Cow and Calf

We first spotted the cow and calf in our yard in mid-January. They wandered through our back yard, pausing for a snack here and there before making their way into the woods down the street. The cow never let the calf get more than a few feet away, keeping an eye and ear open for any hint of danger.



A couple of weeks later, they were in the back yard again early one weekend morning. They feasted on the birch trees for a good part of the morning, and then settled in for a midday rest that would last until almost dusk.



A few weeks later, the cow and calf were back again late one afternoon.They treated me to an amazing sight. I watched from the glass sliding door in the kitchen as they foraged in our yard. A lone cow emerged from the woods into a neighbor's back yard. The ever-vigilant mother in our yard took notice quickly of the new cow on the scene. She stood staring intently for two or three minutes at the trespassing cow about 150 feet away. She suddenly decided that enough was enough. She charged as fast as she could through the snow directly at the lone cow. Perhaps cow number two was as startled as I was by the mad mother's charge. She stood there frozen watching the charge, and barely missed being kicked and headbutted before running back into the woods. Having successfully defended her turf, mother cow walked back over to her calf, and they began eating twigs as if nothing had happened.

We've come to consider these two as our neighborhood cow and calf. Rarely has a week gone by without a glimpse of the two of them. Mother is always shadowing the child, always looking for danger. Once the snow melts, I know they will likely head towards the Talkeetna Mountains just a couple of miles to the north, but I'm glad they chose to spend the winter here in our part of town.