Our First Cow!

Last Sunday, we bought our first ever cow! She's a sweet little 6-month-old Angus heifer.

First thing she did was sneak out under the electric wire, the little stinker. We rounded her up, eventually, and lowered the wire. Later, Mike also added another wire so now there are two strands around the 2-1/2 acre pasture area. One is low enough to keep the cow in, the other is high enough to contain the horse.

No name so far... the right one hasn't come along, but something like Houdini might be appropriate. She seems to disappear into the shadows so well that we've walked right past her while searching for our "missing" cow. But now that she seems to have found her happy place in the middle of the pasture, under some well-placed trees for shade during the middle of the day, it is easier to know where to look for her.

Of course, before we could bring our heifer to the ranch, we needed a livestock trailer. Mike designed this one utilizing bits and pieces we had on hand: hog panels, roofing tin, 2x4s. The whole thing slides right onto our trailer and then is held in place with screws through the cross bracing into the floor, as well as the yellow strapping you can see in the photos below. There's also a ramp that does not show in these pics, but it hinges up to become the back end of the trailer.

We're still looking for a few more cows so we can really get our herd started. In the meantime, it's starting to feel like Serenity Ranch is coming together at last!