The Farmer and the Boss are still planting, so I was reluctantly appointed to put out salt'n'minral. I was a sure bet to mess the job up, but they were "in a real tight spot", the job needed done on one of the only nice days we were going to have, so they took their chances.
And I took my camera.
Here's the trough, made out of an old tire turned inside out and nailed to a loggishly heavy chunk of wood. Salt'n'minral troughs are generally situated close to a source of water, like a well or a creek...they're easy to locate to re-fill and the cows can have a good drink after their "snack".
These are big tractor tires that have been used to hold chopped hay for feed. And this is the babysitter cow, who drew the short straw somehow that morning and is stuck with all the calves until their mamas wander back that afternoon. Babysitter cows always look weary and hassled, much like daycare workers.
This baby sitter is in denial. She's pretending to sun herself in the pasture while the young hooligans cavort by the rocks. It's probably Day Two for her and she's plotting how to sneak off in the morning, leaving some other stooge to watch the rascals.
Watering in the creek....
Look at her eyelashes! And beautiful star design in the hair on her face!
And this one has dreamy eyes and a perfect little nose!
Oh! The World's Most Beautiful Cow was hanging out by the salt'n'minral troughs, as if she knew I was coming! We had a little chat and she posed for another glamour shot. If I ever do a Cow-lendar, she'll be the cover girl.
But you probably already suspected that.
I'm fascinated by the sworls of hair that the cows rub off on barb wire! It must feel so good to get all that winter hair off, and it's funny to see a furry gate.
Who doesn't love a windmill?!
We find pieces of the lives of the people who lived here before us, being slowly digested by the prairie...
I always wonder why they chose, say, to leave their wagon on top of the highest hill in the pasture. Did they want to make a monument? Is that just where it finally broke for good? Did they think they'd be back and want to be able to find it? A hundred ponders in a little pile of iron and rotting wood....
I noticed this about the yucca yesterday: you can tell pastures that have been grazed, because there are no seed pods on the spiky plants....cows love them like a kid loves cotton candy! But I was driving to Cohagen through a pasture that's been in CRP and no cows...all the pods were intact.
The first flowers on the prairie are almost alpine. They grow on foliage that's more carpet-like than vertical, and their blossoms are minuscule.
I swapped out the Honda side-by-side for the Kawasaki Mule (think Flintstone car) so I could clean out my flower beds in the next couple days. On my way up our road, I came across these girls who were spoiling for a race. (It was a sure thing on their part because the Mule tops out at maybe 8 MPH, if you floor the accelerator and are going downhill.) I think they'd been grazing and napping all day, and were bored. Right after I took this picture, they got organized and started a lazy run parallel to the road...
You can tell they're just trying to get me all fired up for a really good run. (See how young most of them are? Last year's fawns with a couple does.) The lead doe is about to kick it in the next gear, though....
I was just holding the camera up and hitting the shutter when we really got going. They're still not "all out", but won with the easy run, crossing the road just in front of the Mule and circling to a stop on the other side. It was hardly a challenge and they seemed happy, but not ecstatic like they are when it's a really fast, close race.
Today it's raining...YES!...and that's why I'm catching up on bloggery. As soon as the weather straightens up, we'll start branding and you'll get even MORE cow pictures, along with dubious philosophical diatribes.
