Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara logo

The Cows are Coming!

More changes at the ranch.  Remember that I kinda wanted goats.  The whole ranch (300+ acres) is fenced and cross-fenced for cows.  In order for us to have goats, we would have to fence and cross-fence our 45 acres with goat fencing which would be expensive!  We calculated that if we took the cost of the fencing, along with a couple of goat shelters, setting up watering places for them, getting a dog or donkey to protect them, and then we figure the tax benefit, it will take us about 15 years to break even, and that’s if all goes well and the goats stay healthy.  Another option was to fence off our new property lines to divide us from the big ranch, and then get our three cows.  The problems with that is we’d need a cow trailer in case we had to take them somewhere (like the mall . . or out to eat . . or to the sale barn).  The vet will come here so we wouldn’t have to take them to the vet.  And, if we got a cow trailer, we’d have to get a new truck because . . we have a 16 year old S-10 that will not pull a trailer with a cow!  Our other option was to share cows with the neighbor.  That’s the option we went with and it’s working out so well for us.  He had cows at his grandpa’s ranch already so he brought them over to his house, kept them in a small fenced area til the mama cows all had their babies, and today he turned them loose to roam across our area and his area.  All we had to do:  (1)  Keep three of our four gates closed and (2) Make sure there’s water in the watering trough by our driveway.  The trough is full and the gates are closed!

Notice the sky is pretty gray . . we have a storm brewing!  Doesn’t this picture look like something out of an old TV western movie?

Check out the swirling dust.  It’s almost always like that outside.  That I could do without!

While I was walking around looking for the cows, which I may never see because there’s an awful lot of land out there for them roam around on, I took a picture of my garden spot.  It ended up being 70′ long, 60′ wide on the big end and 35′ wide on the narrower end.  Vince had to work around the water line and shade but that’s plenty of garden space.  He had planned to get the fencing up this weekend but we have lots of rain in our forecast and I’m never going to complain about rain!

Don’t you just love it out here?

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Looks like you are carving out a section of paradise for yourselves, in spite of storms and dust. Are you going to have some sort of irrigation for your garden plot?

  3. The cows can ride in the back of the truck if you want to be true country folk, no need for a trailer! Just think what a nice picture it would make for the blog! I’d love to live there. Can’t wait to see the garden. I miss having animals, they provide lots of entertainment.

  4. So Neighborly for you the share Cows. Will they “Share” when they take them to market? Or do you have to option of buying part of a butchered cow? I miss that part of being on the family Farm. My DH’s family named their cow, T-Bone one time.

  5. The rain hasn’t arrived here yet (west of Houston) but, like you, we never turn down rain. There’s nothing I like better than a big thunderstorm – and me in my sewing room watching it. I really enjoy your tales of Texas. It’s an easy place to love!

  6. I hope you have a good pair of leather boots for all that walking you will be doing. Don’t all Texans wear boots? Lucky you. Cows and chickens and a new sewing room.

  8. How does the cow share work? It sounds like grazing rights (and water provided) in exchange for owning part of the cows. I sure wouldn’t mind owning some fresh cream to make butter from.

  9. That’s is such a clever idea! Are you still going to get a couple goats for the heck of it? What about Vince’s donkey?? Surely those baby chicks need some farm animal friends to pal around with when Speck is inside…

  10. Love all the pictures! Really gives a ‘feel’ for your location! We are in a similar situation with our acreage. In order to maintain an “agricultural” classification we tilled up 3 more acres last year and put them under cultivation. We were just that little bit under the minimum. Minnesota has gone after the 2-3 acre partials near the Twin Cities that put a couple of horses on the land, fence it and call it a hobby farm with an agricultural tax classification. Legislation was passed and now they are taxed “residential” which, in fact, they are! But the fall out is that the small places in the country that really are ‘hobby farms’ now have to meet a minimum standard, also. We rent out our tillable to a neighbor, so we haven’t been a family working farm in years.

  11. hope that one gate that you kept closed is one that keeps the cows out of the garden area. when we had cows AND a garden…they would line up at the fence as i fed them….bad tomatoes….overgrown cukes….bad corn….overgrown okra….they ate it ALL. and moo’d for more. LOL i was hand feeding our cows. i could call them and they would come and line up. when i canned tomatoes….i took them the bowl of seeds, skins, juice….they slurped it right up. LOL

  12. Sounds like a great plan! Cows are fun, and they like to visit 😉 Never thought about taking them to mall though…. tee hee

  13. I love the pictures. But I started scouring them for a cow hiding in the bushes – before I read the entire post!

  14. Neat! Like others, I’m curious how a cow-share works. Do you get benefits other than your ag exemption? And now that you have that, can you fence off a smaller area for a couple of goats, just because you want them?

  15. Sounds good to me! We have our own cows and had to put in one very long fence at first. We have gradually replaced the other fences that were there and quite old. Our place and the neighboring one had been leased for cattle grazing. We had a year after we bought our place to either re-lease it or fence and get our own.

  16. They call those dirt devils. Wait til you see a “well formed” one. Makes you go hmmm….

    Do you get any meet from the cows (I assume these are beef cattle) or just the priveledge of your ag exemption?

  17. Once again YES!!! I love it. I can’t wait to see what you will do next.

  18. I know we’ve all got fingers crossed for rain. Maybe afterwards, can you post a photo of your lake. I’m interested in what the water level looks like since there has been rain after the drought. Good luck with chicks and cows, Judy. Stephani in TX (Tomazec@aol.com)

  20. Judy, your little piece of paradise is evolving so quickly, it is lovely to hear the joy in your posts, which are my ‘must read’ every day. Love the sock yarn, never tried to knot socks, maybe, one day.
    Cheerio,
    Marie

  22. Ah! It’s really beginning to feel like a ranch now! I expect to see the Lone Ranger and Tonto come riding up that trail any moment! ;p

  24. I think sharing cows sounds like a great option! Good luck with your ranching life!

Discover more from Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading