lost most of their leaves. Two trees on the other side of the house, however, did bear fruit and it all began dropping onto the lawn and making it impossible to mow. So I decided I to give the herd one five gallon pail of apples per day. I collected one bucket full of apples and headed for the barn:

I intended to drive the bucket of apples out into the field on the tractor to avoid being out on foot with the bull. But when I got to the barn, I saw the herd nearby and decided to slip in through the gate and dump them on the ground. Once I was in the field, however, the bull saw me and uttered an enormous, bone chilling bellow and came charging for me:

I had the presence of mind to dump the apples before I fled. Indeed, when he reached the apples, it became apparent that was all he wanted in the first place, the cause of his loud bellow:

Remy and Blue were quick to get as many as they could before they got pushed out by the big cattle:

All my animals are overweight, so I didn't want any of them to eat too many - especially Blue with his big potbelly:

When the cattle were all in place, they began gobbling up apples so fast that I figured none of them would get too much:

It's amazing how many apples a five gallon bucket can hold:

Rosella did not like the little horses eating all her apples, so she moved in quickly to get as many for herself as she could:

Teddy, the bull, was a gentleman the entire time, sharing apples with his ladies and his little buddies, the horses:

The second day, I did the same - but that day I turned off the electric fence in case I again needed to make a quick exit. I dumped the apples and exited through the gate before the bull arrived, but I stood across the fence from him, only a few feet away, and marveled at his size and strength:

It was a feeding frenzy:

It was great fun and made the animals happy, but with so many of them obese, I decided against feeding them more. They will have to finish this season without apples: