Winter Red Poll Ladies

The Red Poll girls are all fat and happy, enjoying their hay now that winter has fully arrived:

I roll the bale feeder to a new location with each new bale, leaving a bed of old hay which they use for lying down. This is Rosella, luxuriating in the soft hay:

And I sometimes carry their grain out to them if they won't come into the barn. It's part of my effort to get them used to coming into the barn each day once again. Notice the mackerel sky in this photo:

Their coats have become less red and more brown, something which happens each winter:

Scarlett, long one of the least friendly cows, has decided I'm not such a bad guy after all:

Rosella got too fat for her LG cow collar, so I took it off of her and bought an XL collar. It took nearly a week to get her to allow me to put it on her, but she now looks spiffy in her new blue collar and red ear tag. Sadly, I discovered that she too has a crack in a hoof claw. I am giving them all grain and extra minerals now in an attempt to stop their hooves from cracking:

They are a peaceful group, and don't bat an eyelash as I walk among them:

Some mornings when I ring the bell to call them in for grain,they will walk almost to the barn and then stop, refusing to go any farther. If I continue ringing the bell, a few of them will usually (not always) come in for grain. I carry out a bowl for each of the others. I don't give them much because they're already fat, but a little grain with minerals seems wise, both for their health and to get them used to coming into the barn when called like they used to do:

Jasmine seems to be feeling much better. She stands as much as the other cows, keeps up with the herd, and eats with gusto. That's her with a mouthful of hay:

Like the horses, they are not phased by the snow and cold. When the cold winds begin, however, they won't like it and will move to the east side of the barn for protection. Of course I'll then move the bale feeder there too:

Rosella, chewing her cud in the morning sun:

A happy herd:

Snapshots From Around The Farm

Evening, just before dark. I'd finished the evening chores and was returning to the house to settle in for the night when I noticed this glorious sunset:

 Another day, mid-afternoon, just up the county road from my house: A snowy cornfield, filled with geese:

 They were close to the road and were only mildly concerned when I stopped my car to take pictures. The white birds are adult Snow Geese, the dark birds are Canada Geese and the gray birds are immature Snow Geese:

 Early morning, as I walked out to the barn to tend to the animals. Overhead were multiple skeins of loudly honking geese. They continued honking and passing overhead all through that day:

 I've been attempting to tempt the cows to come into the barn for grain every morning like they used to do. Alas, they've been resistant. On this morning, they walked up almost to the barn and stopped, looking interested but unwilling to enter:

 I had the bowls of grain prepared and wanted to get them used to eating it, so I carried the feed out to them:

 Jasmine still has three bad hoof cracks but has been standing and walking normally, so I am hopeful. On this morning, though, she had her collar hooked over her ear. Jasmine is tame and friendly, perfectly willing to let me adjust it. Some of the others are not that trusting:

 Once her collar was adjusted, Jasmine gobbled her breakfast. She gets expensive, extra sweet feed with a heaping dose of trace minerals sprinkled on top. She also gets a quadruple portion because I'm trying to help her recover from those crippling hoof cracks:

 The miniature horses had been eating their breakfasts also, but they were inside the barn, locked in individual stalls to keep them from fighting. When they were done, I shooed them out the door. Remy looked around, probably wondering where he could start the most trouble:

 Blue walked over the new patch of gravel and then just stood there:

 He took a drink of water from the stock tank and then looked at me as if wondering what I was up to. I'd hoped to take a picture which would illustrate how fat he's gotten, but these pictures seemed to have a slimming effect on him. I wish photos did that for me:

 Refreshed and ready to begin their day, both Blue and Remy headed out into the field to join their cow family:

The Red Poll Girls

Before we got our first snow, I returned the cows to the north field. Two weeks later, I led them back across the road to the south field. That's were they'll spend the winter:

Poor Jasmine. The day after her cracked and infected rear hoof was worked on, I discovered bad cracks in two front hooves. She stopped eating and I feared she would die:

But I bought some expensive grain, so saturated with molasses that she ate it, and began feeding her a big bowl full (with extra minerals sprinkled on top) every morning. She's still not recovered, but has been looking much better:

And then the snows began. The cattle clustered around the bale feeder most of each day:

Jasmine didn't come to the barn for grain, so I began carrying her bowl out to her at the bale feeder:

I fed as many cows inside the barn as would enter it. The rest got fed just outside the door while I fed Jasmine, farther out in the field. I had to stand guard, though, lest the other cows take Jasmine's food when they arrived:

"Hey, why does Jasmine get the good stuff?"

It has become a daily ritual, and I slog out through the snow and mud each morning to check on her and make sure she eats a big bowl of nutritious grain:

The cows don't seem to mind the cold, snow or rain at all. It's difficult for me to understand, being a hairless ape whose ancestors evolved on the hot African plains:

I will keep a mineral salt block and granular free choice minerals for the cattle all winter. Selenium deficiency is common around here and I think that was the cause of one calf's death as well as Jasmine's hoof problems:

Another Cattle Crisis

The cattle seemed to be doing fine now that Rosella had recovered from her porcupine quills:

But sweet natured Jasmine did not seem to feel well and stood up as little as she could get away with:

I had previously noticed that she had one claw of a back hoof which was overgrown, so I went out to take a closer look while she was resting. It looked long, but not as long as I'd remembered it:

Alas, when she stood up it appeared much worse and was obviously painful for her:

I called the neighbor who had tranquilized Rosella when she had the porcupine quills. He came out and shot Jasmine with a tranquilizer dart. Remy pulled it out and ran around with it in his mouth until we took it from him - but it had been in Jasmine long enough to have emptied:

Jasmine was slow going down and never went out completely. I had to repeatedly push down her head to keep her from trying to stand up while the neighbor inspected her hoof:

He found a bad crack in her hoof and began paring away at the overgrowth and trying to open up the crack because it had become infected inside:

Rosella and the little horses were very worried and kept checking on Jasmine while he worked:

You can see the crack in the front of the lower claw which he opened up with a knife and rasp:

When he was done, he filled the crack with black ointment to draw out the poison, wrapped the foot in an ACE bandage and gave her a shot of penicillin. Sweet Remy came over and lay his head on her lovingly, while Blue just wanted to check out that bandage:

The next morning, I found Jasmine on her feet and apparently feeling much better. Sadly, I also discovered another big hoof crack, this one in a front claw. I don't yet know how this will be resolved or why her hooves are cracking: