#20 Update…

Last week #20 stood under the shade tree to visit with her friend whose newborn calf lay napping. (That’s her standing on the left side.) I took the photo from inside the chicken yard so as not to disturb the baby. #20 is heavy bred, but her bag isn’t anywhere near ready to support the birth. Late this afternoon I was making my feeding and water rounds to checkout the animals. I was sitting in the cart next to the one-hundred gallon tub while it filled from the well. She came over to the tub and took a long drink standing about five feet from me. I didn’t move, just talked to her. It was easy to inspect her up close. It was incredible to watch the calf move in her belly. Her structure is sound, good clean hooves, no scars, shiny coat. When she...

Texas Calving during Drought

Okay, the secret is out – I like cattle! I’m not very good at painting them but I gave it my best shot. #20 is probably my favorite because she follows me around even when she’s not particularly hungry! Any day now, she’ll drop her first calf. Watching her mature the last two years, she’s turned into a beautiful big sweetheart. As you can imagine, raising cattle is not cheap these days with the drought being the worst in many years. The price of hay and feed has gone through the roof – but what are you going to do after the investment of raising them? You can’t let them go hungry – you can’t take them to the sale barn as if they’re just so much heavy baggage. So, you find the money somehow and keep them...