New Babies Everyday

As you can see, it's calving season here on the Oklahoma range.  We began to have calves during those cold, snowy days late last week and now have seven new babies.  Most are perfectly marked with the British White black nose, ears and feet.  Sometimes we have one that is 'over marked' with more black on it's coat than the others.  Then, like the one we found this morning, once in a great while, there's a surprise waiting for us. . . an all black calf.  This black calf had only been born minutes before we found her.  We got to watch her stand up for the first time.  They're so cute and truly remind you of the 'cycle of life' that continues year after year.

Steve and I began in the British White Cattle business over twenty two years ago and have always kept a herd of around twenty breeding cows.   Our favorite time each year is always in late winter when all the calves are born.  Steve's would tell you he also loves the day they sell too.  Which is only right, I suppose.  

Winter is here to stay. . .

This is the fourth day of sub-zero weather and today it's began to snow again.  The picture above is of our pond west of the house along the drive.  It has been very low for months and is now frozen on the top.  When the grandsons were here at Christmas we had fun playing 'back behind' the pond which is usually under about three or four feet of water.  Now you can see the snow back there.
Thankfully, Steve and I finially got a chance to burn feed sacks and some other paper trash yesterday.  The wind had laid for the first time in days and our burn pile area was covered with snow.  Feeding steers, heifers and cows all winter really makes the feed sacks stack up.  A few of the sacks didn't have an colored ink label so I saved them to use as underlay mulch in the garden. 
The birds have really been hitting the feeders these days.  They are so pretty and I've taken pictures of them and some of our other animals as they survive the weather, but I haven't quite figured out how to get them posted yet.  I'm still learning and hope to get this thing figured out soon.

Snowy & Sunny!!

Another cold, windy winter day here in Oklahoma and the sun is so bright it nearly blinds you.  And, another day indoors except for feeding time and we're going to town later to have dinner with friends.  A couple of hours ago I went out to feed the chickens and found another frozen egg one of them had laid on the floor of the hen house.  Uck!  They must really miss getting to roam around outside. I think even the chickens are getting cabin fever after a couple of days of being shut in.   Or, maybe it's just that the other hens 'take up residence' in the nest boxes to keep warm and others can't get in to do their business.?  I don't know.  Even though there's ten nest boxes they have always picked three or four to lay all the eggs in for some reason.  Maybe I can let them out in the snow tomorrow, but it isn't melting at all today and the drifts are pretty deep.   

Snow Day

We woke up to a morning of blowing snow and subzero temperatures.  Mostly in the single-digits with windchill in the -8 to -14 range.  I stayed in most of the day with the exception of a trip out to feed the chickens and horses.  We kept the chickens shut in all day since it was so cold and windy.  They still gave  us three eggs.  One was laid on the floor of the hen house and we didn't find it until late in the day and it had frozen and cracked open.    Steve carried the feed out to the six heifers and ran to town for awhile with Curt.  So happy we have the new wood burning fireplace, it keeps it so toasty and comfortable in the house, so much better than the electric heat.