This week marks the one year anniversary of when we purchased our first real farm animals, Patsy and Loretta. I can't begin to adequately describe in words how much these two have impacted our lives. So I thought I would do it with pictures.
We met Glenn, the man also known to us as the cow whisperer. We bought the girls from him and with a tear in his eye, he told us he was happy that they were being sold to us rather than going to auction. Glenn and I email each other frequently; he helps me with all of my farm related questions and also sends me cow stories, farm related publications and lots of jokes.
I couldn't sleep the first few nights we had them. They bellowed a lot for two days, missing their herd and their Mommas. https://youtu.be/AOg4Yf4H8PA I felt bad for them, I was worried they were cold, that they felt nervous being here, that they might run away and who knows what else. And of course they were fine. It was all just the order of things. We learned early on that Patsy was the boss. And the hungriest - from the moment she stepped foot into the barn she started eating and hasn't stopped since. Whenever we need to get her to move somewhere or basically do just about anything, we use a bit of corn to entice her. Works every time.
Patsy's first two minutes in the barn
We had to stop using this feeder because Patsy would get stuck inside of it
Once again, Patsy inside a feeder
Loretta is the shy and skittish one. She always has poop on her tail and straw or grass on her head. Her sweet and nervous personality makes people love her immediately. Or it might be her beautiful long lashes, I'm not sure.
They are always together. They are their own little herd and have stuck together from day one. They lived at the farm next door for 3 months and every single time we visited them, they were together. I get nervous when I see one without the other, especially since Patsy took on a new role this summer as an escape artist.
They even lick the mineral block together
Eating together at the neighbor's
These are Patsy's hoof prints in the sunflower garden.
This was probably the scariest day this year. We live on a very busy road and didn't discover her absence until about 8 am. Who knows how long she had been out and where she had been. This is also the day we electrified the fencing. Hopefully that will hold them in a bit better from now on.
Gigi's extreme jealousy has led to us leaving her in the house when we feed or interact with the girls. I'm sad that she can't be with us and learn to get along with everyone, but it's better and safer for everyone with her inside. Patsy is ready to head butt Gigi at all times.
We took too many cow selfies to count, got lots of cow kisses from their giant scratchy tongues, brushed and pet them as much as they would let us. We figured out how best to clean up cow poop in our pajamas, which, as it turns out, is very carefully.
We watched them meet the neighbors and have many meetings at the fence line.
Good talk
We learned that cows clean out their nostrils with their tongues. So attractive.
They went next door to be inseminated in the beginning of July. Patsy is "settled", Loretta is "open", meaning Patsy is knocked up and Loretta is not. So we kept them next door to hang with the bulls for another six weeks, hoping it would happen the natural way. It did not. In the middle of October, they *finally* got to come back home and this time they brought a friend. He's a bull and he's here to settle this business of Loretta not being pregnant. Meet Barney.
I love seeing the three of them in the pasture together, eating, grooming each other and basking in the sun. I really hope this creates the perfect romantic setting for Barney and Loretta, so that next year I can write about Patsy and Loretta's two-year anniversary. I don't really want to think about my first experience with culling to be Loretta, the sweetest of the bunch.
