Yes, I am still enamored with cattle and will admit, that many a conversation with My Loving Spouse starts out with, “So, how much do you think a heifer costs?” I have been diligent in my efforts to spot cows calving and those efforts have been rewarded as I have seen 8 calves born this year, some of my non-farm friends have lived here for 12 years and never seen a one. This makes my count impressive, of course I did put a tad bit of work into it. A cow’s tail up is one of the tale tell signs that she is in labor. I am now highly attuned to any cow that has her tail up. I admit that I’ve been known to pull off to the side of the road all over the valley whenever I see a cow with her tail up. The problem is that, a tail ‘up’ is also how cows poop, so I have also managed to stop and watch cows all over Kitittas valley do an awful lot of pooping.
When Our Friend the Farmer ‘worked his cattle‘ there were 10 cows that hadn’t yet calved. I thought they were the cows that played hard to get, “No”, he said, “They were the shy ones”. Whatever, the reason, there were still 11 calves to be ‘worked’, vaccinated, branded and little bulls turned into little steer. I was given a real job, as a vaccination shooter and I did pretty well, as I managed to vaccinate all the calves, only bend one needle and most importantly did NOT vaccinate any of the humans. I was very excited to help and ‘work the cattle’, which is the proper country way to say it, even though I really only got to ‘work the calves’. The calves got their shots after being put down on the ground, by the farmer’s Top Man and Available Teenage Grandson. The grandson I noticed was the most like me, with a smile on his face the whole time he was grabbing calf ears and doing his part to wrestle them to the ground.
My Loving Spouse was there to help as well, giving the calves a different set of shots and to be on hand for a little farm shenanigans. I think by the look on their faces, this picture was taken just after Our Friend the Farmer removed a no longer ‘required’ part of a baby bull thereby turning it into a steer, and then handing the bull part to his friend….men!
I still cannot believe how much I have learned about cattle, but mostly I’m thinking I have an awful lot to learn… so I wonder, how much does a heifer cost?
