By Jan Fielden
One of the cutest things we see on the ranch happens when The Colonel rolls out a bale of hay. He normally rolls all the bales out unless it is raining. Sometimes though he will go ahead and roll out a little bit of it. With all the rain we have had and the number of days it was raining, it was hard to find a time of day to feed the cows, let alone roll out the hay that takes a lot more time than just setting the bale down.
In the Middle Herd he started to roll out a bale and it “shelved” off. With a big slab of hay lying there he thought about going ahead and dealing with the rest of it by rolling it out too. But all the little calves immediately pounced on it and found themselves a nice soft and warm spot to lay down in! He got so tickled at them he stopped to just laugh at them while the rest of the herd plowed into the bale. There is nothing cuter than all the little babies lying there with their little heads just visible over the top of the hay. At times all you can see is their eyes. They hunker down and make little nests for themselves where they can stay warm and have something soft to lie in.
Their mothers will eat the hay all around them until it is like an island in the sun! It is something to see them run for their bed when they see what has happened, whether it is a large bed, nice and thick, or a small bed that is still somewhat thick. The sights we see at the Red Oak Ranch!
