Cows are Great Therapy (usually)

[2LaneCruzer]

A tail full of burrs up along the side of your face isn't nice,
but untill you get slapped with a tail that is soaking wet and manure covered a few times you don't know what nasty is.
I grew up milking cows, by the time I was 14 we were milking about 60 cows then my father decided to expand. A 100x100 ft free stall barn and double 6 herringbone parlor and a 100 milking cows, plus all the young stock.
My brother took over the family operation several decades ago and milked cows up till the early 2000's when he sold all the milk cows and switched to beef, Black Angus primarily. He has about 140 brood cows now plus all the young stock.

A cow can be relaxing at times when they are peacefully grazing in a nice pasture.
Unfortunatly that is not the case quite often, they are tring to get out, or getting sick or having some other issue.
As well as cleaning up after and feeding them when you don't have pasture.

Then like last Saturday just about to sit down for dinner with several of my kids and their families, we were going to have a Taco dinner.
I had cooked up 3 pounds of beef and 3 of chicken as well as getting the tomatoes and onions diced up and ready, the kids had all arrived and just about to start when my phone rang.
It was my brother over at the farm a cow had been trying to calve for about 4 hours and wasn't making progress (he has a good sized herd of Black Angus) they had gotten her separated from the group of cows and had her in a laneway to come down to the barn. It is a 2-3 man job to get a cow separated and driven to the barn and into the squeeze chute to be able to work with her. So hopped into the UTV and over I went got behind her and drove her to the barn, then we got gates closed and doors closed and herded her into the chute. We had gotten all the materials ready before we went to bring her down to the barns in the hope she would naturally drop the calve. After getting her in the head gate and some exploring we determined that the calve was laying backwards with his legs folded under him. After much pushing and pulling we got the hind legs pulled back and were able to pull the calve, Carried the calve out into the sunshine, got the cow out of the chute and herded to the calve and fortunately she went to it and started cleaning it up and taking care of it. After getting her in the head gate and determining the calve was backwards we were assuming that the calve was dead from her having been trying for so long, we were surprised to see it trying to breath when it was pulled and laying on the bedding.
Then it was time for me to come home to my dinner guests and eat my lunch, I was only over there for about 3 hours.

So relaxing, not really.
Interesting and good living, yea I'd say so

You have my sincere admiration. I went to school with a family that ran a dairy farm. It was a 24/7, 365 day a year job. There were no idle hands there, that's for sure.

 

[ponytug]

x2 on the admiration.

I grew up surrounded by dairy farmer neighbors, and remember the day our neighbor to the east was off his farm for more than three hours for the first time in forty years.

My takeaway was that dairy farmers wanted tomorrow to be just like today, but more perfect.

Did I mention that I raise beef cattle?

Yes, seeing our cows always makes my day, and no, nobody has been clumsy enough to step on my feet. We have a calf at the moment who is intensely curious about us, and she can never seem to get enough time observing us. Very sweet.

All the best,

Peter

 

[fishheadbob]

No cow has stepped on your foot YET. Get enough of them and they will. Get a bull and be amazed at what a powerful kick it has. Learn to love flies as they will become a regular part of your life.

 

[ponytug]

Definitely, "nobody, yet!"

 

[Hay Dude]

Yesterday

 

[ponytug]

Yesterday

Low line Angus?

 

[ponytug]

Our big guy..."outstanding" in his field, lurking in the mustard. He loves it.
Or as my wife pointed out, "that mustard has a lot of bull**** in it..."

Lowline belted Galloway.

 

[JethroB]

My BIL ran the cow/calf & hay side of their family farm for forty plus years. 250-300 mama cows as he called them. He retired and leases out now. I once asked if he missed them,
”Hell no” was his quick answer. He once had a tranquilizer dart gun for the crazy ones. But I’m sure he misses the excuse to go check on the cows when my sister gets on a tear. Now he comes and checks on me, and he’s always welcome. Terrific guy.