Morning Feeding

Dan and I built our house right on the edge, or I guess it would be the middle of Mom and Dad's ranch.  It's actually right out in their hayfield.  In order to get to our house, you have to drive down their lane, past the barn and on over to us.  So all of these cows and horses are my parents and not mine.  Which my husband is very thankful for.  Ha!  But living where I do, we are surrounded by them everyday, and it's very much a part of our life.  My parents moved out to this ranch when I was in 1st grade I think.  So this is where I grew up.  When Dan and I got married we lived in town for a few years, but I was very excited to move back to the ranch once we were able to build.

You can see our house out on the left of the barn in this picture.  My parent's house is farther off to the right of the barn, but you can't see it in this picture.  I took this from the back pasture looking in. 

Most mornings, after I get the kids on the school bus, I swing over to my parents house for a cup of coffee.  This morning, I took my camera and rode along while they fed.

After we fed the horses, we headed to the pasture that has the 2 bulls in it.  I'm not intimidated by the cows at all, as I've grown up with them all my life.  But the bulls are another matter entirely.  These boys are both about as gentle as they come, but I still don't trust them at all!  

Here they come...

Crossing the creek to get to their breakfast.

 I was totally holding my breath, as they both reached the bank and checked me out!  Eeek!

"That's right, just eat your food... don't worry about me!" 

Next we headed over to feed the ladies.  

They can be out of sight, but once Mom yells, "Come Boss" they start running right for you. 

She doesn't look to impressed with me, does she?  Haha!

Gertie, the cow with the brown spot on her nose, always looks like she's smiling.  :)

Mom's cows all have names on their tags, and Mom knows who most of them are without even looking at the tag.  The cows with numbers on their tags, belong to our friend, who also helps out on the ranch.  

They should start calving anytime with in the next couple of weeks.  Mom loves calving season, and gets up a couple times a night to check on all of them.  Once they start to see that some of the cows are looking close to calving, they will bring them up into the corrals next to the barn, so she can keep a closer eye on them.  I try to help and keep an eye on them as I head into town or back home... but honestly, I'm not good at it.  So I just try and take pictures of the cute babies once they arrive.  Someones got to do it.  ;)