A Cold, Rainy Morning

The morning was cold, with stinging, numbing winds, and the sky promised rain or snow soon as I did the morning chores:

The previous day I'd feared that Jasmine was dying, but I found a horse feed, full of grain and drenched in molasses which she scarfed down like a starving cow. She began standing all day and keeping up with the herd. Things were looking up:


In the pigeon room, the baby who kept falling out of the nest was now blocked in and still alive in spite of the cold, along with its sibling:

The younger babies in the nest on the floor were also alive although I didn't want to get my hopes up. Babies at this time of year don't often live to adulthood:

The big machinery began pulling in to the corn field across the road from my house, and harvesting began even as cold rain began to fall. I knew the corn kernels would be processed through a dryer before storage, so there was no worry about the rain. Two years ago they harvested in October and I got better videos of the process. Just click here:


And then the gravel I'd ordered arrived. I put the mischievous horses in the barn and let the truck back in and dump seven yards of bank run gravel. Violet sauntered over to check it out:

The area in front of the barn door was muddy and messy, causing me to want something firmer for the animals to walk on. I didn't know if it would help their hooves, but I figured that it might:

I spent the morning on the tractor, scooping up and spreading the gravel. I would previously have worried about the bigger rocks, but now I consider them a potential blessing, thinking they might help break off hooves which grow too long. I was cold and miserable by the time I was done so I let the horses back out and went inside to warm up:

Wheeler Road In Bangor, New York - Part 2

I was taking a driving tour on Wheeler Road in rural Bangor, New York (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). This attractive farm house had a lovely front porch and what looked like a new roof:

A traditional family farm, with barns and silo:

A busy barnyard:

A beautiful old barn:

The road narrowed and may have been called by another name as I continued north, but my focus was on the rural scenery such as these barns and silo:

An attractive farm house with front porch:

This farm had several red barns and white board fences:

It also had some black and gold colored cattle, munching on a hay bale:


Another farm house with a front porch and a chimney:

I had to pull off onto a short dead end road to photograph these handsome horses:

Another barn and silo on the same farm as the horses:

And right after I'd photographed the barn in the above photo, this black and white horse walked out from behind the fence. I'm glad I didn't drive away before I saw him. But this was the end of my driving tour, so I put away my camera and continued on toward home:

This Post Is For The Birds

This post began as a general farm post until I noticed that every photo involved birds in some way. The fantail pigeons are successfully raising another couple of squabs. They were just a few days old when I took this photo:

All the fantail pigeons seem happy and healthy:

The bantams run out to see the cows when I first let them out in the morning:

Only a couple of the pigeons have been going outside, but their numbers have been increasing. I've noticed that they usually only go out in the morning, when the weather and the metal roof are not yet too hot:

And sometimes the pigeons and chickens hang out together:

And speaking of hot metal roofs:

A rare sight - six fantail pigeons, all the way up on the barn roof:

Here are those same two babies, just a few days older than the first photo:

A regular barnyard assembly, this photo taken from my back porch:

The chickens don't miss an inch of the mowed part of the property. In this case, they were searching for bugs and other edibles in the front yard:

And speaking of birds, I was on the riding mower along the side of the road when a brown bird flushed out and fluttered about three feet away. Afraid I'd injured a bird, I got out to investigate. It turned out to be a baby Snipe, or Woodcock:

He was a cute little fella (or girl), but clearly not happy to see me. Snipes are not often seen, and even less often seen this closely. I was glad it wasn't hurt and grateful to have had such a close view of a special wild bird:

Red Poll Cattle Photo Album

The cattle have been especially pretty this spring, and I've been snapping lots of photos. Here's a few of my favorites, beginning with Jasmine. Her belly is huge and she's due to calve soon, but her udder still shows no development whatsoever:

Rosella is a very big girl now and still growing. I need to put a bigger collar on her and keep trying to do so while she's eating grain. So far, she hasn't allowed me to get it done. She backs away whenever I try:

The three calves: Loretta, Gladys and Annie:

Gladys and Annie:

Jasmine again, showing her wide, wide belly:

Sleeping as a group:

Taking it easy. The big girl, sprawled out there, is Jasmine. You can see that her belly is full but her udder is not:

Annie and Gladys were playing on the manure/bedding pile. They'd climb to the top and then jump off, running and having a grand time. Loretta was still too young to join them, but she will be enjoying such games before long:

Gladys climbed up what was left of last year's pile. When she saw me photographing her, she bounded down and across the field, kicking up her heels just for fun:

Scarlett has weaned her last calf, Rosella, and been re-bred. She's due again at the end of the summer:

Loretta can run like a deer - and often does. Catching her to put tattoos and an ear tag in her ears has not been easy. In fact, I haven't yet been able to do it:

"Catch me, huh? Not a chance, human!"