Around The Farm In Chilly Weather

I go out to do the morning chores as soon as there is enough light to see what I'm doing. That often means seeing glorious dawns in the eastern sky:


And on some late afternoons, I see amazing sights in the sky. This full moon was moving across my north field:


The bantam hens seem happy with their cloistered lives:

One hen kept laying occasional eggs but she finally gave it up for the winter. I eat so few eggs, though, that I've still got some in the refrigerator. It's a good thing eggs keep so long:

The white fantail pigeons get all excited when I top off their water. Maybe they think I've put vodka in there:

Our weather has been a wild roller coaster ride, swinging between sudden thaws and sudden winter storms. The herd has handled it all with aplomb:

Remy and Jasmine, the two friendliest animals in the herd. When I walk out to say hello, these two are always glad to see me and they enjoy being stroked - Remy likes the top of his face petted and Jasmine likes me to rub her neck, under her chin:

The little horses and big cows seem happy and content. I never see any dominance displays over the hay supply:

Every morning with new snow, I find an abundance of wildlife tracks. Usually they are cottontail and fox tracks as in this photo, but I sometimes see other tracks which I think are bobcat, coyote and snowshoe hare:

My Amish neighbor is also the horses' farrier, and he usually arrives very early in the morning. On this morning, the sun had not yet risen above the barn roof, which is why the north field is brightly lit but the horse and buggy are still shadowed. The good news is that he said both horses' hooves are healing and looking good:

The sheep farmers up the road brought another load of stemmy hay. Their sheep eat the leaves but leave the stems, which my cows are happy to eat:

This time I was able to position the bale feeder over the top of the stemmy hay: