This Way To My Blog

This Way To My Blog

Monday, February 15, 2010

Breakfast For The Cows


Remember this home sweet home I wrote about? I still don't know what lived there but I hope whatever it was got out because there is water over the door. A few weeks ago the cactus was brown and falling over. Now it is green and standing at attention. The wind felt like it was coming off ice this morning even though the sun was shining bright. We put out a bale and put one in the pens for when it rains again. We put out the grass hay for them to eat now and the bull got so mad he tore into it and bursted the bale before John could get the ring around it. He wanted haygrazer hay. Oh well we just try to imagine what they are thinking. The one cow who thinks the old tack room is her apartment got in it out of the cold wind this morning. She walks in and turns around then stands there warmer but with her head out the door so she can see what is going on outside. Smart lady! One cow can't see well at all so she stays in the far east of the property and drinks water out of the mud holes. We went to check on her but not too close to scare her. John looked at her through the bionoculars to see if he could tell is she is bred. He thinks she is. Since it is cold and she is thin she only has to drink water about every three days. If the herd goes to that end then she can smell them and follow but if they leave and it rains there is no scent for her to follow and she stays put. we can always see her from the highway and know she is alive and grazing. We saw one lone coyote running like it had been shot out of a cannon. We are just not seeing any deer, hogs or turkey. We did see a deer rib cage on the side of the road. Guess the buzzards had several meals out of that one. To Sam: Yes we do have goatheads here but not as many as the grassburrs. I'm thinking what you call sandburrs are probably what I call grassburrs. They all hurt and I know the goatheads well enough to know they hurt a lot. To Dar: We are having an unusual amount of rain. Last summer it was so hot and dry many stock tanks went dry.

10 comments:

Toon said...

I remember a horrible weed called "cockleburrs" (sp?) that was very painful to step on. My dad's farm would be covered with it places.

Lucy said...

Oh my cokleburrs, yes indeed. Please stop in and leave comments. Explanation on my main blog. I am continuing with it with his permission but have to change my time on it. Lot of work ahead of me but I can do it. I would miss my blogger friends.

jack69 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jack69 said...

I cannnot spell,jack69 said...
Hey we have a lot of sand purs here in FL. these are about a quarter in. in dia with six or eight strong sharp spikes. Yep they hurt.

I thought cows drank every day. Amazing. You mentioned John looking to see if she was bred. Does the bull do the breeding? or do y'all use the vet for artificial insemination? Just curious.

Sherry & Jack

Jimmy's Journal said...

I like the new picture. Down here in Miami, we have sandspurs ( I assume that's the term) but as a kid, we just called them "stickers" and they all resided in the "sticker patch." We learned where they were and learned to avoid them.

Jimmy

salemslot9 said...

do you have
any idea what
that thing in
your photo is
made of?

Dar said...

I used to live in central MN, sandy country and full of the same type of sandburs you have in TX...they are brutal to step on.
I love that your cows have such personalities...beware the bull...a horned one once pinned my mother against the barn...she fit just perfect between his wicked horns...he got de-horned that same day...Dad wasn't having anyone or thing mess with His Lady.
Hope we all have just the right amount of rains this summer....I was thinking it was 3 yrs. of drought we have had but Mom set me straight and said it has been 7 yrs. already...I know one thing, more that she and us will be drilling deeper wells. We both had to dig late last fall. Now that cost a pretty penny...mercy me.
Have a great day dear girl. Have you been seeing the turtles lately?
God Bless

Dar said...

oh, looks like an ant hill or pocket gophers...it looks like sand....maybe the bull will dig a bull hole there for fun...
Bless Ya Paula and John

Sheila Y said...

That's a smart one that finds shelter to stand in. We called the ones in the yard 'stickers' too. Sheila

Lori said...

Well we have all kinds of "sticker" things here. We have cockleburrs (cuckleburrs?), little sticky green things that we always called "stick tights" (because that's what they did), and other things. Glad the cattle are all doing okay. You guys have had more rain that usual, and we have had more snow than has been usual for years. I just hope we all have a nice spring.