The village tour continues. On the outskirts of town there is a ranch, and on the ranch there are some cows. Here the calves are lined up at a feeding trough. I made three or four attempts to get this shot. In the first two, one or more calves were looking up, and I realized I wanted nothing but their butts in the photo. The light and the framing required some adjustment, too. Finally I had some soft light, and knew where to position myself to eliminate distracting elements. And I waited until I saw nothing but cow butts.
Make of the symbolism what you will, but I think it's an appropriate way to end this year. Goodbye, 2020. Don't come back!
More village vistas tomorrow...
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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The Black Angus is the cow of choice in these parts - by far the most common breed seen in the local pastures. I pulled onto the road side and shot out the passenger window; I've always liked this little scene with the old concrete bridge. Once, driving past this spot, instead of cows there were three coyotes. I didn't have the camera with me that day.
Appearances notwithstanding, it wasn't especially cold that day. We are now entering the season of deep cold, with some very frigid nights coming (in the minus-thirties), so I hope these cows have a nice warm barn for shelter.
Photographed near Cadillac, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2019 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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All the world's a stage, and whoever designed this set went overboard with the graphics! Some black angus cows were grazing the wheat stubble fields; in the months following harvest, spilled grain can sustain a lot of animals, including deer, pronghorn, and migratory birds. Unfortunately, agriculture on a massive scale like this reduces biodiversity to nil, and the conversion of wild prairie for mass production of grains is almost complete.
Very little has been set aside. Prairies contain the most altered ecosystems in North America. In some places less than 1% of the original landscape remains untouched. I am aware of this every time I set foot in nearby Grasslands National Park. A hike up into the buttes and hills there immediately makes clear the tradeoff we have made: suddenly, dramatically, you are surrounded by native plants, wildflowers splashing colour on the hillsides; you hear the clicking, buzzing, and whirring of insects; you notice animal tracks and scat everywhere; little ground nesting birds flush from beneath your feet; and you have to be alert lest you step on a rattlesnake or sit on a patch of prickly-pear cactus. This is why I moved to the prairie ten years ago.
The surrounding farm and ranch lands are not without their charm, of course, even though I often see them as a zone to be gotten through en route to something better. I was doing exactly that one day in early winter, while keeping an eye open for wild critters, when I noticed the cows - and especially their setting - and had to stop. I really appreciate the 200-500 lens for moments like this, when I don't need maximum pull, as it allows me to compose images more precisely in the field. Closest isn't always best.
Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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I thought a Black Angus cow would make an interesting contrast to the wild Plains Bison featured yesterday. Not exactly "wildlife" but a useful resident of certain areas of the national park in my backyard, cows are sometimes found on grazing leases outside the bison perimeter fence. The fenced in area for bison is huge, running several kilometres in each direction; the bison can cross a river and disappear over the hills if they so choose. Cows are kept in separate areas to maintain the genetic purity of the bison and prevent disease.
Why bring in cows? Two primary reasons. First, grazing leases are a small source of income, and parks are always looking for additional sources of funding. More important, healthy prairie requires grazing. Ungrazed prairie quickly becomes choked with layers of dead plant matter, and this reduces biodiversity as some native plants fail to reproduce under these conditions. Bison are the great, natural grazers of the North American plains, but cows are a reasonable facsimile. I prefer not to see cows in "my" park, but I understand why they are present.
And so, here are a couple of Black Angus breeders, cows, not destined for slaughter so long as they remain productive, roaming free in the park while the season's first snowfall drifts down. Not wildlife, not my first choice, but I tend to photograph everything, and every cow should have her day.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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Floating cows? Not really. I had to open up to make sure I recorded detail on their dark coats, which rendered the pale grasses very light. I liked the effect and didn't try to modify it in Photoshop.
Parks Canada has some grazing lease arrangements with local ranchers within the boundaries of Grasslands NP (and outside the bison area, which is huge). I don't know how long these will be operative, or whether the perimeter fencing eventually will be expanded to allow the bison herd to grow. The presence of cows, for now, is a good thing, because prairie needs to be grazed to remain healthy.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2016 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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