Sunday, October 30, 2011

Snow Grazing - Trick or Treat ?

Last night was so quiet as the snow fell and this morning it was a winter wonderland here.

Miraculously we still had power and heat.

The cows had lots to say as I hiked through the field to move them to another field.





They wanted hay and were getting ready to head for the hay storage area.




As I walked closer, they gave me " the look."      Which translates to:    "Drop THIS side of the fence down so we can stroll down to the hay barn."




I tried to explain to them that there were acres of good nutritious grass, right under the snow, that had been stockpiled for their dining pleasure.     They weren't buying it and instead crowded down to the end of the field heading to the hay.





I dropped the fence down into the new field and they reluctantly came my way slowly.... and then started running to get there first.

They quickly got down to the business of grazing the green lush grass that was beneath the Halloween snow.





Not more than 5 inches of snow covered their fresh lunch.

My friends in NH got 20 inches of snow on their fields and their cows are now eating hay 3 weeks earlier than normal.     $$$   




The sky looks like more snow could fall, but the sun keeps peeking out every so often, so its hard to say how the rest of the day might be.

The cows have lots of feed and tomorrow they continue their rotation to another field and then another and another.




This is Glory's first snow and she is a bit confused as to what is going on.....




The rest of the spring born calves are taking it in stride.





While the herd was chowing down on their cold lunch, the local deer were munching on sweet apples.




The empty corn fields look much  different than they did yesterday.





The neighbors milking herd of Holsteins are out snow grazing too.





No one can afford to start feeding expensive hay until all possible grazing areas have been depleted.






Up and down the Valley many other cows are outside having a cold nutritious lunch today.





This is New England and as usual the weather will change again soon.

I am eagerly waiting for "Indian Summer."

Happy SnowTober to you all!
~

5 comments:

  1. I think it was a trick. We woke to no power this morning. Sheep aren't exactly happy with the snow either.

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  2. Your storm had its inception here in Colorado where it did its damage and moved on to do more damage in the east. The winter hasn't even started yet. We hope that your coming winter isn't as hard as what you suffered last year. Stay warm.

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  3. And so it starts again... it seems like I just started reading your blog and here it is, winter again!

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  4. We got 12" of snow here Saturday night. Winnie is NOT happy about digging for dinner. So we brought them a couple bales of hay.

    It's to warm up a bit today, and some of it melted yesterday, so they should be ok by tomorrow. We've got 3 weeks of feed stockpiled and don't even want to be feeding hay.

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  5. Beautiful pictures. where is the round barn located? thanks for sharing the pics. Glad we are getting rain instead of snow here. Too much corn standing yet.

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