by Jan Fielden
The Middle Herd had been locked up in the NorthEast Pasture today as we decided we would get a jump on things and feed the Yearling Herd instead of waiting for tomorrow, the regular feeding day. We feed the Yearlings square bales and didn’t want to have to keep the Middle Herd off us while we were loading it into The Colonel’s truck. Everything was fine, we got the truck loaded, fed the Yearlings, checked out the fence, and came back up to the house for a coke and some chips.
After that it was decided we would go open up and let the Middle Herd out of their little vacation spot! Of course, they were all lined up at the gate and eagerly came out as soon as the gate was open. Lucinda, the calf we raised about three or four years ago, who has a baby now, came up to us. She wanted to be rubbed under her chin (if cows have chins!) and also around her ears. The other cows of course stopped and stared at her as if they can’t imagine what in the world she is doing with those “humans”. The funniest two, however, were Thorp and Stoneshire! They stopped dead still in their tracks and absolutely just stared at what was going on. They didn’t move a muscle.
Finally, everyone moved on including us and as we neared the corral, we saw Fedora, another calf we are raising. It is hard not to wonder if Fedora will become attached to us as much as Lucinda has. Something for us to think about while we sit on the porch at the Red Oak Ranch.
