Red Poll Cattle

Jasmine is the sweetest natured cow and likes to lounge in the grass:

Scarlett is the most reliably productive cow (along with her daughter, Rosella):

And they are all living a good life, a well fed life, a life of ease:

Rosella's little bull calf is cute and healthy, but I've been reluctant to name him. I finally decided to call him Winston:

And the herd often hangs out on the waste hay near the horses' corral. Apparently they still consider the horses part of their herd:

Violet is an attentive aunt to the little calf:

Jasmine and Scarlett were hanging out together in the springtime sun:

Rosella and Amy kept each other company near the stock tank, where there is also mineral supplement available:

Gracie opted to keep company with the horses:

Rosella and Amy moved over by the gravel road:

It is shady there, and the waste hay from winter feeding has accumulated to such a depth that it is soft and dry, a fine place to take a nap:

Scarlett is due in early August:

Around The Farm - Part 1

Springtime seems late this year, even for up here in the north country where it's always later than much of the country. I have continued cleaning up big quantities of waste hay and dumping it on the compost pile. You can see Remy and Blue in the background. They were inside their new corral:

The barn badly needed cleaning, so I got that done also:

 Inside the back room, one of the new baby roses (Sevillana) bloomed. This was Day one:

  Day two:

 The Carefree Delight rose was pretty much spent but it had already put out a new bud to replace it:

My seed trays, baby roses and two new double Begonias seemed to need even more light in their back room, so I added two light bulbs:

The first seeds to germinate were the Globe Thistles. I've tried growing them twice already without success, but maybe this effort will produce some healthy plants. If not, I will give up on Globe Thistles:

The white fantail pigeons seem both happy and healthy. I put an ad on Craigslist, offering to sell some or trade for new birds which would add to the gene pool in my pigeon room. Alas, there were no takers:

The little hens are also doing exceedingly well:

The Iris and Lily garden is coming up rapidly now. It's so crammed with bulbs that I don't suppose I can fit any more in there:

The Daffodils put on a show for passersby on the gravel road:

I seem to have lost a number of plants over the winter, but it's too early to abandon all hope for them. The Mandarin Honeysuckle, however, survived the winter and appears ready to grow rapidly this year:

The Red Poll Ladies

Jasmine and Rosella were finishing off a bale of hay, finding it useful both for food and as bedding:

 Rosella chewed hay while Jasmine chewed her cud:

Rosella, due to calve very soon, gave me a closeup look:

 On another day, Scarlett and Rosella kept each other company on some waste hay:

I put out a new bale, which got everyone excited:

Gracie and Amy:

Violet gave me the stink-eye. She's never aggressive, but she doesn't trust me. She is naturally fearful, perhaps from her experiences at her previous owner's farm. My cows were emaciated when they arrived:

  Jasmine loves her hay, even turning down grain in favor of hay sometimes:

 Violet was in her glory, standing knee-deep in dinner - kind of like if I was standing knee-deep in pizza and cookies:

At this writing, I have only two hay bales left. I am sure now that I'll have enough to finish the year:

One day, probably just for old time's sake, the girls all walked over to the east side of the barn where they'd spent the winter. They must have had fond memories of the deep, soft layer of wasted hay there - and it's still there for them to enjoy:

As the grass continues to green up, the girls are looking shinier and more content. They spend less time eating and more time chewing their cuds:

35 Pigeons And A Whole Lot Of Poop

After the chickens' room was cleaned (see previous post), I started in on the pigeons' room. I opened their window so they could get out if I bothered them, but they all stayed inside. The litter/poop mix on the floor was mostly about 8" deep and I had to leave islands of it where birds were already nesting:

Apparently I did something which alarmed them, and ten birds flew out the window:

Confused and frightened, they flew too far away and then, exhausted, (fantails are not built for flying) they were stranded out in the field and the lawn. I tried herding them like I did the chickens but it didn't work very well:

I finally got 7 of them atop the milk room roof near their window and two atop the barn roof but on the wrong side. I became so exhausted that I never finished cleaning the pigeon room. I put everything back and left the window open, hoping all the birds would find their way back home:

All but two fantail pigeons went back into the barn but the last two seemed confused and they huddled together on the roof of the milk room, with their open window in sight - but they didn't go in. I was so tired and sore that I would have liked to go to bed early but had to wait until after dark. Then I went out and found the two pigeons still huddled together but low enough for me to grab them, one at a time, and put them inside their room.

The next morning, I was determined to finish the job and once again began hauling totes filled with crap out to the tractor bucket (I left the screen up in the pigeons' window this time so they'd stay inside):

After each load, I'd work again on cleaning up waste hay, exposing even more ice which had been hidden and insulated by the thick layer of hay. Then I'd return to the barn and fill up another tractor bucket with poop:

When their room was clean, I put down sweet smelling pine shavings and some hay for them to use when building nests. I counted and was pleased to discover all 35 birds were still there:

I am contemplating selling a few birds - or even better, trading them for new birds to enlarge the gene pool. This is the time of year to give it a try:

But for now the birds are happy, healthy and clean:

And yet my work was not over. There was yet more waste hay where the bales had been stored, hay which had been frozen and fallen off the bales when I pulled it up out of the snow. I began loading the tractor bucket with that hay and hauling it too to the compost pile. Ah, spring. It's not all sunshine and daffodils:

Cleaning The Chicken Room

The day arrived when I could no longer put off cleaning the chickens' room. I let the little hens out again:

They enjoy their time outdoors, but I can't do it on a regular basis because we have so many ravenous foxes. Also, the hens are kind of ravenous themselves, and attack my seedlings and new plants:

The flock made a break for the front of the house:

  They ran past the car:

And stopped on the lawn, where they searched for edibles:

When I thought I could trust them to stay out of the road, I went into their room and removed the feeder and waterer. This photo doesn't make it clear, but I can tell you that the crap and bedding on the floor was 8" to 24" deep. The 24" part was beneath their roosts, and it was both heavy and stinky:

Other places were more dry, but this was still an unpleasant job:

I had to shovel the poopy mix into a plastic tote and then carry it out through the pigeon room, down an aisle and dump it into the tractor bucket. By the way, the little hens have shown no interest in their xylophone since the first day:

Each time I drove a tractor bucket load out to the compost pile, I also pushed some waste hay to the pile. To my surprise, there was still ice beneath the hay:

Three of the hens got tired of being outside and came back into their room where they felt safe. They're used to me moving around, so it didn't bother them that I was still cleaning:

When I was done with the chicken room, I used a leaf rake to herd the hens back inside. This is a routine we used to follow every day, and they still remember what to do. The dogs would have loved to chase them, but the fence prevented that:

Once all the birds were back in their newly cleaned and comparatively sweet smelling room, I once again locked them safely inside - but left three windows open for ventilation: