Bull’s itchy. Note to self: need a tougher water tank.

Cow 63 (on the left) showing off her belly at term. Old Girl next to her is showing off her belly full of grass. The scrub in the foreground is the border of the pasture that I didn’t get to mow last time around. Not long after the calf is born. He’s a male calfContinue reading "It begins with an H and ends in asselhoff"

Once July hits the Gers nothing much grows. The permanent pastures go yellow and brown and after the stockpile is eaten there’s nothing left. Farmers feed hay and silage to their animals through the summer. The one exceptional plant is lucerne (or alfalfa to Americans). It keeps growing. Even in drought conditions it grows, althoughContinue reading "Summertime and the lucerne is eaten"

Cow 63 has been threatening to give birth for the last few days. She’s very rotund, her udder is full, her tail is up and there’s been plenty of mucus, but she’s still crossing her legs. 63 is way out of sync with the rest of the herd, but she’s a good old cow. ThatContinue reading "A pregnant pause in summer"

This little pond is called Club Med. The cows like to hang out by it. Or stand in it. It is understandable since Southwest France is being hit by a Saharan wind this weekend. We’re coming up to the last of the permanent pasture for the summer. After this it is all the lucerne/alfalfa summerContinue reading "The herd at Club Med"

Work right now involves disking the California paddock (so called because it was a big sunny vineyard) to make it flatter and suitable to plant into pasture. This one is a tricky job. Although the ground between the vine rows was flat, there’s often a height drop at the line of vines. In places theContinue reading "Disc 1, snake 0"

The mirabelles are getting ripe. The first heifer notices the plums on the other side of the wire. Sitting in the wimpy wild grass here (Bemuda grass?) is this shell. When you see these shells in the field you wonder what hunter has been wandering by eating large shrimp, but then you figure out theseContinue reading "Plums, crayfish and something wild"

[This is an old post I found in my drafts folder, but I like the photos so I figured I'd publish it as it is.] Kids love hay bales. This is the second cut of lucerne hay from the Newman/Costanza fields and was super green. This is border fence done the Gascon way with cutContinue reading "Hay bales, fence post and ZQ"

This raptor was sitting on one of the fence posts in California-T. I’m no good at identifying birds beyond chickens and ducks but maybe it’s some kind of Chickenhawk? [Ignore the terrible fence posts.] The herd enjoys the lucerne. It is a bit over-mature but in the midsummer heat it still tastes good. The calvesContinue reading "While walking in a lucerne field I saw…"

The herd munching on the Gates of Detroit paddock. Under those bleached seedheads is a surprising amount of green grass. The herd surprised me by eating it up. This paddock had been left uneaten for three months of spring so it might be what is considered tall grazing. On the right of the fence isContinue reading "Late July Heat"