Misty morning

After a mild, damp weekend the temperature dipped again last night and we awoke to a light frost and a clear sky. There was some early morning mist and the silent, ghostly outlines of the herd appeared through it as they slowly made their way across the field.

Springtime for Heifers?

One sure sign of the arrival of Spring is the flowering of the first daffodil.  The buds had formed a while back but with a noticeable rise in temperature over the past couple of days, the yellow blooms arrived today.

There are about forty cows in the mini-herd and they are roaming the large field opposite the house.  They are always on the move, (except when they lie down) so it wasn't a surprise to be greeted by a deserted field this morning as they had all moved behind the buildings where they can't be seen from the house.  They emerged mid-way through the morning and continued to chomp their way around the field.  I turned the Cowcam on for a while but they seemed reluctant to move within range of its lens.  It is much better for Cowcam when they are in the field that surrounds the House of Cows.

No Trespassing!

Cows have appeared in the field opposite the house. They weren't there yesterday morning so arrived sometime during the day. They look like the cows from up the track, but will need closer inspection to be sure and it was a bit foggy first thing this morning. Whilst I was scraping the car I noticed some tell-tale hoof prints in the grass (I hesitate to say lawn!) so the migration of the mini-herd wasn't without incident. When they are driven along the road, all the other gates are normally closed so that the cows can't get off the road, but that didn't happen yesterday as the cows were expected to turn through the first gate they came to. At least a couple of them decided to pass by and came into our garden instead. It doesn't look like they caused any real damage. It's good to see cows from the windows again.

Morning Exercise

It was a bright morning, bit of frost on the ground but not a cloud in the sky so it would warm up pretty quickly. I walked two miles up the track to see the out-wintering cows. It was very muddy in places but fortunately it was still frozen so the going wasn't too tough. The cows at the halfway barn had been given some pellets in their troughs so were too busy eating to pay much attention to me as I passed.



When I reached the end of the track the cows were standing around in bunches waiting for the man to plonk the bales in their feeder. I took a few photos and then walked back down the track. The sun was quite warm and the frozen mud was melting fast so I had to squelch my way back. It is very spring-like at the moment - plenty of snowdrops and crocuses and lots of birdsong - it's almost as if we've skipped winter altogether.

Distinct lack of cows

The cattle truck was at the farm first thing this morning and a number of our bovine friends were loaded on board.  There are still critters in the halfway barn as well as some out in the field at the end of the track, but there don't seem to be as many as in previous years.  Looking forward to the warmer weather when the animals will be grazing our fields again.