Hello, Mae!

I'm doing what I always do when I'm a) not pregnant, b) not nursing, c) both.

But before I disclose what that is, what do other women do in these situations? Enroll their kids in soccer, or something?

Anyways, what I'm doing is feeling like a farmer. Or at least, aspiring towards such.

No, I don't go to the livestock auction (yet), but I lurk in the "farm and garden" section of craigslist.

And that's where I found this beauty:

Ok, so the condition of this "pasture" does NOT make me feel like a farmer. More like a failure.

She is a Scottish Highland Cow, about 5 years old, and her name is Mae. She, in fact, was the reason (which I had forgotten), I started researching some of my genealogy a while back. The cow is Scottish, as were a lot of my forebears, and her name is Mae, as was (is) a farm my great-great-greats owned.

"Um, what do you want?"

 These pictures were taken a few days after we'd gotten her; she was still pretty unsure of me and the new place, so I could only get so close to her.

Pay no attention to those ugly black things in the background. They're not mine, and I'm glad for that.

Mae is (I'm told) about 800-1000lbs? She is hopefully bred; before we had her brought here, she spent about 6 weeks with another Highland bull. There are 2 bulls in that group of black cattle that are in our pasture too, and we have seen no 'activity' so are hoping she is expecting. Mae should calve in May, and if it's a heifer, perhaps we'll call her June. Or April. :)

Mae is much more tame, now. I have brought her a little bit of grain in a can (as she was accustomed to in her previous home), and now she will moo and gallop (do cows gallop? She hurries, anyway) towards me at the fence (I do not go in the pasture near those Ugly Black Things, nor Mae's horns, until we know each other better) to munch out of the bucket I hold. I love her. She is SO pretty, and such a striking contrast to those aforementioned Black Things. The black ones are far less tame, so they will not come as near me (though they will push Mae away if I leave hay on the ground) as Mae. They are always carrying a swarm of flies, and Mae has hardly any. I do not know if it's her long shaggy hair, or the fact that I'm out there at sunset and their black hides are warmer than Mae, but it's astonishing. Also, one or two of the bigger ones will suddenly throw their head around and spew a bunch of drool on their own backs. I haven't figured this one out; I don't see them do it at other times, and it almost seems threatening, but I don't really know. They stand there and glare at me, snot hanging in long strands from their noses, and some of them with dirty backsides. Mae looks like an angel compared to them. :) There are about a dozen of them, and they were continuously grazing the pasture to the east of us, before coming into our pasture. They're eating down a lot of the dead grass and weeds, but I won't mind seeing them go this month sometime.

Love those horns.. I think.

So our "herd" consists of one cow, Mae, and our three Jersey calves, Sir Loin, T-Bone, and Chuck (who is still a bull). I'm lovin' it. :)