Today I spent a about half an hour on my stoop watching the new born cows chase each other. First of all sitting on my porch is one of my favorite hobbies, especially since it is too hot in my kiln of a room. Second, new born cows are surprisingly playful and entertaining. For some reason I thought they would be more like the adult cows that only move for shade, food or water and occasionally to avoid people. No, these calves have been tearing around the yard at a pretty good clip just because they can I suppose. Definitely foreign enough to me seeing playful cows to justify an extended viewing. Unfortunately for me, these cows will get tired of running and figure out the good life is chewing some cud next to a tree. Hopefully not for a while though.
As I was watching these young cows, I was reminded of an audiobook I just recently finished called “All Creatures Great and Small” which frequently talked about birthing cows more than I thought I would ever hear about. By the end I was convinced that unless some human was guiding the process, cows just couldn't give birth anymore without the mother dying or something else awful happening. Of course this is not the case, just a little bias with the selection of stories. A completely uneventful, unaided calving wouldn't make the cut as an interesting veterinary tale. I would think at least, this is all coming from my complete lack of any farm or veterinary knowledge whatsoever.
I have often thought that most of the animals around here get by pretty well without much human intervention. On the other hand I am sure there are plenty of problems I don't know about, all sorts of lost livestock which means lost money which could have been prevented. I am sure that a rural vet would have his or her fill of business out here if the people ever decided to take their collection of cows, goats, chickens, sheep, donkeys, and horses to the next level. These are the sort of thoughts I have when porch sitting. How many times have I talked about cows on this blog?
Holy cow! The one on the right is licking inside its nostril!
Holy cow! The one on the right is licking inside its nostril!