Oh man, I really got a kick out of that title when it came to me. It doesn’t take much to “amoooo-se” me! HAHAHA! Okay. I’m done.
Anyway, thinking about those cows. They sure have been fun to get to know. Interesting observation though… If you think of cows, I feel certain one of the things that would come to your mind, would be the sound they make. Yes, the beloved “moo”. But to tell you the truth, I have yet to hear one of our cows, actually produce a moo. Upon first realizing this, I thought “Huh, well that’s interesting…” Then of course, the natural progression of things was for me to start panicking just a tad. “Why aren’t my cows mooing? What am I doing wrong?”.
Well, I did a bit of searching on the ole interwebs and came to this conclusion; my cows are happy! Phew, what a relief! I suppose that should have been the obvious assumption though, right? I mean, we ourselves, primarily make noise in order to express ourselves and get our points across. Our cows have lived here longer than we have, so they are familiar with the area; no need to tell me they are lost or concerned. We only have the two ladies right now, Charlotte and Rosie, and they graze together 24/7 so no need to call out to one another when they are perpetually side by side. Lastly, these lovely bovines have about as much grass as any self-respecting cow could hope for, in addition to hay, and a breakfast snack from the local feed store, so there is no need for them to demand food. Yep, we have happy cows.
Once, I took all that in, I realized we have a great baseline for knowing when something is wrong or perhaps just out of the ordinary. Our cows have everything they need and apparently, are in great spirits, so they don’t feel the need to express themselves beyond the affectionate licks we get from their long, rough tongues. Should I hear their calls from the back pasture, I’ll know those girls don’t just cry “wolf”, but they might actually be calling “coyote!”. Or, considering that Charlotte should be calving quite soon, their moos might indicate there is a new member in the herd! I’m definitely looking forward to reporting on that one! But for now we’ll keep on waiting patiently.
In any case, I feel like I have reached a valuable milestone with our cows. I now know their normal. With any of the animals I have cared for in my life, that is a huge part of protecting their health. I may not always know up front WHAT is wrong, but knowing what is normal, definitely helps me make a quick assessment of when something IS wrong, and from there we can do our best to make things right. I may not be a cow expert yet, but I’m sure glad to be learning!
Happy Monday everyone! Hooray for quiet cows!