Spring Surprises

Spring has been full of surprises so far, including two early lambs at the neighbors' farm:

And of course snow melting off the roof of the barn, then freezing into long, crystalline icicles:

I started opening the pigeons' window to let in fresh air on days when it's not too cold:

And the little hens are beginning to lay more eggs:

The farm gets covered with snow, then it melts:

Even the snow piles beside the driveway are almost gone:

And the melting snow revealed these amazing plants by the back door. This is not new growth, but Bouncing Bet, wildflowers in the Pink family, which stayed green all winter beneath the snow:

And then, just as I was feeling all the glories of spring, we got buried once again:

I found the cattle's backs covered with snow and icicles hanging off their sides:

I had to drive through deep snow to bring out a new hay bale:

And I had to plow and shovel snow once again. You can see how the piles alongside the driveway grew overnight:

And inside the barn, the snow which had blown through gaps in the wall revealed animal tracks which went up into the hayloft. I suspect they are cats from across the road, and I think they are hunting my infestation of English Sparrows, for which I am grateful:

Little Snow Horses

Blue and Remy hang out with their much bigger cow friends, even sleeping outdoors with them most nights even though they could sleep in the barn:

Blue is not afraid of the cows at the bale feeder:

And neither is Remy:

Both little guys do come into the barn sometimes, though, and I make sure to give them lots of attention when they are in there:

One day I found Remy, standing still and surrounded by ice and cold water. I recognized his panting as a sign of stress, so I walked to him, took him by the halter and led him back to the barn via the safest route I could find. I think he wandered out there and then realized how dangerous it was - but didn't know how to extricate himself:

The east side of the barn only gets morning sun, so all the herd luxuriates for half a day, at least when the clouds have dissipated:

The horsey boys don't get much grain anymore, but Blue's belly is still pretty big:

Remy is in fine shape, and he seems to know it. He's less playful now than he used to be, but more lovable:

Remy even loves his cow friends:

And how could I not pet and kiss a face like this?

Both Blue and Remy stick together most of the time:

And even when they're apart, they usually don't go too far:

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 Worst Of Winter

The fantail pigeons seem do be doing well, protected in their room inside the barn. Three elderly birds died over the winter, but they had lived long lives and I don't think the weather affected them:

 The little hen who molted too late has been inside the house, growing feathers. I plan to put her back out with the other chickens when the weather warms up to more reasonable temperatures:

 But reasonable temperatures is not what we've had lately. One day we were buried in snow and the temperatures dropped to below zero (F). I found the cows at the barn door the next morning, begging to come inside for grain:

 I had to get the little horses in their stalls first, and then I let the cows inside:

 They came in, all covered with snow, and began scarfing down grain. I gave them extra:

 And then they didn't want to go back outside. I had to push them back out:

 They had only about 15 feet to reach the bale feeder, but the wind was blowing frigid snow and it was miserable indeed:

 Amy and Jasmine held back. bracing themselves against the cold wind:

 I had deep snow on my porch to be shoveled, and up to three feet of snow in the driveway, where the wind had piled it, to be moved with the tractor bucket:

But the coldest temperatures had not yet been realized. It dropped to -18 (F) one night. I don't know how the animals could stand it, but their species has evolved to survive such weather:

 And they came into the barn again the second morning for more grain:

A couple of them refused to come in at all on the third morning. I guess they felt satisfied with their hay. I carried out bowls of grain for the few who wouldn't come in - but on the next morning, when they all refused, I closed the barn door and went back inside the house.:

Around The Farm In Winter's Chill

I walked out into the pasture during a snowstorm to tend to the animals, and turned back toward the house and barn to snap this photo:

When I got back inside the house, I hit the "Auto Adjust" button to see how the picture would look - and was surprised by the difference. In my mind, it seems the original was closer to what I actually saw:

Alas, another elderly fantail pigeon died one night. I found her looking as if she'd died in her sleep during the night. I still have 35 birds, so there is no shortage:

Do you remember this poor hen who began molting far too late in the winter?

Our nighttime temperatures were dropping to -9 and she looked miserable without enough feathers to protect her:

So I brought her into the house and put her in a large dog crate, using old feed bags as cage liners:

She's been doing well and growing feathers, but I don't think I'll put her back outside until the temperatures are more moderate. The room she's in is only in the 50s, but even that is far, far warmer than what she'll find back in the chicken coop:

Early in the morning, I photographed Blue, Remy and Jasmine munching hay:

The occasion for the above photo was that I was delivering a new bale to the herd:

Sadly, the hay bales are covered with ice and stuck to each other and to the ground. I had such a hard time getting the last bale out and unwrapped, that I wound up with a big wad of mesh, ice and hay which I had to leave on the ground, where it will wait until a spring thaw before I can separate it and throw the mesh away:

This is the Amish school house, just down the road from me. It didn't appear that anyone was there, despite the parked buggy, when I snapped this picture:

And finally, the fantail pigeons illustrated why it's a bad idea to choose to roost on the bottom shelf: