Welcome to Painted Hand Farm

Painted Hand Farm is a 20 acre Civil War era farm located in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. We raise meat goats, veal calves, turkeys and organic vegetables using humane and sustainable agricultural practices.

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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Mutt & Jeff

My two favorite hay-burners in the field--Bango & Andy. While it's true that I prefer to drive full-sized trucks, when it comes to horses, give me a 14.2 Quarter Horse who can move like a cat. The last time I was on anything the size of the Big-A was the year before I moved back to Pennsylvania (1999) when I took my friend, Joyce's fox hunter sport horse out for an afternoon. It was like driving a Monster Truck. Jess likens riding Andy to a freight train because he takes a while to get going, is hard to steer and takes even longer to get stopped. Although, when she has him undersaddle, there's a strange elegance to the old plow horse.

There's nothing 'elegant' about this extremely pregnant Jersey, though, she was hoofing it throughout the neighborhood yesterday given the chance. I (wrongfully) thought that she wouldn't waddle far from the paddock where I put her while I mucked out the maternity ward--no freshing in the pouring rain this year, girlie. Despite her added weight, she headed the whole way down the hill, to where there was a gate waiting to be put on it's hinges. No big deal since there was an entire 2-acre paddock on the other side of that gate. Not good enough. She had to find the other gate at the top of the hill that was also not attached to the brace yet. Then it was back down the hill through the alleyway to the end of the fence row and up the outside, around the perimeter and across the street to the Hoffmans' backyard. Needless to say, while I completed the cleaning project, she was forced to stand tied to the rack in front of the barn. What a naughty cow! Stay tuned for baby pictures. The official due date is April 1st. I wonder how she'll fool me.

2 comments:

  1. She has guilt written all over her face, or is that ingenuity in the making. I certainly would want to stay still carrying that much extra weight.

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  2. I love the cow what a face. I myself am a drafty rider slow and steady, so I love the big guy.

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