Hi, I went to the cowrelease. Where the cows thats been in the barns all winter goes out on the green pasture for the first time. Terrible weather wise. But always fun to see the big animals jump with joy. Click on images for full resolution


Mother cow with sweet rockabilly hair.


Daughter cow with a bad hairday, everyday.


Crazy cow eyes


Cow jumping out of focus


The cows rather stayed in the forrest than the field

[CreationBear]

Crazy cow eyes

Ha, great set! I grew up on a beef cattle farm in the American South, so no "cow release" for me, but it's nice to see how things are done in colder climes.

[goatsNdonkey]

I haven't heard of cows being completely confined to barns anywhere in the northern United States, south of Alaska anyway. Some cattle may have access to shelter but not normally locked in. When grass isn't available they are fed hay, but that might happen outside.

[Des]

Very nice shots @melander. Lots of feeling and drama captured there.

You should cross-post here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/26-mini-challenges-games-photo-stories/29...m-animals.html
Same goes for any other readers with an interest in farm animals.

[melander]

I haven't heard of cows being completely confined to barns anywhere in the northern United States, south of Alaska anyway. Some cattle may have access to shelter but not normally locked in. When grass isn't available they are fed hay, but that might happen outside.

Well we are close to the arctic circle here where I live so I would say its a bit like alaskian climate. Spring just arrived and we still have frost in the mornings.
We do have all year outside farms with shelters, but its rare and when the temperature drops to the -20 to -25 degree C the cattle isnt realy fit anymore.

[gaweidert]

Nice shots. I remember seeing this when I grew up in western New York state.. It's kind of funny. You just never think that the stately girls would ever carry on in such a fashion.

[Janse]

Always a joy to see happy cows!

[goatsNdonkey]

Any cow lover should know of Carl Sandburg's poem "Milk-White Moon, Put the Cows to Sleep," sometimes characterized as a children's poem, but I find that a rather reductive view of its simplicity. Sandburg, incidentally, as one of his first adult jobs, drove a milk wagon from a dairy outside of town, into Galesburg, Illinois, where he had grown up. Sandburg has a couple of interesting connections to photography, in that, not long after the dairy job, he worked as a traveling salesman selling stereopticons and sets of stereo photograph cards to be viewed on them. Later, when he was working as a Socialist writer and organizer in southeastern Wisconsin, he married Lillian Steichen, sister of photographer Eduard/Edward Steichen. Carl and his brother-in-law became close and life-long friends. One last dairy connection, but not to cows -- in the second half of their lives together the Sandburgs lived on a farm near Flatrock, North Carolina, where Lillian raised an award-winning flock of dairy goats, and a mid-afternoon glass of goatsmilk was part of Old Carl's daily regimen.

MILK-WHITE MOON, PUT THE COWS TO SLEEP

Milk-white moon, put the cows to sleep
Since five o'clock in the morning,
Since they stood up out of the grass,
Where they have slept on their knees and hocks,
They have eaten grass and given their milk,
And kept their heads and teeth at the earth's face.
Now they are looking at you, milk-white moon.
Carelessly as they look at the level landscapes,
Carelessly as they look at a pail of new white milk,
They are looking at you, wondering not at all, at all.
If the moon is the skim face top of a pail of milk
Wondering not at all, carelessly looking.
Put the cows to sleep, milk-white moon,
Put the cows to sleep.

[Des]

A wonderful post @goatsNdonkey Amongst other things, it prompted me to read about Steichen.
Amazing where these threads can take us.

[goatsNdonkey]

A wonderful post @goatsNdonkey Amongst other things, it prompted me to read about Steichen.
Amazing where these threads can take us.

Thanks for the good words. I have a book of Steichen's very early photographs, many of which were taken in Europe. It is amazing to see so many images, many with hardly an area that is totally white or with hardly an area in sharp focus, which nonetheless are so evocative. Then I think, why have I been seeking sharpness and tonal range all these years in my pictures, when you can do that without either? Ha, ha, ha!

[Des]

Then I think, why have I been seeking sharpness and tonal range all these years in my pictures, when you can do that without either?

Once you do there's no going back. I was once happy with a lot of my old shots (film or jpg), when I could just look at the subject, colours and composition, and be reminded of the moment. Now I find myself noticing that the focus was slightly off, or the exposure wasn't perfect or the microcontrast or white balance could be better, and wishing that I had RAW files .... !

Steichen's generation were spared all that. The 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Photography was won with a shot from a Box Brownie:
Bytes: Pulitzer Prize for Photography: 1954
It wouldn't even get a like on Facebook now. Technical correctness is the baseline these days - and yes it can distract from the artistry.

Edit: Apologies to the OP for wandering off-topic, like the cows wandering into the woods.