Showing posts with label calf pen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calf pen. Show all posts

Monday, August 24, 2015

August Scenes From Around The Farm

The Wild Cucumber began blooming in August. Next month they will produce fruit for me to photograph:

The local corn fields grew extra tall this year - well, at least some of them did, and looked stunning, bordered with Cattails, Goldenrod. Black-Eyed Susans and Queen Ann's Lace:

The recently mowed hay fields looked lovely, and smelled good too:

This dirt lane took the farmer down between his corn field and a woodland. I would have loved to find out where it went, but I didn't know who owned the field. It's right down the road from me, though, so I hope to find out:

My own little orchard was looking good this year, as well as providing a shady spot for nesting birds and my little flock of Barred Rock Bantams:

This was the view from my upstairs bathroom window one morning. What a wonderful way to begin the day:

One pair of fantail pigeons raised two babies this month:

They were growing like wildfire so I wanted to photograph them quickly, before they were indistinguishable from the adults:

Several hens went broody, but this little lady was the most persistent, refusing to leave the nest box unless I lifted her out and set her down on the floor (which I did twice a day):

My project for the month was to build a calf pen/trap at the end of the cattle area. I began by salvaging that pile of boards from up in the hayloft and throwing them down through the bale feeder hole so they could be used in the construction:

Then I added two gates and cattle panel wire to allow me access but deny the calves an exit when I wanted to detain them. I used pipe to lock the two wider gates so they'd have a big enough gap for the calves, but not for the cows. The calves can go in for grain and, if I want to capture one of them, I merely close and lock the entrance gate:

The verdict is still out on its success, but I quickly got the two older calves to go in there for grain. Alas, they weren't the calves I was hoping to catch: