Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cow-tography

As we approached the turn off to the stable my mom boards her horse at, I noticed the neighbor's cows were in the field next to the driveway. After we pulled in, I told my parent's to stop the car and let me out, I wanted to take pictures of the cattle.

My parents continued up the long driveway, leaving me to take off my lens cap and walk towards the fence and the cows.

Houston, we had a problem.

I think I scared them. They looked at me with rolling eyes, made cow snorts, and started trotting (um- do cows trot?) away, up the fence line, heading back toward their barn. I stood there in defeat, watching them go. Was it the camera? My red jacket? My baseball cap? Me?

Luckily my parents had noticed the cattle quickly moving away from me and they backed up the car and picked me up, since the driveway was a long hike from the stable. The cows continued moving up the their pasture and ended up behind their barn near the woods. Safe, no doubt, from that very scary Pony Girl.

I thought surely Old McDonald (the farmer) was going to come blazing out on his tractor and yell at me for stressing out his cows.

I had taken pictures of these cows last year on my point and shoot. Some of them even came up to the fence in curiosity. I don't know what happened this time. Many of the cows have young calves, perhaps they were feeling protective.

The next day, once again, the cows were all in the shade of the trees along the driveway. This time, I stopped my car, but I snapped pictures from inside. They didn't seem to mind this as much, but still eyed me warily.

Later, on the way out, my dad and I saw this nearly newborn calf and it's mama. From the passenger seat, I leaned over both the car's center console and my dad to snap a few pictures. Any blur you see is from the fence wire, unfocused because of the zoom.

That mama cow was watching me very, very closely!

Goodbye little calf!

Wait for me, mama! I think that Pony Girl is after me!

I have had a fair amount of horse, goat, cat, and dog photo subjects. I have yet to get any good cattle pictures as I don't know anyone that has any cattle! Those bovines near my mom's barn were my only hope. Ah well, better luck next time.

19 comments:

  1. I think the photo's turned out beautiful. I LOVE the mama and her baby. The contrast in their colors.

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  2. PG, Come on over. I have plenty of cow "subjects" for you to photograph.
    Our neighbor down our road raises Texas Longhorns. I would love to photograph those buggers. Their horns are amazing!

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  3. Pony Girl, come out West. We have bovines galore at our family cattle ranch. I told Paint Girl you two should head on out for branding sometime.

    One problem--we don't have the lush grass in the background.

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  4. heck girl , come on out we have cows ,and I think mine like having thier picture taken!

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  5. I love cows...they can go from serene and placid to snorting and crazy in under 60 seconds...lol!!!

    Great effort there, PG, and that calf is just too cute. :)

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  6. So cute...the pictures turned out great. I am amazed at how trusting cattle are. When I go for walks in my grandpa's woods...the cattle follow me and edge closer and closer. It is so amazing to have this whole herd..all ages fearlessly following.

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  7. I love the baby calf!
    I laughed so hard when the cows took off running from you! Must have been something that scared them! Probably that new camera! Oh, and why couldn't you walk down that long driveway? That was nice of mom and dad to come back and pick you up!

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  8. Oh I love calf's!! They are so cute and so much fun to take pictures of!! I love that little calf, it kind of looks like a paint calf LOL!!

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  9. I've had the same experience trying to shoot cattle. Either they get all snorty and stompy, or they just walk away. I'm trying to get pix of the herd of longhorns I pass everyday. I know they're there, but they have almost 90 acres and I only catch sight of them maybe once a week.

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  10. Girl I am telling you . You have a gift. Make a coffee table book!! :) I would buy it.

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  11. Wow, your photos are great! Keep in mind most beef are not handled often and are far more wary than our equine friends. :)

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  12. Concidering all your obstacles...they turned out great!!! It was probably the red jacket...maybe some of thoese calves were bulls and they thought you were ready for a bullfight!!!

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  13. Is it wrong of me that all I wanna do is go out there and chase them?

    See ya in a couple hours!

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  14. You're Mom's right, the pictures you did manage to get were great! Next time you visit, you'll have to do a serious cow hunt. Aren't there any cows up by Paint girl? Have a terrific Thursday!

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  15. Those are really good cow pictures -- the calf is so cute! I think cows have the sweetest faces....

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  16. Oh my gosh, your blog has taken by heart away. It is splendid and is everything I wish I was doing and experiencing on a daily basis. I miss my days with my horses so very much. Take it all in.

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  17. I have never seen a cuter baby cow! Is that not 100% adorable?? I just want to hug and kiss it!!!

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  18. those were great shots..I love how you tell a story as you share the pictures :)

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  19. Good job on the cattle photos. Maybe they weren't the same cows from last year. Maybe some have already been butchered?
    Or maybe cows just have very short memories? lol!

    We've got cows all over the place up here. In fact while driving home from the rodeo last night a calf crossed the road...on busy RT 66! It was around midnight and I called 911 and said that this cow was going to cause a fatality...and not just his own.

    I stuck around for about 15 minutes until the police arrived, shining my high beams on him to let drivers know he was there and to keep an eye on him. He was only one road away from I-40!

    Finally the police arrived and herded the little guy back through the broken fence. The cop actually bumped into him and I could hear the huge thump, but the calf was pretty sturdy. Yikes! And he just went back underneath the broken fence.
    I was thinking, don't farmers do fence checks every so often...especially along busy roadways?

    Great photos, PG!

    ~Lisa

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I love hearing from my readers!! I truly enjoy all of your feedback, advice, helpful tips, and stories. You all make me laugh and I learn so much from you, too. I will try to post replies to your comments as often as I can.

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