Apache, our almost two year old bull

Late last year I moved an RV onto my parents' property, which is about thirteen miles from downtown Montgomery.  I have loved every bit of it since!  Life on the "farm" has many rewards.  The rewards ... peace, contentment, seeing the stars, spending time with the animals, sniffing that good country air, hearing the birds sing (REALLY early in the morning), listening to all those bugs and frogs, and seeing the lightning bugs light up the woods.  Wow!  Nothing gets better than that.  

Since moving to the country, my menagerie has grown.  Previously, I had a dog and one of my sons had a dog.  Now that my son has moved out of state for college, I have a dog and my son's dog.  And six chickens I raised from chicks (they each produce one egg per day, anybody like eggs?), a beautiful golden palomino horse, and a white rabbit who has brown ears.  How did that happen?

Not only do I have my own animals, I get to enjoy my parents' cows.  Not ordinary, run of the mill cows, but LONGHORNS.  As in Old West longhorns.  They own GBC Longhorns, a small farm south of Montgomery, Alabama.  Their herd consists of a bull nicknamed Ferdinand and six cows.  Right now there is a separate herd of four heifers and a young bull, all offspring of those six cows; the heifers are all for sale.  We are about to be weaning this year's crop of calves, which is an additional six calves - four heifers and two bulls.  Talk about cuteness overload!  

Let me introduce you to some of the gang.  I told you the bull is nicknamed Ferdinand.  When my parents visited Rolling D Ranch, they were looking for two young heifers to help keep their property clean.  Along comes a young, curious calf who followed them around, looking for attention.  You guessed it, they didn't leave Ferdinand behind.  

Ferdinand the Bull

The young herd consists of Jane, the oldest, who will be two next month.  When I was out taking pictures, she was very curious to know what I was doing in the pasture with her.  I practically had to chase her and one of the other heifers off to keep them from knocking over my camera!  Guess it's not too bad though, she's friendly!  In fact, they all are very friendly.

Jane - trying to figure out the camera

Shasta is Jane's buddy.  She is white all over with red ears.  She is speckled with red, making her a roan.  

Shasta and Jane

Then we have Violet, who is on the standoffish side, although she and my dog Rocky made friends a while back and can be found touching noses when they come across one another.

Violet

Beulah comes with a special story.  She is the miracle baby!  My dad heard her mother bawling and noticed she was staring into the creek.  Knowing she was due to calve, he ran out and found the new baby, Beulah, had slipped off the bank and into the creek (the creek is Beulah Branch), with only her nose showing.  We don't know how she kept her head up, but she did, and she has turned into a beautiful heifer.

Beulah