Days Mill Road, Hopkinton NY - Part 3

I was approaching the end of my driving tour of Days Mill Road (see also Parts 1 and 2, posted previously), and stopped at this country home with outbuildings:

There was a bird house in the top of that old tree and a tire swing hanging below. The outbuilding on the right was in the style which always causes me to think it was once the main residence on this farm:

Lots of firewood and a hay field:

An old style country home:

This wonderful barn had an orange and white cat grooming itself in the open hayloft door. If you click to enlarge the picture, you can see it:

A large, well maintained home with an enclosed porch and several outbuildings:

A tiny cottage behind the trees, possibly someone's weekend getaway:

New England Asters and Goldenrod between the road and the forest:

Tall Red Pines along the road:

A large and elaborate home in a woodsy style, with a brook right behind it:

I turned off of Days Mill Road onto the state road, which was lined with corn fields:

And across from the corn fields were old apple trees, apparently untended and dropping their copious fruit all over the ground. It was all wondrous autumn scenery. But this was the end of my driving tour and I had dogs at home who were anxious for me to return. I put my camera away and headed homeward:

The Franklin County Fair - Part 1

On the second day of my sister's visit, we took a drive to Malone, New York in order to see the Franklin County Fair. We began in the goat barn and with this friendly face:

I used to have dairy goats and still think they're one of the best animals there is. They're certainly about the friendliest:

  This sign was on a pen full of youngsters. It was clever and I got a chuckle out of it:

  Goats love people and they begged for attention:

We walked across the lane to visit the horse barn, stopping along the way to greet this friendly cat with giant feet and extra toes:

This warning caused me to be careful. I think this horse was like Remy - friendly, but inclined to explore with his mouth:

Next stop was the cow barn. It was all dairy cattle on that day. Beef cattle would be exhibited later in the week:

Lots of people stayed right there with their livestock:

And they kept them immaculately clean. I figured they must have to pick up manure every 15 minutes or so to keep them so clean. Cleaning up urine soaked bedding might be more difficult:

These cows are obviously well cared for and accustomed to much handling:

We walked over to the arena and saw what at first appeared to be children showing their goats in front of a judge. We watched for awhile and learned that the actual competition was the next day but the judge was giving pointers to the children, explaining what to do and what not to do. It was fun to watch:

Next was the poultry barn, where we found these Guinea Fowl:

And Buff Laced Polish chickens:

And quite a few Peacocks. But there was still much to see at the fair. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Annual Visit To The Neighbors' Sheep Farm

My sheep farming neighbors told me it was lambing season and to come on down and see them. So I drove to their house and went into the barn to find them. No one was there but Doug, their old horse (and the sheep, of course). Doug was happy to have a visitor and we chatted for a while, but I left the sheep alone since no one was home:

I returned later in the day, just as my neighbors arrived home. They'd been gone for hours and wanted to check on the sheep also. It turned out that 11 lambs had been born that day:

The bigger, stronger lambs were in the pens with the big sheep. Those who were small, weak or had other problems were put in smaller, separate pens like the ewe and lambs in the background:

A mother and her two little ones:

There were two brand new, black patterned lambs whose mother was still passing the afterbirth:

The second lamb of that pair had even cuter markings:

This ewe and her two babies was in a pen of their own:

There were also two chocolate and white newborns with their traditionally white mother:

The daughter-in-law of the farm owners comforted a rejected lamb. The ewe had triplets and was feeding the two smaller males. This larger female, however, had been rejected. The solution was to put the ewe in a stanchion and hold the lamb up to nurse. They planned to take the baby to a friend for hand feeding later, but first it needed colostrum:

Two babies, watched closely by their guarding mama:

Several mothers and their lambs shared a spacious pen:

My neighbors had lots of work to do, so I thanked them and headed for the exit, stopping to snap a photo of a friendly barn cat as I passed by:

Meet Bugsy, The Lucky Kitten

You may recall that I'd found a kitten which someone dropped off at my barn. I kept him isolated in the barn for a week while I treated his runny eyes and made sure all his fleas were gone. Then I took him to the vet for vaccinations. I named him Bugsy and brought him indoors to see his new home - and its other occupants:

Seamus was the first to come see the tiny kitten. Bugsy didn't panic but wasn't quite sure what to make of the gigantic dog:

Then Daphne came to see him. Bugsy seemed to think he liked the smaller dogs better:

Then Jack gave him a thorough sniffing, but by this time Bugsy was unafraid and sniffing back:

I took him upstairs to the cat room, where I showed him the litter boxes and set him up on a cat tree:

I left him upstairs but he ran back down to be where the action was. Daphne, Seamus and Jack checked him out once again:

And again:

A friendship was born - the biggest dog and the smallest cat. Seamus and Bugsy really took to each other:

Soon I began finding Bugsy curled up at Seamus' side while Fergus tried his best to fit on the same dog bed:

Bugsy and Seamus were almost inseparable:

Because he'd hissed at Clover when they first met, she'd thereafter been reticent to get chummy. But Bugsy soon marched right over and got close, signaling that he'd decided she was OK. You may be wondering where the adult cats were. Bramble watched Bugsy from a distance, but Georgette and Rocky pretended the little squirt didn't even exist. But they all came around in a few days - Bramble first, then Rocky and finally Georgette:

Spring Lambing At A Neighbors' Farm

I stopped in at the neighbors' barn one morning because I knew it was lambing season and they had a barn full of sheep:

I've heard of a "dog in a manger," but never before a "cat in a manger:"

Both the husband and wife were out in the barn when I arrived, and they were excited. I could tell a crisis was in progress:

The crisis was that two ewes had given birth to twins. One lamb had died already and this pair was struggling to survive. The lamb on the left was too weak to nurse, so their owner had milked out some colostrum from the ewe and fed it to the lamb. Its feeble cries were getting weaker and it didn't appear able to stand up. It was not expected to live:


 The rest of the sheep, however, were happy and healthy:

The sheep on this farm were mostly of mixed origins, largely Katahdin and Dorper, both primarily meat breeds:

The little pied lamb on the left was particularly appealing:

They'd just received their morning's hay and everyone was busy eating:

This is Mary, named for the nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." She was a bottle fed baby and has remained tame all her life. Mary is old now, and is the main attraction when folks come to see the sheep. She's always friendly:

This ewe with the golden face was the mother of the pied lamb a couple of photos up:

And of course there were barn cats:

The owner fetched some stale bread and we fed the ewes. Well, actually she fed the ewes because they weren't interested in taking any bread from me, a person they didn't know. I helped the husband move a big round hay bale, thanked the couple and took my leave: