The Red Poll Ladies

I began the season with 77 big, round hay bales but only have 18 left. I am wondering if there will be enough to get the girls through to pasture time. Of course I have small bales in the barn's hay loft, so I can extend their hay supply with those if I need to. They are big, hungry animals, whose main activity is eating and processing food:

They haven't received much grain this winter, but it is clear that none of them are losing weight. In fact, I fear they may have gained weight!

They stand mostly to eat, then lie down to chew their cuds and nap. They don't burn many calories except perhaps to keep warm in the cold:

Life is good, and I wonder if they had the choice, would they choose winter with its cold or summer with its biting flies. I'm sure they'd prefer green grass to hay, but the heat and flies must surely be uncomfortable:

They seldom move from the east side of the barn, and if the winds are especially biting, they get right up next to the barn wall:

The pasture became covered with a slick layer of thick, dangerous ice, so I was happy to see the cows staying on the east side of the barn, where there is lots of waste hay to give them traction:

When the neighbor sheep farmers dumped two loads of stemmy hay, the girls ate their fill and then used the remainder for a soft, comfy bed:

Cow number five is Rosella, and she was sound asleep. The bald spot on her spine is from enthusiastic eating and rubbing on the top of the bale feeder:

Cud chewing is a necessary part of digestion:

But always they need more hay:

And then they snooze:

I don't remember if I put the bale feeder this close to the barn or they pushed it there - but I'm guessing it was the latter. I usually try to keep it away from the barn wall so snow and ice falling from the roof don't hit it or the cows:

Snowy Red Poll Girls

It's been a rugged winter so far but often the cows won't come into the barn when I call. When that happens, I sometimes just close the grain bin and walk back to the house, but other times I carry bowls of grain out to the girls who wouldn't come inside:

And every two days or so I bring them all a new hay bale. The bales are wrapped in mesh and covered in thick ice, so unwrapping them has become a major chore:

The bale feeder will stay on the east side of the barn until the weather moderates:

I move the feeder for each new bale lest it get stuck in frozen hay and ice. I learned the hard way:

And each time I go out to the barn, I look out the back door to make sure they are all OK:

There is about a 3" layer of frozen, moldy hay around each bale and I do my best to break it off before I return to the barn:

The cows eat more or less continually, stopping only to chew their cuds, a necessary step in their digestion:

And the places where the old hay bale had been become places the girls can lie down and get comfy:

During one storm they all turned their faces to the south. The wind was not coming from the north, so I never was sure why they did it. They are good at taking care of themselves, though, so I'm sure they had a good reason:

I had just dropped a new bale into the feeder, then climbed off the tractor to work on removing the frozen layer on the outside of the bale:

When I climbed back up on the tractor, sweet Gracie looked up as if to ask if maybe there was perhaps someplace warmer she could go for the winter:

Alas, we live in the north country and it gets cold in February:

The Red Poll Girls

Jasmine (on the left) and all the red haired ladies move to the east side of the barn when cold westerly winds are blowing uncomfortably:

But it is winter and they live in the north country, so being out in the cold is part of life:

A highlight of their existence is any time I bring out a new hay bale and drop it into the feeder:

I move the bale feeder each time so that frozen waste hay can't build up inside and cement the feeder to the ground. It also leaves a patch of scattered hay, providing a new place for the cows to bed down at night:

On some mornings, the girls come into the barn for a bit of sweet grain, sometimes with added mineral supplements. But most mornings, they are not interested:

After a breakfast of grain, they walk back out to the bale feeder and continue to munch on hay:

But a bovine has four stomach compartments and has to spend time chewing her cud, so they also spend time relaxing and digesting:

If it is unusually cold, the cows sometimes collect at the barn door, apparently hoping I'll let them in. I used to do so, but they just pooped all over everything and then went back outside in the cold to sleep anyway, so now I leave them outdoors:

Eating hay is their main interest, their main activity. It provides nourishment and keeps their bodies warm:

They can get pretty intense when scarfing down the hay. If I want to move in front of them, I have to push them out of the way (they don't seem to mind):

Amy has the biggest udder and I worry sometimes that it will freeze, but apparently cattle have evolved with enough blood circulation there to keep their udders warm:

And when the little horses join them at the bale feeder, it seems that all is right with the world. Life is good, the animals all get along, and my own little peaceable kingdom is functioning properly:

The Red Poll Ladies In December

The cows seem to be unusually hungry this winter and have begun coming into the barn for a bit of grain on many mornings, something they've resisted for a long time. Jasmine, however, has gotten so spoiled that she thinks I'm supposed to carry grain out to her. She eats it, and only then goes into the barn to see what's inside. A bad bit of training on my part:

Prepare for many photos of the herd at the bale feeder this winter. They seldom go anywhere or do anything else:

When they've eaten all the hay, they burp up their cud for another chewing:

On extra cold days with westerly winds, they shelter on the east side of the barn:

I've been working on getting them into the barn for morning grain - not because they need grain, but so that I can work with them when they need veterinary care, artificial insemination or worming:

Scarlett was artificially inseminated in July, but it didn't take, so she had to be inseminated again. A calf is now expected this summer:

It may be winter, but we still have some lovely days:

The animals don't seem to mind the cold on days like these:

And they sure get down to serious eating when I put out a new hay bale:

I move the bale feeder each time I put out a new bale. I learned the hard way that not doing so makes it nearly impossible to move when spring arrives. Sadly, I seem to learn everything the hard way:

A rare moment when the girls wandered out into the field for no apparent reason except, perhaps, to chew their cuds:

After I drop a new bale into the feeder, I climb down off the tractor and remove the outer 4 or 5 inches from the bale because it's become water logged, icy and moldy. Under that outer layer, the hay is just fine:

October On The Farm

The Red Poll ladies must still be eating well because they are spending more time than usual lounging around and chewing their cuds. I guess there is still plenty of grass:

 Remy, imp that he is, has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle enough to ingest big globs of Pennsylvania Smartweed:

 Blue too has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle, though he is NOT eating the Canada Thistle in the photo. He just happened to be standing next to it and I thought it would make a nice photo:

 The hens are doing well, and probably hoping for another chance to go outside and scratch around the yard:

 The little horses spend each night inside the barn. Each morning I put their muzzles back on and let them out to join their friends, the cows. They run across the field, anxious to be part of the herd again:

 Scarlett and Blue looked happy to be grazing together:

 As the leaves first began to change colors, I snapped this photo of the scene across the road. This is the view I get from my upstairs bathroom window, and it's both pleasant and calming:

 The same neighbor's barn as in the above photo, this is a typical sunset in the western sky:

 And just down the road from me, a farm family's Halloween display:

 A bit farther down the road, the Fort Jackson Cemetery was beginning to look like Halloween also:

 Many of the town's pioneers are buried here, and I wonder if their ghosts come out at Halloween:

Also on my road is this Amish schoolhouse. One day I saw children outside playing, but Amish are loathe to have their pictures taken. I only photograph their buildings when no people are present: