Getting The Red Poll Cattle Ready For Winter

I now have most of the Red Poll cattle crowding the barn door for a bowl of grain each morning - unless I'm a bit later than usual, that is. If I'm late, they leave in a huff:

Ruby and Scarlett, in for a snack:

Ruby and Winston finally began to follow the big cows into the barn. Winston has tasted grain and decided he likes it, but Ruby is still wary of it:

The morning rush. I can't let them in, though, until both horses are walked, one at a time, out to their corral:

The girls eat their two cups of sweet feed so rapidly that I don't have time to put a bowl down for the calves. Luckily, the cows start eating the hay on the floor as soon as they've finished their grain:

Ruby watched while Winston tasted his first bowl of grain:

Jasmine:

Rosella, Scarlett and Ruby

This was midday, not morning grain time - so they didn't get any. Nobody needs grain, but I am trying to train them to come into the barn so I can have them inseminated, get vet care or trap the calves when it's time to sell them:

Winston and Amy playfully butted heads:

Scarlett and Rosella both needed minerals and salt, perhaps because they are both producing milk:

Breakfast time:

A Spring Walk In The South Field Pasture

When the dogs and I were finished with our walk across the north field (see previous two posts), I took off alone to visit the herd in the south field. The cows were napping or eating hay:

 Scarlett and Amy were bedded down on waste hay:

 
 Rosella and Jasmine were chowing down on hay in the bale feeder:

 Gracie was standing by herself, watching me:

I found Remy way out in the field with his nose underwater:


 A closer look revealed what he was doing. He was eating the grass which was growing under that water, because there was little if any edible grass where there was no water:

There was, however, a few tiny broadleaf plants turning green:

Blue was even farther out in the field, so I stopped and gave him some attention:

Seeing Blue getting affection got Remy's attention and he came out to join us:

But that was pretty much the end of it, so I began walking back toward the house and barn:

 Rosella had her head buried deep in the hay supply. She is due to calve in about four weeks, so she is eating for two:

The trace mineral salt block and stock tank were in good shape. There was so much standing water in the field that the animals weren't using much of the stock tank water. The water heater was still in place, though, for we are likely to get more freezing weather before we are frost free:

The Red Poll Ladies (and one boy)

I'm almost afraid to say that spring is here lest winter return as it did recently with a weekend surprise ice storm, complete with high winds, snow and miserably cold temperatures. But we are all feeling some relief now, hoping that winter is over:

 It appears that I will have hay left over. It would be best to have figured it perfectly, but better too much than too little. I can feed out what is left next fall:

 Rocket is growing rapidly and becoming more handsome by the day:

 And he still likes to run and play:

 I keep a selenium/mineral/salt block and granulated minerals on hand at all times, though there isn't much I can do when snow covers them. I couldn't even find them once this past winter:

 We've passed the time when the cows could begin calving, pregnant by the neighbor's bull last summer. Gracie looks pregnant, but she's so fat that it's hard to tell:

 Rocket has become sort of friendly, but only once has he come this close:

 I thought he was dead one day as I walked up to him, calling him and trying to rouse him. Finally, I touched his leg - and he burst up in a panic and ran away:

 After a particularly difficult winter, the cows are feeling happy and comfortable. I hope I will soon be posting new calf photos, but nothing yet:

 Gracie and Amy squinted against a brilliant sun. I imagine they were feeling good just then:

 Scarlett and Rocket, mother and son, vied for a bowl of grain. Mom won:

 Rocket had a face full of milk. He's a sloppy, ravenous eater:

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:

The Autumn Herd

Our cool, autumn temperatures have reduced the fly population to almost zero, enabling me to close the barn door each day to keep the horses outside. It doesn't, however, stop them from chewing on the door frame, evidence of which you can see behind Blue. My concoction of Ivory Dish Detergent, Angostura Bitters and red pepper flakes have helped a lot, but they still chew sometimes:

 Remy was feeling playful this day and wanted me to join him as he frolicked. Sadly, I'm too old and lame to do that:

 I keep a mineral salt block and granulated minerals, both with selenium, outside the barn at all times:

 This was late in the evening, as evidenced by the shadows:

Violet and Jasmine in the south field:

 A cluster of bovines at the stock tank:

 But one day I moved the cows across the gravel road to the north field as I do every October:

 The grass was lush and tasty:

 That evening I stood on my porch and snapped a photo of the cows in the north field, a peaceful scene:

 The next day I walked out to visit them. They were well fed (and fat), most of them feeling too full to even stand up:

 Rosella and Scarlett, daughter and mother. I've noticed how they are nearly always together, which suggests to me that their relationship has continued over the years. Many would say that once the calf is grown, the mother/daughter relationship has ended, but I see it continuing:

 Only one cow (Violet) feels as if she needs to stand up when I walk up to them. The rest trust me to walk among them: