This photo was taken about a month ago. It was warmer, with temperatures reaching up to 90 degrees. Today, the weather has changed. It was in the 30's this morning with a brisk north wind. There was a light frost on the ground and then the rain began to fall. We always say, "The animals don't mind the cold and they don't mind the rain, but when it is BOTH cold and rainy, then they have trouble."
When the temps fall, the grass stops growing and the animals clip down every blade of grass in the pasture. They depend upon the hay we give them. A month or two ago, we reported how we put 70 square bales up on the hay loft in the barn. We keep round bales out in the hay ring so that they can free choice eat at their leisure. Normally a round bale will last a week, but now that we have Nick, the bull, here with us, the round bales don't last that long. He's a big dude.
Speaking of Nick, we're thinking that Rosie, Elsie, and LuLu are bred, so we'll be trying to load Nick in the cattle trailer to return him to where he's from. Hopefully we'll be successful. He isn't halter-broken, so it's not as easy as putting a lead rope on him and walking him into the trailer. We'll have to get creative and coax him into the trailer with some sweet feed in a bucket. If we're not successful, we'll have to borrow some cattle panels and build a corral.
Back to the hay, I've arranged for a friend to deliver us 8 round bales at some point next week. Once Nick is gone, that should last us through December and the better part of January. In addition to the round bales, we'll begin giving them square bales each day along with sweet feed. We generally ration the square bales so that it lasts until the spring grass comes in.
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