This month I wasn’t able to go to my usual spot at Blunn Creek but I was lucky enough to have time to make two trips to my ranch house in Fayetteville, Texas. On my first trip out there on March 8, I had originally gone to do some hog hunting. We have been having a hog problem out there because there is currently an excessive population of them. As we are learning in class, and excessive population of one species can cause a disruption in an ecosystem. Unfortunately though we could not hunt down any hogs. But I did get to experience something amazing that weekend. We have a herd of longhorn out on our ranch. For example, here’s Cowboy. He has a very nice set of horns.
Cattle typically stay close together in their herd. That is because there is one bull and the rest are female cattle, so they stay in pack to protect one another and their babies. If a cow has separated itself from the herd, this typically means they are either sick and dying or having a baby. So while driving around I noticed a cow was alone in the woods and had separated itself from the rest of the herd. Worried something was wrong, I walked back to check on her. Amazingly, I walked upon a mother who had just given birth. It was a very surreal moment. The woods seemed to be so still and the freshly born calf was being licked by its mother. I watched as the calf wobbled to stand on its on feet (or should I say hoofs). Surprisingly the calf was up and walking on its own within about thirty minutes. It was stumbling, but walking. Here is a picture of the two of them walking away. You can see the placenta still attached to the mother.
In almost 15 years of owning cattle no one in my family has ever seen a birth! My second trip to the ranch house was this past Saturday. I was excited because I knew the bluebonnets would be blooming. And sure enough they were…
This is the first time in about two years that the flowers were able to bloom. The past two years the drought has been so bad barely any flowers came out. This Spring, the bluebonnets weren’t as full as I have seen them before but there was certainly plenty of them. I decided to take a little photo shoot with the pups.
Excuse Granger, he’s not very photogenic. But Harley on the other hand is pretty much a natural model…
The grass was so vibrant green and our ponds were almost back to normal level. Still a little low, but I hope this is a sign that Fayetteville will soon be out of this current drought. The weather was perfect on that Saturday. It was a warm 80 degrees Fahrenheit with a slight cool breeze. And to top it all off, we were all blessed with a beautiful sunset to end the day.
Last week in class we learned about the exponential population growth and the insufficient amount of resources to sustain that growth. Unfortunately people do not understand the value and importance of wildlife and our resources. That is why I feel so fortunate to have a place in the wilderness that has allowed me to not only realize the beauty of nature, but also appreciate its value and importance.
As Aldo Leopold said… “There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.”
