Round is a Shape

The cows have been at grass for a couple of weeks, but only in a smallish temporary pasture. Yesterday morning we fed them two whole, large round bales of last year's first cutting hay and then turned them out into the big old heifer pasture.

They spent about six hours gobbling all they wanted of lush, green grass...that btw is why we give them the dry hay. If you let them eat all the lush pasture they want they can get grass tetany, which can kill the heck out of them...filling them up with old feed first can mitigate that problem.

When they came in...well, actually, when Ralph and the girls went out and chased their reluctant, racy-chasey selves in off the hill, they were at least pretty good about coming into the barn. We've been giving them just a little taste of Calf Manna on their corn meal and they LIKE it. They will walk a mile for a mouthful.....(Once you point them in the right direction)

Milking them was fraught with peril. They were SO full of grass that there was no room in the stall beside them. They were SO full of grass that they didn't want to move over to accommodate company in their stalls either. Crowd, crowd, crowd.....

They were so full of grass that they would pause with a mouthful of the hay we feed in the manger at night and just forget to chew....just stand there with it dangling down, looking kind of tired and contemplative. Nevertheless the ones who spend the night in the barnyard for one reason or another headed straight for the hill gate the minute they went outdoors. We put an extra tie on it to make sure they stayed where they belong.

Meanwhile, mama never stops birding. I was watching a massive robin war over the old silo while I waited for cows (somebody has to "be" the gate until they learn where the temporary lane fence is). And pishing a little brown warbler out of the bushes...which will forever remain just a little brown bird, as I never got it close enough to identify.

And then sitting at the kitchen table with Becky after work, just relaxing a little...when we heard the rapid fire chatter of chimney swifts......

From about ten feet away.

Inside the house.....

They have once again colonized the big chimney. Doesn't matter much, as we have no furnace or anything using it. They sure are loud though. They are way down at the bottom this year, right next to the washing machine. Drove the dog NUTS! He stood there staring at the wall with his head tipped and his ears cocked like there was a TV up there and he was watching CBS news. And growling....

Everybody's eating apple blossoms these days!