The week before Thanksgiving, Rosie the pregnant Jersey cow exhibited symptoms that made us worry about  another premature birth. So we moved her to the barnyard where she could bask in the afternoon sunlight and spend her nights in the safety of the barn — and more importantly, where we could more easily monitor her
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The grass along the driveway was getting a bit tall, so I called the mowing crew.  They come pretty fast most of the time.  I just open the gate and yell ‘cow’ a few times. We’re a family friendly workplace.  We’re happy to let the young mothers in our employ bring their babies to work,
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There I was, wandering around in the pasture, checking every tall stand of grass and cluster of brush for the day-old calf that was hiding somewhere out there in the pasture. And I saw this . . . Rosie apparently had a bad itch.  Her daughter, one of the twins from two years ago, helped
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Blue, our old Aussie, joined us as an 8-week-old pup in September of 1997.   Born on a Kansas cattle farm, he was a cute, blue merle out of full-blooded working Australian Shepherd parents.   He had vivid blue eyes, which unfortunately faded to a pale, spooky blue-gray.  For nearly 13 years, he was a close companion and a reliable
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We arrived home yesterday after an errand and found this lone duckling wandering in the yard. All alone.  Abandoned.  Unloved.  None of our dozens of adult ducks claimed it, even though it’s brimming with wobbly cuteness. Jessica named it Blinky.   Because it blinks.  A lot. Blinky can’t be more than a day or two old,
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Someone asked me recently how many chickens I have.  I could only guess. In winter, I take a nightly headcount of all the birds during evening chores.  Now?  A headcount is practically impossible with so many free-ranging chickens, ducks, turkeys, and guineas loose.  During the day they’re all out and about doing bird things.  At
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I goofed.  This strange mismatch is completely my fault. A few weeks ago, I swiped all the eggs from beneath the nesting turkey hens.  Why?  Our turkeys have a terrible track record as parents.   They’re dedicated nesters and brooders, and they’ll defend their brood with surprising ferocity.  They just can’t seem to raise them to
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Now that they’re big enough to keep up, the goslings spend their days wandering outdoors with the flock.  The flock has, of course, slowed its pace to accommodate the little ones, and they rest frequently. The goslings are growing quickly and beginning to lose their baby fluff.  Soon they’ll have feathers and look like mini-geese. All that
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Sometimes the chickens roost on the tall stacks of rabbit cages in the barn.   The top of that cage is about six feet off the ground, so it’s not surprising that I didn’t notice that one of the banty hens wasn’t just roosting at night.  She’d made herself a nest on top of the empty
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Out here in the boonies, it’s common to see box turtles crossing the road.  Now and then I happen upon a damp, dirty snapping turtle crossing ground in search of a different water hole — hopefully not one where my ducks like to swim.  Usually these snappers take a direct route, but a couple days ago
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