These Great Creatures

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you are being chased by something and you are running as fast as you can, but you are not going anywhere? Have you ever had this happen in real life? Unfortunately, about two weeks ago, I did.

I have not told many people because, initially, I was embarrassed that after all these years of working with cattle that I let it happen to me. But there has been this festering inside of me, this irrational fear that is trying to make its way to the surface and I feel as though if I get it out, I can feel truly myself again. I also feel that God saved me on that cold day to teach me a lesson and to share it; that these great creatures we love are exactly that, creatures.

This is not the bull from the incident, but another one on the farm.

So now I’ll get to the story.

About two weeks ago, I went and rode my horse, Dusty. In order to get to the pen that he stays in, I have to walk through a pen of 47 heifers and 20 some bulls. That day there was an old Charolais bull standing in front of Dusty’s pen. He looked like he didn’t feel well and paid no attention to me as I walked by him three or four times getting things for Dusty.

About an hour later, I was asked to go check on a bull that was in rough shape the night before. I figured it was the bull that had been by Dusty, but I headed out to the pen to double check and report back my thoughts. He had gone around the other side of the barn in the meantime, however. As I walked the length of the barn, I talked to him, making sure I was not going to scare him as I rounded the corner. Before I got there, I did as I had been taught when working with bulls, I mapped out an escape route if he were to charge, but I made a critical error when sculpting this plan, I misjudged the depth of the snow.

I didn’t want to make a sharp turn around the corner, so I circled out wide and continued to talk. I said, “hey there big guy” as I turned the corner to see his rear end facing me. He quickly swung around with his head in the air and this is when I knew I was in trouble. I turned to go to the nearest fence, but the snow was about three feet deep and my running got me nowhere, eventually causing me to lose my footing. Thankfully, he targeted my standing body and had no time to adjust when I fell on top of the snow, so he only ran over the bottom part of my legs. Also, thankfully, he had misjudged the snow as well and went flying face first into a large pile of snow. As I saw his body disappear into a white cloud, I knew if was my time to run. I sprinted to the gate, making it safely to the other side.

I stood there crying out of fear and pain, shaking with adrenaline. My fiancé came rushing over with a confused look on his face, not knowing what had happened. I looked at him and said between gasps, “the snow saved my life.” Yes, if the snow had not been there I may have made it to the fence, but I also may have not been fast enough. But because of the snow, he would have hit my entire body, not just my legs. If there had not been snow to cushion the blow, he might have broken my leg against the hard ground, but instead I am just bruised and swollen (still bruised to this day and applying muscle cream each night, but that’s better than a cast). Without the snow, he might have had the energy to come back at me. I was not alone out there that day; my guardian angel definitely was busy.

So as comfortable as we get with these beautiful beasts, please don’t ever get too comfortable. We work in one of the most dangerous jobs in America, but most of us have been doing it our entire lives, so we sometimes forget the dangers. Just remember, I walked past this bull three or four times before this incident and he didn’t even bat an eye at me. We need not be afraid, but always aware.

A Calf Story: Robert Joseph



Robert Joseph, just one day old.



This is the story of how Robert Joseph can to be in this world. It starts out the same as any story, a heifer who's just living her life to the fullest; eating, sleeping, training with her handler, and of course traveling the county going to shows, like any show heifer does. Until one day, the farmer thinks, "I bet she would make a great addition to my milking herd, I should breed her." So that night the farmer opens up her Stud Book, to pick out a very nice bull for her young star, Bobbie Jo. After looking through almost the entire book, she is about to give up, thinking that no bull is good enough for her hefier, when she stumbles across Man-O-Man. This bull has it all, the ease of calving, the high production of milk, and the looks; everything she was hoping for for her dazzling heifer. The next day, the breeder comes by with a straw of Man-O-Man for Bobbie Jo. And it must have been a match made in heaven because she took the first time, to the farmers delight.

Bobbie Jo at the county fair.

Over the next couple months, Bobbie started to put on some weight, was eating like a horse, and her udder started to form, her body was getting ready to join the milking force. Throughout the whole nine month gestation, everything was on track for Bobbie and things were looking great. But just like in humans, sometimes cows have trouble during labor, as was the case for Bobbie Jo. Lucky for Bobbie, farmers take amazing care of their cows, and the vet was called once the problems started to arise. Turns out Robert Joseph was just a little too big for his mother, but with a little help, he came out with no problem. After that, the farmer and vet noticed that Bobbie wasn't feeling well, she had an infection in her udder, called mastitis. But after a little medicine from the vet, she is feeling great and happy to be apart of the great milking team that is helping feed the nation, definitely worth giving up her crazy heifer ways.

As for Robert Joseph, he is in his own hutch, where he gets milk twice a day, and has grain and water all the time. Here he will live, until he is about a month old, then he gets to move in with others his age, like going to school. He as a very fun near future ahead of him.



Bobbie Jo at work, milking like the great cow she is!



FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: OUR BULLS

This weeks featured cow of the week is going to be all the bulls that help out with our farm.

We usually use AI, artificial insemination, on our farm. We do this for many reasons. One is because of its convenience. All we have to do is have a tank to hold the semen straws, and then when a cow is in heat (aka ovulating) we will AI her with the bull that fits her best. Another reason is to prevent in-breeding. Because we only need to semen straw, we could breed our cows with bulls from all over the world. Where if you only have a couple bulls, you may need to worry about crossing breeding lines. A third reason is safety. Bulls are dangerous animals, especially Holstein bulls are known for their aggression. If we use AI, no bulls will be needed on the farm. One of Cindy's favorite bulls is Jeeves, from ABS.



Jeeves

We do also have a herd bull. We use him to help breed the heifers that we could not get with AI, it can be hard to get some heifers bred with AI because it is only done once and there is always room for human error. We will put her out with the herd bull and he will do the job. To help keep our farm safe, we only have a young bull, usually sell them by at least 4 years of age, we also keep the nicest one.