Pictures say a thousand words. So I’m going to let this blog post be told through pictures taken with my iPhone. Of course, you know me, I’ll have to add my two cents here and there!
You’ve all seen how Darrin feeds the cows in the feedlot. We call that date night on the ranch. Well not all of them are in the feedlot . The lucky ones get trucked to warm, green pastures in California while hundreds graze the pastures here at home. And once they’ve mowed down all the natural feed, Darrin and crew have to hand feed them. Today, we were his “crew.”
These are the heifers. Females that haven’t had a calf. However, they are pregant and will start “calving out” in March. There are about 140 heifers in this pasture.
Each animal eats 20 pounds of hay a day just to maintain its weight. These bales weigh about 110 pounds each.
Now we are heading over to the other pasture to feed the cows. We have about 90 cows to feed.
The cows are pregnant too. They will start calving out in February. And apparently, some have already started.
For all you ranchers out there, I figured you’d want to know abut the equipment. This is a 1980′s model Ford tractor 7700. The hay wagon is well, just a hay wagon.
