Garden humor thread..

digitS'

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Cows tend to be gentle critters. They have been with us for so many thousands of years that the "mean heifers" are few.

BTW, a neighbor had a little herd of Herfords when his adult daughter and 3 kids moved in with them. He just selected one of the cows and began milking her. I'm sure she wasn't the best milch cow but she provided enough for the family.

The mountain above my olde home was logged with oxen, I was told by the neighbor who owned most of it. I used to imagine having a pair to use for my farming. These days, there would probably be people who would enjoy having a team come in to do work on their small fields in the ruburbs :).

Steve
 

majorcatfish

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Pulsegleaner

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Cows tend to be gentle critters. They have been with us for so many thousands of years that the "mean heifers" are few.
Steve

Well, probably not for the last 400 years or so, ever since we rendered the aurochs (wild cow) extinct. Though I have heard that, in those places where there actually are fully feral cattle (Australia and the Argentine pampas are two areas I know have them, but there are almost assuredly others) it's a different matter. Cows without people raising them get really nasty.


In 3rd and 4th grade my best friend Cathy and I used to regularly sneak down past the tomato farm where a horse was kept in a large white rail corral. Her name was Babe and I have no idea how we knew that, but we would pick armfuls of long grass and lay it for her next to the corral fence, then when she was busy eating we would climb the fence and slide over onto her back.

I can still remember that feeling of your heart being too big for your chest, and the utter thrill of being high atop a real horse.

Cathy's older sister ratted us out and we got in big trouble, but it was so worth it.

The one time I remember riding a horse was when I was around 5-6 and on vacation. I was supposed to get a pony ride, but they had run out of ponies, so I would up on a full grown horse. lucky for me, it went very well, it was a very docile horse (of course it probably didn't hurt that while we were waiting for my ride I had spent time feeding the horses random weeds from around the paddock, and it happened that the horse I got was the one who turned out to be EXTREMELY fond of wild chamomile. By the time I got on, it was probably so mellowed out it was on the verge of falling asleep!)
 

bobm

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Cows tend to be gentle critters. They have been with us for so many thousands of years that the "mean heifers" are few.

BTW, a neighbor had a little herd of Herfords when his adult daughter and 3 kids moved in with them. He just selected one of the cows and began milking her. I'm sure she wasn't the best milch cow but she provided enough for the family.

The mountain above my olde home was logged with oxen, I was told by the neighbor who owned most of it. I used to imagine having a pair to use for my farming. These days, there would probably be people who would enjoy having a team come in to do work on their small fields in the ruburbs :).

Steve
Well Steve ... I would just love to see your neighbor just go out and select any one of the 300 Herefords cows on our Cal. neighbor's 10,000 acre ranch and begin to milk any ONE of them . Your neighbor better have some very good Obamacare health insurance . My dad was the milk tester for San Juaquin County in Cal. . On one dairy, the dairyman had a herd of Jersey cows. He baught a new Jersey bull (dairy bulls, especially Jersey bulls are well known for their ill temper. AI is now used to reduce emergency room visits or funeral parlers ) and bred his cows to him . When his oldest daughters freshened , this dairyman had a nice ringside seat at milking time every time with every one of them ... bull and daughter's became your happy meals from McDonald's .
 

seedcorn

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All bulls are to be treated with utmost precautions. Same with freshened heifers as you don't know what you have until you do.

Jersey's do have a rep as unreliable and obnoxious-as do some beef breeds. Aren't Dexters also considered on mean side? AI much safer than bull.
 

digitS'

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This neighbor passed away about 1980 and his days with the cows were back in the 1950's.

The "herd" of about 5 cows on his 11 acres had lots of attention. ;) Just like Debbie's will at her dairy.

We had a Holstein, with one front leg tied up, would get down on her knees to kick her hobbles off during milking. Dad finally tied up that front leg, then tied the opposite back leg to the wall - stretching her out good. Of course she fell when we touched her udder. Loosen the ropes, let her stand again. She only needed the ropes a few more times and never chose to fall and make a fool outta herself again.

Steve
 
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