The cow whisperer...

Jarrod and I checked cows tonight like we have been every night for several weeks now...I took along the camera not hoping for much. I've taken along the camera (which I consider somewhat dangerous since I'm just carrying it while we're bouncing around on the 4wheeler, getting on and off it frequently - there's lotsa chances to drop the camera or crash it into things) many times now and had trouble getting the exposures right, the cows sharp, and the weeds out of the compositions.

Anyway, at one of the pastures, I was able to dismount the pony and walk gingerly out amongst the cows. I took along my longer zoom lens for the first time tonight and it proved to be an excellent decision. The cows were comfortable with me there and I was able to blur the backgrounds on a lot of closeups of the cows. I think I walked away with a few shots that were good enough to be framed and considered art (at least amongst the people of the world who find cows to be beautiful beings). ;) So here are some web versions to feast your eyes upon!

The first calf heifer momma that was so protective of her baby that she fought the other cows to keep them away and the fight ended up running over the baby - twice! The baby is doing well and she has been an excellent mother - as evidenced by this excellent photo.

The comedy I catch on camera sometimes - this has not been photoshopped, but you could swere this calf is taunting another young calf.

The other first calf heifer has also proved to be a protective mother. We're calling her baby "dot" for the black dot on the side of its head that I couldn't seem to catch on camera for you. I did end up with this moment on camera that is very telling about how the mommas watch over their babies and keep us humans away from them!

The chewing of the cud when caught on camera is sometimes hilarious! She looks like the cows from the commercial where they trick the tourists into thinking their young child said "cheese!"

The curious little heifer cow. Well she's not so little anymore...but she's also not going to be a mother until next summer, so she was quite curious as to what I was doing out there with my long zoom lens auto-focusing and beeping. She came right up and licked me - more than once. I love this photo of half of her head - should I submit this as a stock photo and make some money on it????

babies!

We finally had some baby calves the last 2 days! I had been faithfully checking on the cows each day after work, expecting to see calves on the ground. Nada. Then we get busy over the weekend and leave them alone for 2 days and whatdya know - bada bing bada boom. They say a watched pot never boils.

Thelma (sometimes better known as "big titties" because of her unusually larger udder) had a black white face bull (chunky little booger for only being 2 days old). And in the other pasture, Big Mama had a red white face heifer. Big Mama drug her through the corner of the pond while we were there, so she was up and doing fine. I managed to get the little heifer marked with an ear tag, but the little bull was too spry for me and Jarrod. Have to wait to him tagged I guess.

The weekend was crazy and hot as hell. We stacked a bunch of square alfalfa bales in the sheds on both Saturday and Sunday and we also installed a new gate in Jarrod's Dad's winter pasture. We were pretty proud of our gate since it was just the kids that did the install job.

Here are some pictures I've taken lately:

checkin' the cows

Ever since that weekend we went camping and checked on some of the cows a little closer, we've been keeping a pretty close eye on them. Our early-calving fall herd is showing lots of signs of having their calves soon. August 6th was technically their due date. The first week or so, Jarrod and I were checking cows together every other day or so. But then he got busy with field work and it's been my charge to monitor the calving process the last 2 weeks.

I love being in charge of keeping an eye on the girls everyday and reporting the status back to my hubby. If any of the dang calves ever arrive, I'll get to put a tag in their cute little ears too! I guess it makes me feel strong and responsible to be able to hook up the pony (4wheeler) everyday and buzz it out around the 2 pastures and then get it and myself back to town safely. It's just the right size farm chore for me to do. I enjoy watching the daily changes in the cows' characteristics, their daily habits and their attitude/mood changes. I love just being out in the wind on a hill somewhere, the sun low in the sky, the wildlife I see when I'm out there everyday. Little fawns, jack rabbits, buck deer, farm cats, those noisy killdeer birds with the long legs that caw so loudly when I get to the pond with the pony. I haven't been getting much of anything else done lately except checking cows in the evenings, shuffling my hubby around when he needs help, and housework. But it's been a good 2 weeks. I'll post pictures of the cute baby calves if and when they ever decide to come.