Bovines have a way of keeping a farmer healthy and, at the same time, wearing him out. That might sound like a contradiction of terms. What I mean is, a farmer is kept strong and healthy by constant physical exercise. Day after day, we handle the same chores that work the same muscles that keep the body flexible and strong.
On the other hand, the stress of constant bending, lifting and pushing tends to wear a body out. As well, the animals have a way of making the everyday work unpredictable, causing injury if one is not constantly on guard. We pray for safety every morning and at night, thank Him for another day’s protection.
As I was feeding baled hay one day a while back, my gloved hand got stuck in the twine, and a cow decided right then to stretch and grab a mouthful of the aromatic dry bale. Pulling a swatch out and tugging at the bale, she swung her massive head back, which pulled me forward, sending me tumbling into the manger right in front of her. There I lay, stunned, tears threatening. The next day, my thigh sported a lovely black and blue bruise, with a promise of more color to come.
Bottle-fed calves need to be trained to drink from the pail. There are some that train easily, others are more challenging. Just lately, we had a calf that was infuriatingly challenging. She thought the bottom of the pail was up around the clouds somewhere. Pail in one hand, I’d literally guide her snout downward by sticking my other hand into her mouth, holding her head down with my forearm at the same time. She’d suck on my fingers to find the milk. Sometimes her teeth found my fingers.
As I do this, I concentrate on the job and don’t pay attention to things around me as much as I should. I stepped in closer to get a better angle and at that very moment, the calf lunged forward, hoisting her steel-barred gate in direct contact with my forehead, connecting with a “thwock.” I heard birds twittering around in the barn, really. Then I cried.
The other day, two of our outside heifers broke loose. They found a teeny opening caused by one fence post leaning a bit too far in one direction after this long, windy winter. They were probably bored, succumbed to the urge to explore and squeezed their fat, furry bodies through the little bitty opening.
I was vacuuming the living room floor when I noticed Molly putting up a royal fuss. Hearing her bark, I knew there was either someone at the door or something extraordinary going on. Glancing up, I noticed a moving black object against the brilliance of the white snow just past where our garden was located. (If I think real hard, I remember there has been something green and growing out there.)
Bundling up, I went outside to join my husband round up these two escapees. Of course, as it has been known to happen, one went right back in where she had come from, but the other one decided to make it a little interesting. She sniffed the opening, turned about face and went out for an adventure.
I watched her go in slow motion — schlump, schlump, schlump — through snow up to her belly. She’d pick up her feet as high as she could and barely make any headway. It would have been rather funny if I wasn’t really cold and annoyed at always being really cold whenever I went outside.
She was very mild, so we just let her try to wander while my husband tended to the fence, opening it to make a wider hole for the stubborn heifer to walk through. He got a hammer and wrenched out the u-nails from the gatepost, then started yanking on the solid wire fence to get it off the post.
It was frozen hard in the snow, so I moved in closer to help wedge it out. Bending at the waist, I stretched out my hand to assist when, all of a sudden, the solid wire let loose, finding the bridge of my nose and walloped me but good right between the eyes. The force landed me face down in the nearest snowbank with my husband standing in two feet of snow on the other side of the fence hollering was I OK? I cried really hard and between sobs managed to let him know I was still breathing.
Presently the heifer went back through the bigger opening and I went back to the house to check out my hurt. I have no idea how my glasses didn’t break. Although I contended with a tender nose for a couple of days, I could still work. Shucks.
These are such minor incidents, really, but do you see how the cows keep us healthy and could wear us out at the same time? There are powerful animals on a farm that must be tended to vigilantly, and we must take care to watch what we’re doing, be it feeding cows, feeding calves or fixing fences. Praying for safety, we just take it one day at a time.
(“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” Psalms 37:3)
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