Cows!

Have I not even mentioned our cows??? Oh my goodness, I am so far behind!

Well, first there was CowCow, who you can read about here. 
She was joined by another black Angus - a rescue cow who was extremely malnourished and being badly injured by her herdmates. We weren't even sure she would survive the transfer to the ranch. When we checked on her the next morning, the two had found each other and she was dubbed MooMoo.

CowCow and MooMoo

We figured MooMoo could at least help with clearing the brush, even if she never regained enough health and strength to bear another calf. She has since managed to get a little muscle on her bones and most of her sores and injuries are healed. But is still extremely shy and wary, both of us and of the newest cows. She likes hanging out with CowCow, though, her first friend in probably forever.

The two Angus cows doing what cows do, graze and explore.

Then in December, we added six Dexters, a smaller breed. They were being sold off from a much larger herd, maybe because they have horns. To us, horns seem an asset as they will be better able to defend themselves against marauding hunting dogs that misguided and unthinking people inexcusably allow to run loose in the forests around here. (If I sound a little angry, it's because I am: such a pack killed my sweet Blackie-cat. I am furious and horrified about it still.)

It took two trips to get all the Dexters to their new home at the ranch, three in each load. Below, Unicorn - so named because someone removed one of her horns years ago so she has only one remaining - takes her first tentative steps from the livestock trailer. Unicorn is a pregnant mama, due any time now.

Besides Unicorn, there is

• Princess Buttercup, who may or may not be pregnant (the previous records were a little sketchy); 

•  T-Bone, Sir Loin, and Porterhouse, who are all steers; 

• and Ferdinand, a cute curly-headed young bull calf, who, so far, lives up to his namesake in temperament.

The herd had a happy bellowing reunion in the woods.

Most of the trees in the picture above are melochia. Considered a weed tree, melochia is fast growing and actually is very good cattle feed, high in proteins. After the cows eat the easy-to-reach lower leaves, they'll push the brittle little tree right over and get to work on the upper leaves. You can also see the remains of a couple banana starts in the foreground - a juicy treat for the herd. We will have to figure out a way to run fencing around the lower banana patch before too long. The upper patch is already fenced off from the livestock. Even the horse like banana leaves!

Speaking of the horse, he tends to mostly ignore the cattle now that there are so many of them. But he does seem to appreciate the many new trails to follow, all the better to reach those greener pastures I'm sure he's heard about.

The cattle have now formed one large herd, all eight of them. They wander through forest and field, trampling the brush and weeds, mowing and fertilizing the grasses, and creating trails for easier exploring. We provide several water troughs and a mineral block. It's so fun to be hiking around up there and realize you are being watched by a forest cow, or have Unicorn come up for a nuzzle and maybe a treat if you remembered to fill your pockets with hay cubes or liliko'i.

We'll be moving to more intensive rotational grazing eventually, but right now the livestock pretty much have run of the lower half of the ranch and it's working out just fine.