Cows And Calves, Calves And Cows

The calves are growing at an amazing rate. That's Annie on the left, nursing from her mom, Violet. Annie was born on March 27 and is more than half the size of her mother already:

Most of the cows will take apples from my hand now but they are so big, pushy and persistent that I now just dump the apples on the ground. That's for my own protection:

I walked clear across the field one morning to find the herd, and they all walked out from under the trees to see what I was up to:

Little Merlin has finally been tattooed and ear tagged. He's the fastest growing calf of them all. Luckily, he's also a gentle soul:

I took lots of calf pictures to use on the farm website, advertising them for sale. Here's a photo of Loretta (#7) and Gladys (#6):

Merlin, already looking like the sturdy little bull he is:

Little Pearl is the youngest, so will always be the smallest. And her mom, Scarlett, is the smallest in the herd:

Here's a better picture of Gladys, this one showing the milk all over her face from nursing:

Annie, already so big that she sometimes looks like an adult as she mixes in with the herd:

I quit giving the herd any grain in the evenings. Instead, I carry out a bucket of apples every afternoon. Can you tell that they're eagerly anticipating them?

And when they get their apples, they don't exactly eat with daintiness:

That's Gladys, chewing on a big, red apple:

Moody Tree Farm - Part 3

I wrapped up my tour of Moody Tree Farm's Adirondack and Christmas themed gift shop by making several purchases. I was told it was OK to walk around the grounds, taking pictures and seeing the animals, so out I went:

I walked over to the horse barn:

But the horse barn was empty:

I found two extremely friendly goats:

And a bit of Christmas tree farm, though most of their commercial production, I had read, was done in fields down the road:

I walked over to the horse pens, where a friendly horse and miniature horse were grazing. The big horse came over to be petted. There were other animals, including a donkey, in a farther pen but I didn't get close to them:

Seeing another barn, I began walking that direction:

A sign announced that this was the pig barn:

And indeed, two colorful and friendly swine greeted me inside:

I mostly wanted a closer look at the Texas Longhorns, but they were far off in a field, unmoved from when I'd first arrived. But they were near a fence along the road, so I drove over to visit them. They were alert and curious, but not enough so to stand up and come over to the fence. They are beautiful animals, but I've already had my experience with long-horned cattle and now prefer my Red Polls. This was my last stop at Moody Tree Farms, but I bet I'll be back again before Christmas: