amysflock: Growing and shrinking

It's been a very interesting time for Paul and me on the farm this month, full of emotional highs and lows, ups and downs, and lots of growth. And some shrinking, too...followed then by more thoughts of future growth. It's a strange roller coaster we're on, and I'll share more about it in a future post.

Our calves Cowboy and Clyde are definitely GROWING! It's astounding how quickly they grow and change. The day after Clyde was born, looking every bit the younger twin to Cowboy, Paul and I nervously laughed that we'd be unable to tell them apart if they stayed as similar as they were at newborn and 5 days old.

Whew, not to worry. Today they're officially 15 and 10 days old, respectively, and could not be more different! So far our initial observations of their coat colors is true. Clyde is much lighter than Cowboy and shows no indication of a future brindle pattern. His tail tip is red, so he'll likely end up red, although whether light or dark, only time will tell. Cowboy's brindling signs, the gray on his eyelids and nose, have become even more evident over the past couple of weeks, and now we can see clearly the dark tips to his eyelashes, the faint darker ring of hair around his muzzle, and hints of gray in his dossan, or bangs. His overall coat is much darker than Clyde's, plus he's quite a stocky, blocky boy. He's got even got a bull-like little face; while Clyde's got a little baby face still. Both little bulls are boundless bundles of energy, racing around the slice of pasture we've set aside for everyone, doing brodies around the hay ring and mamas' legs, jumping over branches and sticks on the edges of the burn pile, racing up and then screeching to a halt at the waterer, randomly karate kicking a hind leg at the air. They are such joys to watch. It is definitely nice to have these two boys in the spring, when we can enjoy them before and after work.

Meanwhile, I found a teeny, tiny green speckled egg in the hen's nest box, nestled among several normal-sized eggs. I just had to take pictures, and then cracked it open just to see, and found it contained only white, no yolk. What a funny thing! I've been told you never know what to expect with farming...too true!