Update And More

I finally had my camera and a chance to take a picture of the baby we saw "launched" on Sunday.

The little guy was running around a little but stayed close to his mama.

The weather guys were predicting big rains for later in the week so Mike and crew worked on a little fertilizing then plowing of our fields.

The rain started as predicted last night.  I don't know how much we've gotten, but all the tank areas are overflowing this morning.  Love getting the rain and hearing it on our metal roof.  It sure makes for some great snoozing!

A Few Odds and Ends

Peg had asked Santa for a Go-Buggy for Christmas.  Since Santa is in to children, not adults, the predicted happened.  Here is Benjamin driving around in the children's version of the Go-Buggy Santa delivered.

Needless-to-say he was not disappointed by Santa's error.  He spent the day driving around doing ranch chores including filling the bird feeders and hauling firewood.

We have had pretty good luck attracting deer to the feeder.  We are having trouble with cows beating the deer to the corn after it has been cast out at the specified times.  This guy arrived a little late for the snack and thought he would work a little on the wiring to get another chance for a treat.

Thankfully, the damage was minimal.  He looks like he hasn't missed many meals and I don't feel sorry for him.

Usually there is plenty for everyone.
Then there was the afternoon when a small group of goats arrived with their two doggie handlers. They found the mineral block left for the deer and walked all around the fenced portion where the house is located.  They balanced their way back and forth over the cattle guard without any trouble.  I tried to approach the group in hopes of finding a dog tag so I could call the owners, but the dogs kept me away with their barking.  They did an excellent job protecting their charges.

Finally sometime during the night, they left.  I haven't seen the group since.  Rooster and Beulah were "beside themselves" with the intruders in their space.  I was not sorry to see the group go!

We haven't had much luck catching deer at the culvert.  However, this guy happened by a while ago.

And just when you think the day could not be more perfect, a flock of Canadian geese fly over.  I could hear them long before I could see them.  What a sight!

More Cow News

Saw the new baby this morning in the pasture.  He was sticking pretty close to his mama but got a glimpse of the little guy.  Sorry no picture...
Since we are currently housing a bunch of "extra" cows because they were kicked off the Hunt Pasture, we have two bulls right now.  I love bulls!  They are so transparent in what their job is.  The two got into a big bellowing contest, then did a little head-to-head combat.  After a couple head butts, they trotted off to seek the "cow of their desires."  As all the cows had disappeared into the woods, I have no idea what happened next.  Suspect things were settled with the head butts.

New Arrival

Peg looked out the window yesterday and said there is a mama licking a very small calf in the pasture.  Sure enough, a baby had just been born and the mama was licking it.

 
This random calf showed up after several minutes.  I thought the mama would chase it away but she didn't.  In fact it seems that the calf was there to help encourage the baby to start working on getting to its feet.

It was amazing to see the baby struggle and how the calf seemed to be there as a cheerleader.

 After several tries, the baby seemed to have enough strength to go after its next mission: FOOD.

Sometimes it looked like he made a connection and sometimes he didn't.  But mama moved and tried to get baby and the FOOD lined up.

Finally, the connection was made!

The sequence of events from the time the cleaning of the newborn began to finishing his first meal took about one hour.

After a rest from his first meal, the baby was up again for seconds.

Then mom and baby rested for another 30 minutes or so before they made their way to the herd which was probably a few 100 feet away.  Getting to the herd required several more snacks and rests. This morning when I looked out into the pasture, I don't know that I saw the new baby, but there were three slightly older babies kicking up their heels and chasing each other as their moms ate breakfast.

Dinner Bell!

The cows were resting along the south side of the pasture when they heard the dinner trucks at the Oak Grove gate and they came a-running!

It may not be our idea of dinner but to a cow it's "steak" (oops, sorry for the use of that word)!

The number of babies I saw was what interested me.  Today was our first sunny day in probably 10 days and the babies were out.  Looks like quite a few new little ones.  The babies are the fun ones to watch as they grow and learn to play with one another other.