Making Friends With My New Red Polls

My five new Red Poll cows found a spot near the woods at the far end of the field where they decided to hang out. For the first few days, I had to walk across the field and herd them back to the barn for grain:

But once they learned about the joys of eating grain and where it would be served, they began hanging out near the barn as much as possible:

And they learned that I was the provider of that sweet feed:

I also collected five gallon pails of apples and spread them on the ground. They didn't at first know what they were, but learned quickly that they were very tasty:

I put the food bowls out on the grass at first:

And moved them closer to the barn with each feeding:

Then I moved them inside the barn, hoping to tempt the cattle inside. Look well at that clean, clean floor. Neither you nor I will ever see it again like that:

Then I began moving the food bowls to the outside of the tie stalls, hoping that they'd stick their heads through to get at it. It worked for three of them, but two cows just stayed outdoors:

Things were looking promising for three cows, though not for the other two. I still wasn't ready to try and hook their chains, though. And look at that formerly clean floor!:

We had some decent weather for their first week:

They were drinking 300 gallons of water or more each day. I had to check the 110 gallon stock tank three or four times daily. I later concluded that I was giving them too many apples, causing diarrhea and a corresponding big thirst:

They seemed to be happy girls and were getting more comfortable with me being around. Still, they were very large animals and could hurt me without even trying. So I endeavored to be careful, a wise decision, I realized, when one of them became frightened and threw a kick in my direction. I determined to go more slowly after that:

A Farm Auction Next Door

The neighbor who had cut my hay during the summer of 2012 recently passed away and there was an estate auction at his farm one recent morning. I walked down to his place to see what was going on, passing by a long line of cars, Amish buggies and wagons parked on the side of the road:

I didn't figure you'd want to see a photo of the cars, but the Amish buggies were sure interesting. All in all, there was a very long line of parked vehicles, some of them parked in front my house and keeping my dogs busy barking:

The Amish unhitched their horses and tied them in the adjoining grass to wait. That's my own north field just through the trees:

It was still early in the day, about 9:45, but the hot dog and hamburger concession was already doing a booming business. So was the single Porta Potty:

I entered my neighbor's barn to see what animals were going to be auctioned. There were these heifers:

And these two nervous horses. I felt sorry for them and hoped they got a good new home:

There were two nice saddles:

And a very old tractor which was left idling to show that it still ran:


The yellow and white tent housed all the household furniture and appliances:


And inside the tent were dressers, tables, beds, etc:

An amazing amount of interest was paid to the eerie collections of "junk" on several old wagons. I suppose that folks were looking for a bargain:

Horse harnesses, wagons and field equipment were displayed on his former lawn. The Amish, of course, were especially interested in these items:

When the auction began, the announcer gave a brief salute to our former neighbor and how he'd done so well at horse pulls in days past. Then they began auctioning off the household furnishings. Here's a short video of the action as they auctioned a small brass table which, if I understood correctly, sold for only $3.48. I left for home shortly after that. I had a fence line to monitor and cattle who wanted never ending quantities of grain and water: