A
Anonymous
I was enjoying this post before it got all political. When I was a kid, my father raised purebred hereford cattle. They were a pretty docile bunch. As a kid of ten, I would go and tag the calves after they were first born and we never had a cow that took offense to that. I was always told that if you stand on the opposite side of the calf when you are tagging, the cow would never hurt you. When I bought my own farm, I wanted to go my own way. I ran around and picked up commercial cow-calf pairs from here and there of mixed breeds. I bought a few that a fellow had advertised as highlanders. One that I picked up in that bunch was a different breed. A little grey horned cow that had the best calf of the bunch. Every place this cow went, it was like watching a movie at 1 1/2 speed. Having only dealt with herefords and having been out of the cattle loop for about twenty years, I just thought she must be a busy cow, just like those busy people you see who are always rushing everywhere. When spring came and calving started (we pasture calve), I searched high and low for this cow for the best part of a day. Finally, I heard a soft moo from the deepest part of the swampy bush in the corner of the property. There in a clearing, surrounded by red slap willows, I found the cow and her new baby calf. She looked a little agitated but she is a busy cow, I thought. As long as you keep the calf between you and her you'll be fine. I confidently approached the calf keeping it between the cow and I. All of a sudden, there was this ungodly sound I didn't even think a cow could make. The cow bowled right over the calf. As I ran, i felt a horn in the backside. I don't know how I managed, but suddenly there was a tree between the cow and me. She was persistent and kept trying to get at me for the next few minutes. I finally managed to carefully back away. I lost my hat and when I went back to get it, it had been stomped into the ground and was covered with fresh cow patty. That cow spent the rest of the summer stalking me before I sent her for slaughter to the fall sale. When I shipped her she was 900 lbs and the calf that she raised was just under 600 at 7 months. How come the most crazy cattle have the best calves. I guess the moral of this story is that if your starting out, be careful what you buy, it might come back and hit you in the butt.