Tuesday, March 13, 2012

How Smart are Cows?




I apologize that it has been so long since I have posted.

This morning as I was putting the calves back with their mothers something strange, yet heartwarming happened.  First thing I did was get Clara Bell up and put her in her outside pen.  She can do everything by herself now.  Sometimes she has trouble getting up, by herself and sometimes she gets right up.  After doing this I set out to start letting in cows and then getting their calves out of the barn.  Four cows in and then four calves out or barn and repeat.  I did this three times then put these pairs out in the field and started the process over again.  In the first batch I brought in a cow, 55X.  She stood right by Clara Bell's pen while her calf was nursing.  While I was getting more calves out I noticed 55X was looking into Clara Bell's pen and bawling.  I told her to stop that she had her calf.  She continued to look into the pen and then at me and bawl.  I am thinking to myself that I do not have time for your foolishness, I am running late for work.  I go get the last calf for that bunch of cows from the barn.

Since I have to walk close to Clara's pen to get to the cows I give in and look into her pen.  She is laying on her back between posts that are laying on the ground.  If you are unfamiliar with cattle, this can kill them in a very short period of time.  All of the sudden the frustration I had felt toward 55X turned toward myself.  I ran to Clara and got her up.  Thankfully she was alright.  I walked over to 55X and loved on her a little and told her thank you (yes, I talked to her).  I know better than to not pay attention to cattle when they are acting out of character.  They are usually trying to tell us something, if we would just slow down and 'listen'.

Could this be true for the humans around us too?  If we really 'listened' to their words and body language with our whole minds would we know more about them?  What makes them 'tick'?  What makes them happy, sad, angry?  Maybe if we would all try we would all get along a little better.

After Clara was back on her feet and 55X had been rewarded (a little love and feed) for altering me, I finished pairing up the cows and calves without incident.  When animals and people around you are acting a little out of character, take a few seconds and try to figure out why.  You may be their hero for that day for helping them out.  (Yes, I need to think of this sometimes when I am rushing to do what I need to get done during the day, too!)

Until next time,  remember.......Beef, It's What's for Dinner!

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