Cattle resting in their winter pasture.
I have heard the comment that “animals are people too.” In
my mind that is ridiculous. But I will admit that animals do have feelings and
personalities just as humans do. As we
have an opportunity to watch and work with animals every day, we see those
things.
The calves
run and jump and play. If they could smile and laugh you know they would when
they are doing this. They seem to be playing a game of tag as they run around
each other and then race off to the end of the pasture. It's like watching kids
out on the school playground.
A cow that
has just lost her calf, though she doesn’t have tears running down her face,
will moo in a mournful way. She will stand around the area where the dead calf
was last alive; she will sniff the ground around it; she will lay down there, and
she will mourn in her bovine way.
A group of
older calves will walk the fence looking for a way to get out. They remind me
of teenagers trying to break out of the binding rules and regulations of life.
And when a hole or a break in the fence is found, they will all go through.
But, unless they are weaned, when mama calls they will run back to her.
Most cows
will become very protective of their new calf as soon as it is born. Some,
especially first time mothers, have to be taught to take care of their calves.
Maternal love and nurturing does not come natural to every animal nor does it to every human
mother. But with care and patience, it can be taught.
My dad
raised sheep and I remember him skinning a dead lamb, putting that hide over an
orphan or “bum” lamb that he wanted the distraught mother to adopt. When she
smelled the skin of her own baby, she would be more willing to accept the new
one.
Dogs learn
to understand what their owner wants them to do, and they develop the ability
to communicate with them. Our dog, Spotty, almost seems to talk to us. This
time of the year Boyd doesn’t spend the day in the field like he does when he
can busy farming. If Spotty thinks it’s time for Boyd to go out, she will start
whining as if to say, “Come on, we need to check the cows.” Then when he does
go out, she gets in his way of putting his coveralls and boots on because she
is so anxious to go out with him. If I have been gone in the car and she has
been outside quite a while in the cold, she will meet the car and start whining
as soon as I open the door. If I tell her she has to stay outside, she quits
the whining and slinks off to pout. If I tell her to be patient and I’ll let
her in, she sticks close to me and beats me in the door as soon as I open it.
Boyd often
will refer to the cows according to their personality: that’s the one you have
to watch as she will be looking for a way through the fence; there’s one that
doesn’t like anyone near her and her baby so you can’t get an ear tag in the new born very easily;
that one has always been a good mother; don’t turn your back on that one or she
may plow you down, (she will be sold as soon as possible); there’s the one that
likes you to scratch her head. He keeps good records of all of the cows and
calves and if he has a question about any of them, he can check his notes in
his records.
Being taught by his dad, Boyd has shown
his sons how to be gentle and patient in working with cows. Not long ago we
loaded some cows to ship and the driver said he had never had such an easy job
of loading a herd of cows. I attribute that to the way they are treated here in
the corrals and pastures. Yes, there are times they need to be prodded and
sometimes smacked on the rear end, but usually patience will get things done
faster than force.
It’s
recognizing the human traits in these animals and working with them that make
life on the ranch interesting and worthwhile, but those traits don’t make them
“people.”
