My Moo Moos

Just in case you were wondering, my little moo-moos are growing up fast! James and I visited the farm over the long weekend to check on the bees and the cows.

The bees are just fine. They are super busy gathering up goldenrod pollen for their late honey harvest. We are planning on leaving this honey in the hive to over-winter them, and, in addition: we will be feeding sugar water and pollen patties just to make sure we don't go through a mass genocide like last year.

It was easily 98 degrees over the weekend and our cows were feeling it. We had to use the four-wheeler to search for them. We drove over the fields, around the pond and through the apple orchard. We finally found them in the woods, down by a creek, trying as best they could to escape the heat.

As soon as they spotted us they started climbing up through the weeds to greet us. Our cows are definitely not shy. We had brought them some apples from the orchard and started tossing them around the herd, letting the more timid cows grab a few. They were loving the apples, so James and I decided to drive back through the orchard and gather up as many as we could. The cows were so happy to see us that they followed the quad as far as they could, some of them even running, trying to keep up with us!

We quickly filled a five-gallon bucket and headed back to the pasture. By this time our cows had gathered near the fence, waiting for us to come back. We quickly got to work, smushing the apples on the ground, to make it easier for them to chew. Cows only have teech on the bottom, did you know? They use them to just smash everything against their hard palate, turning their food into mush.

We would stomp an apple and take a step, stomp an apple, and take a step, the herd following us around in a weird little dance. When they became impatient, though, they made their intentions clear. They would grab the apples right out of our hands and stick their big fat heads in our bucket. I tried in vain to push number 39 away from the bucket, but, now that he is a solid 500 pounds, he didn't budge.

Regardless, everyone got to eat some apples, and that means happy cows. Happy cows make a happy James, and a happy James makes a happy Bridgette!

You know what all those apples also mean? FALL is right around the corner!