On the way out to milk yesterday morning we were greeted with a cheerful little shower of powdery snow. 
Just a little. 
Then it melted before our eyes. Ah well. 
When I counted the hay bales the other day, and after doing the rather rudimentary maths associated with this exercise, which frankly is as far as my mathematics will take me, I concluded that we have enough feed to last through to the end of February. Not long enough. With supplements like beet shreds and alfalfa cubes I can drag that through to mid march.
Still not long enough. So Daisy and I (oh please admire Daisy’s fringe, she is getting quite vain with all her brushing lately) anyway Daisy and I sat down to continue with our sums and she whispered in my ear that she did not want to be mean (actually she did but we will give her the benefit of the doubt) but she is a milking cow and 
Queenie is not. So Daisy should be eating almost twice as much as Queenie (according to Daisy) and once again she did not want to be mean, but Queenie is a bit of a pig and eating more than she needs. No offence, Sheila. She said to the pig who was wondering if the notebook I was scribbling in was food, 
So I reshuffled the paddocks. Daisy is now living in solitary splendour next to the milking parlour getting the full amount of hay. Queenie is next to her in another field getting half that. 
Can we pause for just a moment to admire Big Dog, he was going with an 50’s Egyptian theme, hence the soft focus.
Daisy has suggested that The Bobby Blanc be isolated from the big sheep so that he can also get his whole quota without Hairy and Mama pushing him out of the way. She has observed some ovine bullying in my absence. Also Mama and Mia are expected to be breeding so in a short while their diet will change too and Bobby Blanc does not get to share their grain. So they have been seperated as well.
Now that I am home we can manage a more high maintenance regime upping the work a little, running things more economically. Maybe we can save some hay. This is the plan anyway. When it gets cold they will all need more to eat. 
I’ve got men!
Then last night a friend of John’s called with a question and Our John idly asked him if he had any spare hay. Sure, the fellow said, (John sat bolt upright and made pointing gestures and optimistic hand signals towards the phone). I am selling it for Eight dollars a bale. John’s mouth dropped open … but I can do you a deal. He shut it again. Buy it, I said. Do you have twenty bales? asked John. He nodded to me, the phone to his ear, the guy could spare that much. Twenty more bales with slim healthy animals should get us through to the spring grass. Hopefully we can get it for less than eight dollars a bale though. 
Good morning. Why do we panic about ordinary stuff? Things really do have a way of always working out. One way or the other. This is why I am not having a hissy fit about having all these chickens and NO eggs at all. I am unable to cook anything that has eggs in it at the moment. Thats Ok. I have a plan.
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “Shuffling the cards of cows.”
What we are wanting is SNOW. Glorious snow Celi. So much snow we know that spring is going to be very green. It is reassuring to have the bales of hay in the barn – enough until spring. We had to be one of the few places in all of Canada that didn’t have snow for Christmas. I don’t miss the intense prairie cold but I do miss the beautiful snow. Miss C. is back at the Farmy and every one should be very happy. I know we are. V.
Tell Daisy her fringe is lovely the way it falls so softly on her forehead. I love that photo of Big Dog, he looks very majestic, but not too happy about the headgear!
There is so much to do and think about on the farmy, I don’t know how you cope with it all, but you have a plan, so I shouldn’t worry – things always have a way of working themselves out.
It’s always something, isn’t it? I do hope you can get some of that hay for a better price than $8/bale. Good to see snow on the ground and though we’ve not had much, there’s plenty of it all around us. Things are looking better for this Summer’s crops — hay included. A ‘normal’ Winter would be nice.
Back in The Day, hens that no longer laid eggs were sold as “stewing” chickens. They supposedly made the best soup. Just today, Zia said she saw some in a market near her Son’s home, where she spent Christmas. These were the first she’d seen in years.They wanted about $15.00 for each bird. She declined the purchase. 🙂
She asked that I tell you “Welcome home!”
This is a good demonstration of “hitting the ground running”. Welcome back to Winter’s reality show, Celi.
I think you’re right.. things fall into place, especially when they’re meant to be! How exciting to see the footings of your new building take shape!! I’m back to catch up.. so reading in reverse should be confusing enough, excuse me if I get muddled:) xx
Glad to you are safe and back at home. I am sorry things are a little unsettled but I am sure things will fall into place, just like daisy’s bangs. What a hoot! Take Care, BAM
I love your spirit. I love it that you “have a plan”…I have a feeling you always have a plan! Maybe your next book should be a book of plans. I’d buy that for sure.
p.s. “I have men”…that’s gotta be my favorite line of the whole thing, though. Ha! Lucky you!
Great news for the hay. I don’t know anything about the current price of hay: when we had horses back in the 70’s we used to help the farmer at haytime and were paid in enough hay for the winter, though I have a vague memory of fifty pence a bale (about 80 cents.)
I like the look of your men and what they are doing!
So glad you found some hay – it’s in short supply and expensive so many places.
Big dog does look handsome. And who doesn’t like the hair brushing spa treatment?
Glad all the animals are catching you up on what’s happened while you were gone!
Lovely snow, even if it was very brief. I hope you get a good deal on the hay 😉
PS I’m Big Dog’s slave for life 🙂