Cattle In The Summer

They have all the grass they can handle but they never refuse a pail of oat chop. I give them some every morning as it saves me having to go out in the pasture to check on the cattle. This was just some video I shot while walking  among them. It was near 80 degrees at the time and  I was thinking back to  the video I shot in February , or was it January, when it was way below zero degrees. The cattle have lost their winter coats now  and look smooth and shiny. Flies are a pest and the cattle spend some time in the shelter some mornings as  it seems to be a little less fly infested. Or  they think so anyway. Very few mosquitos this year which is a  nice change. Probably due to the dry conditions. It used to be a common practice to light a "smudge" for the cattle in the evenings. An old straw bale, partially rotting or wet made a good source of smoke to disperse the mosquitos. The cattle knew it and came to stand  in the smoke. I guess we were adding  to the carbon footprint even in those days.