King...er, Queen of the Hill
Headed out to hay the steers this day and I caught the cows playing a game. Most of these are not “our cows” because they are dairy and we have beef. They belong to my brother-in-law and we are simply housing some of them at our place. Anyway, it appears they like to play. When I first approached the barn I saw this cow’s head higher than I would expect. My initial gut reaction was, “Oh crap, the cows are loose.” Imagine my relief when I got closer and saw the situation (chasing cows is not always a fun experience, especially when one is weighed down with winter apparel).
I can almost “hear” the group to the left making their plan to storm the hill and depose the Queen of the hill. The cow on the right? Obviously a renegade bent on taking the hill and not having to give government cabinet posts to those who helped take the hill 🙂 I easily thought up a few more scenarios and what the cows could be thinking….do cows think? I mean, do they think beyond eating? That is a topic for another blog.
As I continued with my chores the group maintained their positions and watched. I am not certain what activity of mine signaled an “all clear” and they abandoned their game for ….. you guessed it …. eating. I examined the rest of this particular group in our other barn. This group is composed of Holsteins and some of our Angus. We have been having an issue with some type of virus that has claimed 3 Angus cows thus far.
I checked the food status and made an observation of the live/dead status. Everyone was alive. And so my day continued back in the farm-house. Things went well until the evening feeding. My son spent most of the day sick so I got to cover his shift for the evening feeding. My job, to fork the silage to the cows in both barns. I tackled the above pictured group first. They were jostling for positions in the headlock as I pushed/shoved/forked the silage. It was active, it was noisy and I was cold. My biggest concern was to get to the other barn and finish my duty.
At the steer barn I proudly recounted my story of the day – the King of the Hill game and the fact that I took care of both barns even with the blustery winds (I have told anyone within earshot how much I dislike the cold). The Farmer merely grunted and continued bringing more feed to the steers. When he gave me the thumbs up to return to the house I gladly ran for the warmth of the kitchen. Sometimes, being responsible for making dinner has its benefits.
When the Farmer came in dinner was ready. However, he had a weird twist to his face. I paused in my dinner activity to wait for the reason. He then said, “I guess you forgot to mention the dead cow in the barn.” What?! Where?! I was so bent on quickly feeding the cows and getting back to the warm house that I never paused long enough to observe the cows. Had I done that, I would have seen that one of them wasn’t getting up and was in an unlikely position for just resting. I am now upset with myself for not taking the time to observe. I had observed earlier in the day and that one was alive, although she wasn’t walking around. Should I have done something? Recognized something at that earlier time?
To say another one bites the dust would only upset the Farmer. This makes the 4th cow in just a week. The Farmer told me there was nothing that could have been done. The virus is a bad one, tests are still pending at the lab but most results are coming back “negative” for most of the assumed culprits. I know that my next shift at the barn will have a little more ‘observation’ time.
Oh, and the Queen of the Hill? She is doing fine, as are her playmates. I will gladly welcome seeing another game….
bahharvey 