Cowspeak

I had to learn all kinds of things when we moved back up here to a farm and got cattle. Such as, they really were smarter than Hubby gave them credit for.

I remember the first time a cow lost a calf during birth. She walked all around, calling for her baby. It was very sad. (I always said I should have been a vet instead of a nurse because I had a lot more sympathy for most animals than some of the people I cared for.)

They are also very protective. One time a deer jumped over a fence into the pasture, which caused a bit of a stir. The mama cows were grazing, and before they could get back to the herd, the older calves had surrounded the babies.

I learned things like this because we were using artificial insemination and that meant we (which usually meant me) had to go out twice a day to watch for signs of heat. But that’s another story.

Anyway, I learned there were certain factors involved with what a cow was called. In fact, a cow was actually not a cow until she had her first calf. Until then, she was a heifer. A bull calf became a steer when he was castrated (ohhhh, another story!).

And a steer brought up to the pen to be fed out with grain was called…………T-Bone.

Flo