Cow Stories

I don't usually have a lot of interactions with cows, nor cow stories to tell, but this weekend there were cow tales aplenty.

Here we see Lee's dad petting Smart Cow's heifer. Smart Cow is in the back, looking on warily. Brown Cow is lying even farther back. These three cows are something like family pets--the last of his herd, which he keeps around because he likes them. They get to shelter in the garage area when it is wet or cold, so there is cow poop everywhere. But they are nice cows, and as you can see, very tame. Smart Cow came right up to us to check us out! (Lee's dad thinks she is very smart, so that is what I call her--she is also a very pretty cow). The baby is 14 months old and looks like her white father. She is still nursing--for once, an appropriate use of cow's milk for a toddler, ha ha. She's so big that it's hard to get down their to get milk, but she manages. It was nice to hang around with such friendly cattle.

(The cattle were way friendlier than the kitty, a lovely black-and-white barn cat. It hid behind a cabinet for hours and hours, then went outside and looked perturbed at us from a great distance until we left. We are told it really loves Lee's dad, and is great company. So he really doesn't live alone, after all!)

However, these were NOT the friendliest cattle we saw. Nope. We were driving to dinner in scenic Cuero and passed a farm where the family were fishing in their pond (tank in Texan). The mother was sitting off to the side in a lawn chair, watching. Along with HER pet cow. This cow had her head in the lady's lap, and the lady was petting and rubbing her. Both looked really happy. She kept it up quite some time, because she was still rubbing the cow's neck when we turned the corner. That's one friendly cow! We all got a real kick out of that scene.

Since it is the time of year when livestock are born, we saw a lot of young ones. Many teeny-weeny very white goats, some beautiful foals (lots of pintos), and oh so many calves. We saw three of them frolicking in a field with a mother cow, and they looked so much like Rose running around--sort of awkward but full of pep and abandon. Makes you realize how seldom you see happy livestock. There was a lot down where we were (and some sad ones in feed lots). It was most enjoyable to see all the abundant new life, though. Everything was VERY green, too. A good time of year to visit Farm World.