Maggie and Iris

This is Maggie. Iris is in the background. This year Maggie had a brown calf and Iris, a mom for the first time had a black calf. The Sweet-Faced Young Bull is brown, so there must be genetic weirdness someplace. Maggie, in spite of being female, is the bull of the woods and horns her way in (one suddenly understands where that expression comes from) when food is offered. The young bull really like the outer cabbage leaves and the stale pita pockets. Maggie has had so many calves that she didn't pay a whole lot of attention to this year's. She feeds it and then ignores it. The calves (we had three this year) all hung out and were calves together, so that was cool. Maggie doesn't much like Iris anymore, although Iris was her calf, too once. Right now, they are all hoof-deep in snow and eager for any treats that come their way. Broccoli stems always a populat item, as was the escarole core. We eat a lot of veggies and the cows profit, too. They are quite partial to banana skins. These are, of course, Scottish Highland Cattle, a hardy breed. After almost four years of intense observation, I feel like I know them pretty well. Sometimes they recognize me and all come bleating and running. It's like a stampede and the earth almost shudders from the thundering hooves. I am flattered. It's nice to be appreciated.

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