The Beauty Of Cows

You heard right – cows. In the hustle and bustle of rounding up the cattle over the weekend, there was little time to really take a long look at them. I took lots of pics and when I was going through them I realized that hey, there’s beauty there.

Take a look at our lone Hereford cow.

All the rest of our cattle are black Angus, so our Hereford stands out in a crowd.

She’s been with the herd for about a dozen years now. Every spring she’s had a calf and raised it for us to sell.  But beyond that, take a look at how pretty she is. Her color is striking.

Look how adorable her calf is.

And then there’s Dolly the Wonder Cow.

She’s a recent addition to the herd. Part Angus and part Holstein, she’s a mutt. And a goofy looking one at that.

Her legs are too long, her head too big, and her hip bones jut up there like speed bumps. We bought her from Harland’s nephew last spring. She’d had her 2nd calf and, unlike her first which died from neglect on her part, she decided to take care of this one. So we sent her along to the summer pasture along with the rest of the herd. Turns out though that she is something of a pet. Harland’s nephew had handled her regularly and fed her apples, so when Harland was feeding the cattle grain over the last few weeks prior to round-up, she followed Harland around and wouldn’t give him any room to work, and he finally started referring to her as a 1000 pound fly.

While looking through all the photos, I started noticing details. Check out these eyelashes.

Can you imagine applying mascara to all that?

And these ladies appear to have lined up for a family photo.

I mentioned this to Harland and he said they very well could be related since we keep some of the female calves every year. So this could be a grandmother, daughter, aunt, and granddaughter.

“Hey, Marge.”

“Yes, Beatrice?”

“My eyesight isn’t what it used to be, but young Ethel here tells me you’ve got a string of snot hanging from your nose about 6 inches long.”

“Well, I’m sorry Beatrice, but I left my hanky at home. And I don’t know why it should be of any concern to you Ethel, you little snitch.”

“Oh Marge, you’re just sore because the Bulls think I’m prettier than you.”

“Hold still Ethel, I’m gonna rub your face in that load of manure I just dropped.”

“LADIES! That’s enough! The human is taking pictures for that blog of hers and you don’t want the other humans to get a bad impression of us do you?”

“Now Marge and Ethel, you apologize to each other!”

“sorry.”

“sorry.”

“Psst. I’ll get you at recess Ethel.”

~~~~~~~~~~

—->UP NEXT: My, how the calves have grown. Side by side comparisons of what they looked like in May, and how they look today.

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Suzanne

Cattle, corn, wheat, beans, mud, snow, ice, and drought. Plenty of fresh air and quiet. Our life is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, but never boring.

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20 Responses

  1. oh my gosh! I love this post!!! I love the family photo and the squabble between them. That was hilarious! I love your sense of humor. I love your hereford cow….especially that photo of her amongst all the black cows…what kind of cows are the black ones…if you told us recently I’m sorry..I’m trying to learn!

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Bonnie.
      Thank you! All of our cattle are Black Angus, except for the one lone Hereford, and of course Dolly the Wonder cow who’s half Angus and half Holstein. Holsteins by the way are milk cows, the white and black dairy cows you see on the milk carton.

  2. Shailaja says:

    So your Hereford didn’t breed true, she kept all that gorgeous colour for herself. And hold it, just because Dolly has been after your hubby, you don’t have to go all green and call her goofy looking and a mutt. She is such a pet!

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Shailaja,
      I think the Hereford red is recessive, so when she is bred every year to a black Angus bull, her calves are always black. And we do like Dolly despite her goofy looks. 🙂

  3. Julie says:

    Love it! They are such sweet-faced creatures. My uncle in NH raises red herefords (as a “hobby”) and, in recent years, added black herefords to the herd.

  4. Glyndalyn says:

    Enjoying. We always sold any of our goats that were bad mothers. Glad you kept Dolly and she cared for her second calf.

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Glyndalyn,
      We sell the bad mothers and also crazy wild cows too. No point in keeping an animal who outweighs us by 900 pounds who might trample our guts into the ground. We’re glad we kept Dolly, she’s a sweetie.

  5. Teresa says:

    Beautiful pictures. I just love the cows. You just want to hug those fuzzy faces and ears!

  6. Stephanie says:

    The fur on their forehead made them look stylish as well 😀

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Stephanie,
      Absolutely, but they go a little overboard on the styling product which makes it stand on end. I’ve tried to tell them, but you know how stubborn cows can be. 🙂

  7. Doe of Mi. says:

    What a cute cute calf. Love these photos. So much fun here.

  8. Michaele says:

    I can look at cattle all day. Thanks for the wonderful post!

  9. Glenda says:

    Love the “family” photos with the bright blue sky in the background. We had a month of that beauty every day and now it is back to “normal” Missouri weather with grey sky for fall and winter. Love the “talking” that the girls do.

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Glenda,
      I thought you’d appreciate the talking cows. We started to get rain last night, and it’s been raining here all day – Blah. But we needed it as it was really dry and dusty. Have a great weekend.

  10. Lola says:

    oh, those lovely pics! Thank you for psoting them – I happen to love cows. with or without hankies… LOL! Hugs, Lola

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