A New Haybale

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While we’ve had rain enough to make the spring pasture grow, the cold has kept it short. So hay must be fed.

Before Harland takes a bale to the hay ring, he fills the mineral feeder.

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Then I join him on the tractor down into the pasture with a couple hay-bales. The cows and calves gather round.

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Before dropping a bale into the ring the plastic webbing that held it together is removed.

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The the bale is dropped in,

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and the cows dig into the feast.

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We watch for a while,

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and a white-faced calf comes in close to the tractor to watch us.

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xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Suzanne

Cattle, corn, wheat, beans, mud, snow, ice, and drought. Plenty of fresh air and quiet. Our life is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, but never boring.

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6 Responses

  1. evelyn says:

    calves tend to be nosy, don’t they? glad that you got some rain; seems to be in short supply in many places.

  2. Keith says:

    Dear Suzanne,
    I grew up on a small farm in the prairies of Montana. In a way that’s hard for me to put in words, “prairie”–the land, the wind, the grass, the weather, the animals–is how I often feel a connection with “something” that is bigger than me and that is very good.

    I recently read Jim Foy’s book “Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales from the Tallgrass Prairies”. I am currently reading William Least Heat-Moon’s book “PrairyErth”. Both books speak deeply to me. Because of my interest in the area where you live, I recently discovered your website. Thank you so much for creating it and for sharing your pictures and posts. They are very meaningful and dear to me.

    Anyway, I just wanted to say I notice the work you’re doing and appreciate it very much.

    I wish you and your’s all the best.

    Warmly,

    Keith

  3. Jeanne says:

    You have some of the cutest calves I’ve ever seen! I love those beautiful faces! And you do take great photos!

    I am really enjoying your blog – sure glad I found you. I always look for something from you when I check my e-mail!

    Praying that you get more rain. We could use some here in western OR, too. We’re in one of the driest springs… That doesn’t bode well for the thought of forest fires in the late summer.

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