Several weeks ago we noticed something odd about Cocoa, the preemie calf.  Take a look at that face.

Look a little closer.  Note the underbite and the exposed teeth.

It’s not a huge underbite, but it definitely affects what I used to think of as her sweet face.

If she were my child, I’d start socking money away [...]

American Buff geese deserve their reputation as calm, gentle birds — except during nesting.   A Buff defending her nest can be ferocious.  With five Buffs on separate nests around the barn, there’s a lot of ferociousness to avoid.
If I remember to sing the goose song while working near a nest, there’s usually not a problem.  Sometimes [...]

Look what I found in the barn yesterday morning!  My favorite ewe gave birth to this healthy  tiny ewe lamb not long after daybreak.  She’s Peep’s first lamb — and don’t blame me for the name.  Peep and her mama, Bo, were part of a package deal on ewes, and they actually knew their names.
Peep [...]

Tiny, the bottle lamb, is grown up now and having hair issues.  Actually, she has a lot more issues than just her bad haircut, but that’s a story for another day.

A year ago, Tiny was a fat, spoiled lamb.  Most days she appeared neatly groomed, except for the bits of leaves and mud spots she [...]

 
Sometimes, when the cat squabbles escalate to cat wars, it becomes necessary for the humans to intervene.  The worst of the offenders is evicted from the cozy warmth of the house for a while to contemplate her behavior.   It’s kitty-cat time-out, so to speak. 
 

Then the whining commences, the plaintive, pitiful cries — usually directly outside my [...]

A few weeks ago, the sweetest of the young geese turned up lame.  She stumbled around and made pitiful sounds, so we prepared the big cage in the ‘hospital room’ and brought her in for rest and observation.   I suspected a pulled muscle from too much frolicking.   Two days of quiet with no racing the others to [...]

A year ago today, Tiny Bottle Lamb weighed about 7 pounds. She still slept indoors in the playpen and followed me around outdoors like a puppy. She still sucked fingers when she was hungry. She hadn’t yet learned how to cross a creek, even a very little one.

Geese are, by far, the most entertaining of the barnyard birds.  We’ve two kinds, a small flock of American Buffs and one lone white Embden that was destined for the table but hasn’t yet met her fate.  The Buffs are the gentlest geese I’ve ever known.  They’ve completely changed my opinion of geese.   Those I knew in [...]

Morning light can be harsh.

After a long night’s work on predator patrol, a dog needs his sleep.

Someone should find him a doggie sleep mask.

The turkeys have a different perspective.  This Blue Slate tom particularly likes basking in the early light, displaying his speckled fan, chortling to the hens.  Most mornings I find him perched on [...]

Somewhere there’s an alien cow barn missing a calf.

Look, the alien calf’s big sister came to visit, too.

It’s an alien cow family reunion.
P.S.  Don’t take your camera flash to the barn.  Just don’t do it.