Bye-bye kids!

It's the most difficult time of year for me; the day we say good-bye to the calves. They were taken directly to the shipper/broker yesterday and are on their way today to Oklahoma via a cattle big rig.

                      

The calves will overwinter on wheat fields in Nebraska or Oklahoma. 

Oh, no! I forgot to pack their winter coats! 
Now I am left with Mama cows searching for their lost calves by mooing non-stop. I mean all day and all night and all day and on and on. 
We go through this every year. I went out this morning to hand feed the girls oranges and comfort them.  Alice and I have been through this 9 times and she still yells every year to remind me that she is THE best mother in the herd. 

The cows had a nice little chat with me about their children leaving and how this is what we all want; for our babies to grow strong and tall and go off into the world on their own. 

It is what we do. 

We have hay!

      It is haying time in our county and on the ranch.
These are the first days of perfect hay weather that we have had all summer. Today was our first cutting and usually by now, we have already had one or two cuttings. Thank goodness for several dry days in a row over Labor Day week-end!

John Deere tractor with baling machine in tow

   Most farmers bale round bales here for cows and square bales for horses. We grow cow hay - Coastal Bermuda mixed with some Bahia. The really good news? We got 94 bales today! Fingers crossed for a good second cutting soon before we lose the heat. 

Yee-haw!