New spring stuff

Well, all the cattle have arrived. We officially have 1 mini hereford bull named Gunslinger, 2 mini hereford cows, 2 zebus....one pregnant and one with bull calf at side, one mini longhorn with bull calf at side and one F1 steer. We had the pasture sprayed with a compost tea this past Monday...but unless it rains soon, it may be like spitting in the wind. We also got 25 broiler chicks on Thursday. They will stay in the brooder only 3 weeks before taking their place in the moveable pen that will be in the pasture. We are getting ready to section off the pasture using electric fencing to make small paddocks for the cattle to rotate. We may have a few too many cattle on the land right now, but the steer will be heading to the processor soon, and I plan to sell the F1 bull calf. When ward and I went out to do chores this morning, we stumbled upon Dewberries ripe on the vine. We picked all we could find and ate them with cereal for breakfast. Yummy! Ward did finish the last laying chicken coop for me, officially named the "mini-cooper". He does an excellent job on these coops...i think he should build them to sell.

Some of the cows are home

5 of the cattle arrived today. The bull, Gunslinger and his posse of 2 hereford cows, 1 Zebu cow and an F1 steer are walking the perimeter. The other Zebu cow who just had her baby yesterday and the Longhorn with the two week old baby are still in Bryan waiting till they get a little older. We could just sit out and watch them all day. This work stuff really gets in the way.

I was collecting eggs yesterday and I heard a baby bird chirping sound. I looked down a roll of shingles ward had leaned against the fence and there were 7 mouths open! I got a flashlight to look better and saw they were really young, no feathers at all. I remembered standing there not too long ago and having a bird land right on the fence by me. Of course, I thought I was like a disney character that the birds wanted to be friends with. I guess now I know I was standing VERY close to her nest and she was probably nervous.

The Cows are coming home......

Here's a few pictures of our new cattle. Yesterday we purchased a minature hereford bull, two minature hereford cows, two Zebu (minature brahman) that are pregnant, 1 minature longhorn with a 2 week old calf at side and an F1 steer (his parents are the zebu and hereford bull). We didn't get a picture of the bull when we were out there. I think we were awestruck at him. He weighs about 1000 pounds. He is beautiful. He was kicking dirt up on himself, so he looked like he was going to charge. The guy is going to start delivering a few at a time probably starting next week when he gets back into town. We are going to let the zebu's deliver first and wait a few weeks before we transport them and their calves. We have a lady coming out today to look at our pasture. We are hoping to have it sprayed with compost tea. Trying to live without chemicals.....