Yeah, she's not a mean cow at all. I wouldn't even consider keeping her around if she was, I'm not totally stupid. She's a randy heifer that jumped a fence. She might have had help, she might not have, I don't know. She DOES want other bovine company, though, that I have figured out already. And she will have it, if I have to beg, borrow, or steal something for her. But hopefully now that she's pregnant, and winter's coming on, she'll be happy enough to snuggle in the barn with her horse buddy and eat hay, and then when she calves, she'll have her calf to keep her busy. She spent all her time with the horse before, except when she was in heat, when she paced the fence lines for a day and a night. Other than that, they were rarely more than 20 feet apart, ever. They get along great.
I've broken in four heifers to milk (and the first one, I was a beginner with cows), and not had any significant trouble with any of them, and two of them in fact were Jersey/Angus crosses like Molly (except they were black and polled). If I have trouble getting Molly to settle down in the stanchion, I'm not going to risk my neck over it - she'll go. I think I'll never have a cow as good as Cricket, and nothing will ever measure up to her. She was a BIG girl, 1,700 pounds, 3/4 Jersey, 1/4 Hereford, and her back was about level with my chin, but she was the best damn cow I could ask for. However, having said that, she was the rottenest teenager I ever had to deal with as well. She could have given lessons to Molly. So I'm not going to condemn Molly until we get well into her first lactation. I'll decide then.
As far as the horse's feet, we have no farriers around here. The few people that have horses do their own, but are unwilling to come do ours, and I have asked (begged). I've been looking off and on for 18 years. Anyway, Horus has pretty good feet and hardly ever needs a trim, and he's knocked those toes off now that the ground is drier, so his feet are nice and short now. I know, it's easy enough to say "get a farrier," and I used to say the same thing when I lived in civilization, but you can only GET a farrier if there IS a farrier. You should see the trouble we're going through just finding an effing PLUMBER to replace our water heater. Oh, my GOD! Everybody that used to do plumbing is retired or dead, and of course, those who are still in the business are in the "city" and won't drive out this far. All the people with good work ethics are old and gone, and what's left are the me-me-me types. Work ethic? What's that? They don't know the meaning of the words. Or "customer service," either. I love living here, but there are some serious drawbacks. I grew up in a big city, and I'm so used to things working a certain way, it's hard for me to adjust. I'm STILL not adjusted, but I'm trying really hard.
I started a weird chain of phone calls yesterday, and it took several hours, but somebody at the drugstore in the next town over (50 miles west of us) recommended a guy who recommended a guy who recommended a guy (etc.) and we
might have found someone to do it. I hope. He's supposed to call us back today and let us know. If you're wondering why I called the drugstore to find a plumber, it's because I was desperate. I just figured the drugstore employees probably know most of the people in town. I would have called the gas station, but I couldn't find their number. It's not like you can just open the Yellow Pages here and call for X Y or Z kind of service. It doesn't work that way. Other than that, it's paradise here. It's definitely quiet, and there aren't too many people.
