01-14-2025, 10:49 PM
You know, we've raised cattle for countless years here. Mostly beef cattle. There's this thing about not naming or getting attached to most animals, but some of the 'cows", the mamas, well, they get names. Especially the good ones.
We've got one cow, she's old as the hills. But she's the "matriarch", and all the other cows and calves follow her. She looks after everyone, little bulls, little heifers; she baby sits; she just takes care of everyone. She's the most calm and gentle animal you could imagine. You can lay in a loafing shed with her, and she will step over you just to be sure she doesn't step on you. She's an angel (in my book).
This coming week, or later this week, we're going to have some cold temps...really cold. Cold is hard on the animals. Temps might drop to minus -30F...that's COLD!. Old "Piper" (that's her name) may not make it through that. I'll be sad if that's the case.
You know, sometimes life is hard. You're not supposed to feel bad about the animals, but after decades of understanding, the risk of letting an old friend go is really hard. And there's not a damn thing I can do about the coming temps. We can put them in the barns, turn the heaters up to max, but with that kind of cold it just won't matter.
Maybe say a good wish for Piper. She's given us some of the best calves we could have ever asked for, and even after that she still looked out for our whole herd...fearlessly.
Note - When we first bought Piper (that wasn't her name then, it was #523), she had a broken ear (droopy) because someone accidentally tried to tag her through her main ear cartilage and her ear was floppy. So no one wanted her. We took her, and she was one of our best breeders we ever had, not to mention the fact she looked after everyone else's calves.
I'm worried about that ol' girl come Saturday and Sunday when the temps really drop. Maybe put in a good thought for her.
Appreciated!
We've got one cow, she's old as the hills. But she's the "matriarch", and all the other cows and calves follow her. She looks after everyone, little bulls, little heifers; she baby sits; she just takes care of everyone. She's the most calm and gentle animal you could imagine. You can lay in a loafing shed with her, and she will step over you just to be sure she doesn't step on you. She's an angel (in my book).
This coming week, or later this week, we're going to have some cold temps...really cold. Cold is hard on the animals. Temps might drop to minus -30F...that's COLD!. Old "Piper" (that's her name) may not make it through that. I'll be sad if that's the case.
You know, sometimes life is hard. You're not supposed to feel bad about the animals, but after decades of understanding, the risk of letting an old friend go is really hard. And there's not a damn thing I can do about the coming temps. We can put them in the barns, turn the heaters up to max, but with that kind of cold it just won't matter.
Maybe say a good wish for Piper. She's given us some of the best calves we could have ever asked for, and even after that she still looked out for our whole herd...fearlessly.
Note - When we first bought Piper (that wasn't her name then, it was #523), she had a broken ear (droopy) because someone accidentally tried to tag her through her main ear cartilage and her ear was floppy. So no one wanted her. We took her, and she was one of our best breeders we ever had, not to mention the fact she looked after everyone else's calves.
I'm worried about that ol' girl come Saturday and Sunday when the temps really drop. Maybe put in a good thought for her.
Appreciated!
