C is for Cattle in Wine Country

Calf and Cow Mother Grazing
by Venteux Vineyard, © B. Radisavljevic

When you think of vineyards, do you picture cattle grazing next door to them? Paso Robles Wine Country attracts thousands tourists every year. I wonder how many of them realize they will also be in cattle country?

We know there were cattle in Paso Robles as early as 1857. During World War I Ignace Jan Paderewski purchased land in Paso Robles for orchards and vineyards. (See Paso Robles History Timeline) Before that the mission fathers grew grapes for their wine, but most local vineyards are fairly recent. I'd guess the cattle ranches were here first. That's why my topic for this third day of the AtoZchallenge is C is for Cattle in Wine Country. You will often see cattle grazing right next to a vineyard or between  vineyards. 

The mama cow and her calf are part of a herd of cattle I saw grazing next to Venteux Vineyards on Las Tablas Road in Templeton, California. This is technically part of the Paso Robles Wine County, since Templeton is not incorporated and the boundaries between Templeton and Paso Robles are such that I'm in Templeton and the neighboring vineyard and tasting room across the fence from me has a Paso Robles address.

You can see more of the cattle below, as well as the context of the first photo. The tasting room is the gray building in the center in the middle of the vineyard. I had to use a zoom on these photos because there was a fence between me and the cattle. I enjoyed my photo walk Exploring Venteux Vineyards in Templeton and took lots of photos of places most tourists never see. Click the link to see some of them.

Cattle Grazing by Venteux Vineyard, © B. Radisavljevic

Venteux is just one winery here with cattle next door. You will see some others in the related article below. There are many more that I see when driving on 46 West between 101 and Vineyard Drive. Continue west toward Cambria and you will see more cattle and fewer vineyards. You cannot drive very far in this area without realizing this is as much cattle country as wine county.

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Related articles

• Cattle Grazing near Vineyard in Paso Robles

Take a Walk Outdoors Day

According to the online calendars of unusual and little known holidays, January 20 is Take a Walk Outdoors Day. I'm sure glad it wasn't yesterday, since it was pouring rain for the first few hours of the day. I'm not a great one for walking in the rain. I do, however like to  walk outdoors. This photo shows one of my favorite country roads in Paso Robles for an outdoor walk -- Oak Lane. There are majestic oak trees everywhere, and lot of farm animals to photograph, many of which I have shared in previous posts.

















Most of my photos for my posts on this blog are taken on my outdoor photo walks. I am accompanied by my trusty point and shoot camera, which is a Nikon Coolpix S8200 with a 14x optical zoom. It's just the right size to carry wherever I go or slip in a pocket or fanny pack. I love this camera so much I wrote an entire article showing you what it can do.

I have written about three of my favorite short hikes in North San Luis Obispo County on HubPages. I guess you could call them long outdoor walks. Most of the pictures in the article were taken when I was still using my older camera - a Canon PowerShot A1100 IS, but you will still see the scenery. I take you on some of my other photo walks in the related links below.

If you have time today, celebrate. Put on your walking shoes, grab a camera, and take a walk outdoors. Look for something you've never noticed before. When is the last time you took a walk outdoors?