Blue and Remy

Remy and Blue seem especially drawn to the hay left on the ground after I move the bale feeder:

But they also avail themselves of the hay in the feeder. I've watched carefully and have not seen any cows bully them:

In fact, they seem to be as much a part of the herd as any cow. They fit right in:

But both little horses can go into the barn whenever they please:

Remy is still the sweetest animal in the herd, and gets a lot of hugs and kisses:

The little horses collect frost just like the cows do. That's frost on Remy's back and muzzle in this photo:

And sometimes he comes inside to rest and, presumably, get out of the wind (the temperature is not much warmer in the barn):

When we had a freezing drizzle, I found Blue all covered in threads of ice and a bit of loose hay:

Remy was plenty frosty too:

But they didn't seem to mind. Their attention was focused on the new hay bale I was bringing them:

As usual, though, they went for the old hay first, perhaps because the new bale is surrounded in frozen, moldy hay and the horses know to let the cows "unwrap" the bale before the good hay is available:

All is peaceful and calm on the east side of the barn:

The Red Poll Ladies

Our previously mild winter turned frigid and severe, but the Red Poll girls handled it all with aplomb:

Amy continues to come into heat, inspiring some of her herd mates to mount her, but I can't allow her to get pregnant because her udder problems require her calves be hand fed, a mighty job which costs far, far more than the calf would sell for. I also don't think her genes should be perpetuated:

The bale feeder and consequently the herd are permanently on the east side of the barn until the weather warms up. This protects them from westerly winds, which is primarily what we get:

And I continue to move the bale feeder each time I bring them a new hay bale. This not only saves the feeder from ruin (as I learned the hard way) from becoming frozen in waste hay, but gives the cows some hay to sleep on:

I am amazed at how much protection the barn provides on windy days:

The cows (and horses too) are so well insulated that the snow builds up on their backs without melting:

Sometimes on mild days, they do a bit of exploring, but they don't go far. Their life in the winter centers around the bale feeder:

We had a freezing rain which covered the herd with ice. They didn't seem to mind:

They looked as if they had crystalline threads all over their bodies:

I wish I could say that they knew enough to get out of the way of the tractor, but they don't. I have to be very careful:

Moving the bale feeder before putting in a new bale helps, as the animals are still concentrating on the former site:

Jasmine is often the first cow to the bale feeder:

Pictures Of A Crystalline World

The first day after the ice storm I had to drive to town for more diesel fuel. I took the gravel road so I could snap pictures of ice covered trees along the way:

The first part of the road was lined with birch trees, most of which were so heavy with ice that they'd bowed their tops all the way down to the ground:

Birch trees seem not to be hurt by this, at least not while they're young and limber, for it happens frequently:

And besides, it's awfully pretty, giving the impression of birch trees dancing a winter ballet:

I passed by an old gate into an unused field:

And from there the road took me through woodlands where every branch was covered with ice:

Pines, Maples and Beech trees:

A wintry filigree of ice:

The icy forest:

The pines and spruces were also covered with ice but had retained a load of snow in addition. They must surely have been bearing a lot of weight:

I purchased my diesel fuel and began driving home on the county road, passing by this Amish field with outbuildings:

There were icicle covered bushes all along the road, a veritable winter wonderland. But I'd taken enough pictures and had lots of work to do, so I put away my camera and finished the journey home:

The Big Ice Storm - Part 2

The ice storm had made wild food hard to find and my bird feeders became even more popular than usual. I began taking pictures of the tamer birds, like this Chickadee:

And this Chickadee with a Goldfinch right behind him on the ice covered branches of the lilac:

Two Goldfinches:

One Goldfinch:

This Chickadee took off just as I snapped the photo. But I'd delayed getting doing the chores long enough, so I put my camera in my coat pocket and headed for the barn:

I cleaned the barn which, after two days of cows, was a filthy mess. I cleaned out three tractor buckets full of manure, urine and sodden bedding. Then I speared two big hay bales and dropped them inside the bale feeder. The Red Poll girls were happy then:

Jasmine smiled at me, grateful for all the new hay:

Rosella stuck her head beneath the upper bale to get at what she considered "the good stuff." I began breaking off icicles to keep them from poking the cows' heads and then I used the tractor to push down the upper bale to keep it from falling on Rosella's head:

With happy cows, I was free to move on to other chores:

I checked back later and found the cows had temporarily eaten their fill and were chewing their cuds:

All was well after two days of hardship:

The Big Ice Storm - Part 1

Our weather warmed up from a nighttime low of minus 24 F but then it began to snow - and snow and snow. Then the snow turned to freezing rain and the cows begged to come indoors. I let them in, thinking it would be temporary:

The poor cows were covered with icicles and hungry, so instead of cleaning the barn, I left them indoors and began carrying armloads of hay to them, which they gobbled greedily:

They stayed indoors for two days, casually dining on dry, unfrozen hay which I'd stored in the barn to be used as bedding. As for what the barn floor looked like after two days of continuous cow poop and pee, I'll leave that to your imagination:

The apple tree branches were covered with ice:

I pushed the cows out of the barn after the freezing rain stopped. They weren't happy about it at first:

They crunched through the snow, investigating the icicle covered branches of the Box Elder tree:

Rosella walked over to the east side of the tree and looked confused:

I'd moved the hay bale feeder the previous day and now it too was covered with a half inch of ice, and icicles hung from every horizontal bar:

I walked back around to the other side of the barn, snapping another photo of the icy apple trees, which had accumulated even more ice:

The Rugosa Rose branches and hips were covered with ice which looked like crystal. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: