Herd Checkup

 No walk again, Ruth had not yet made it back from Georgia and I needed to leave by 7:30 am for the trip to Middle Grove. The big thaw was on the way and the longer I waited the more mud I would need to walk through. After I turned on Middle Rd I saw 3 white birds high in the air flying. They were lit up by the morning sun and glowed. At first I thought they might be white pelicans but when they circled around and landed in a corn field next to the far drive of the pasture I saw they were swans. They joined about 10 others already on the ground. I stop and just took a picture from the car.

I thought about getting out and walking closer but it really was more important to check the herd before the big thaw. I could see them in the big field from the far drive so pulled in and parked. 

Mike wanted to know if there was still plenty of hay out. There was! Below is just two of the bales, there were 6 more spread about. 

I started hiking and the mud wasn't terrible yet. The ground was still pretty frozen even though it was already 45 degrees. Missy was the first to see me.

When she started walking toward me they all came.

In the back ground you can hear the swans honking. More were flying in as I was with the herd. Each mare was checked. Below the far right is big Rosalie, next to her is Oksana, then Rosaleigh and finally Tatiana. 

I wanted to take some updated pictures of Indy's colt. He needs to be named and registered and then placed for sale. 

Check out Indy's tail in the picture below.

This colt has inherited both Indy and Evan's mega hair gene and really will be someone's dream come true. We have him priced at $8500.00. He is almost 5 months old and will be brought in to wean soon.

I took plenty of pictures if interested in the rest of them from this trip click HERE. As I was leaving Missy dropped for a good roll.

By the time I started hiking back it was 54 degrees and the field was fine for walking but where the car was parked was not. My walking stick was collecting clay making it heavy.

I had to keep trying to knock the clay off.

Then I would use the stick to knock the clay off my shoes. See that lighter color around the shoe. All  of that is heavy thick clay

Before getting in the car I used snow and rocks to try to clean them off. By the time I drove out there were hundreds of swans gathered in the fields. They were spread out in about 5 different groups. 

I parked the car and walked a little closer trying to get some better pictures without scaring them. 

I watched 3 of the groups take off. The wind was blowing hard so the video is noisy. When I got back to the house I drove to the dumpster and threw away my good shoes.

When I say good, these were sketchers and only lasted about 5 years. I told mom I threw them away and she said, "about time!"  I'm going to have to bite the bullet and order another pair.  Phil had a crew working on the barn today. There is a big push as the insulators called, they are coming tomorrow!

This evening after supper Mark and I drove over to take a look at some of the work.

Almost looks like stalls.