We have not disappeared.  We have just  been busy.  Things are more routine now and less exciting if you are not living it.  (Our worker guys think we are crazy when we get all excited when another baby is born.  They shrug their shoulders and say it is just an animal.) The seasons come and go and for the most part follow a rhythm.  We had a few bumps with the weather.  No rain made for a hard winter and then spring began cold and was slow to provide rain. So, I will try to find some interesting pictures for the next few posts to catch everyone up on our activities. I know that it is the pictures you all care about, not our stories.

I will begin with the lecheras.  We had to purchase and then feed hay three to four times a day for our hungry pregnant milk cows.  Ruben made us some hay mangers so more would be eaten than trampled and peed upon. The lecheras were in the pasture just outside our front patio, and when we went in or out of the house and it was close to feeding time, they let us know, in chorus.

We also purchased rations to be sure the lecheras were getting enough of the right kind of nutrients to stay healthy.  We poured about a third of a bucket for each mama and set it by the fence so we would not have to walk through the muck.  The mamas ate from their bucket and then from another bucket if the cow next to them was a slow eater.

Having the cows right outside the door, and asking to be fed all the time, let us gentle the cows.  Instead of walking away when people went by, the cows came to see what food we might have brought.  So I tried to have a handful of grass or hay to fed who ever was standing at the fence.  The cows now do not mind as we walk amongst them and pat them.  Jon has had to shove a few out of his way while he has been working in their pasture.

Gentling the lecheras is the first step to being able to milk them when the time comes.  It is also fun to have them come running to say “moo” at you.