None of our visits to the place before we moved in had the neighbor cows in the field directly across the street. When the cows are rotated into this field, (about every 3 weeks or so) they become the closest neighbors. They are beef cows, and there is a new crop of calves every few months. There is a bull in this herd so the cows breed naturally. The picture below shows 2 calves from last fall.
Some of the other visitors are not seen except for the very early morning hours or evening... just before sunset. This doe is here nearly every day and has visitors passing through during the night. We see the tracks and the others on the trail camera. One even came right up to the camera... to investigate. Yep, a close-up. I'll dig that up someday and post it!
There is a band of 5 male turkeys that have a routine... the second half of last summer they would come along the cow pasture every morning about 9. They were so skittish and shy that the only pictures I could get were from the house. This year we are hearing them in the woods behind the house. There is a flock of about 40 hens in the area too.
We found this tortoise in the woods behind the house as well. Saw quite a few last summer and none so far this year. We don't have any turtles in the pond either, but if we find a snapper he will be heading down the road lickety split!
We have started prepping the garden. This place came with a garden area with raised planting rows, but the soil is terrible. So we started a 3 bin composting area, and added the first bin to the rows, and ordered up a load of topsoil augmented with some steer manure. A neighbor stopped by with his tractor and offered to move the dirt onto the rows for us. Hopefully, the garden will yield some fresh veggies so we can thank him for the assistance!
The weather turned back to winter for a couple of days with some really cold overnight temperatures, back to the low 20°s and daytime in the upper 40°s and low 50°s, and breezy. While it looks pretty outside you definitely need a coat outside.
More Later. Beth
My grandfather raised beef cattle. We'd name the calf's, then a few years later, we'd eat them. Every time I see cows in a field, I think of steak.
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