The Cows Were Moved Today

The cows were moved today. They were sold to a man who lives nearby.  Wasn't sure when they would leave but I miss them already.

There's just something comforting about looking across a big green pasture and seeing Black Angus cattle grazing with their babies romping around nearby.  Sometimes when I walk outside, I can hear them lowing.  Their way of calling their babies or letting me know they see me and would like a bucket of corn.

The babies were all born last summer and they have grown pretty fast.  The mama cows are already bred for next year's crop of babies.  The gestation period is a little over 9 months I think, so the next group would be born about the same time.  Always good for babies to be born when it is warm and there's plenty of green grass for mama to graze on.

Our daughters had heifers (young female cows) as a 4-H project when they were younger.  I worried about how they would handle the selling of the animals at the end of the project, but that concern was squashed when I asked Lauren if she knew what would happen to the cows.  She smiled and said, "Mmmm, yummy hamburgers!"

Cattle prices have fallen quite a bit and that is not good if you want to sell cattle, but very nice if you want to buy.  Luckily, we have had good weather and the pasture has managed to keep green grass but that won't last much longer.  Soon, the cold wind and frost of winter will come and the grass will crumble and disappear.  But the cows will still need to eat and fresh hay must be purchased.  You can see why the decision becomes easier to sell the cows now before pouring more money into upkeep.

Winter can be a tough time, water in their trough freezes and must be monitored daily, fences must be checked and repaired, cows get sick...and sometimes cows just decide they want to go on a walking tour of the neighborhood.  We have been lucky with this group, no jail breakers, but some years back a few got out and ventured into the woods and seemed perfectly happy in there.  We worried about them wandering on the highway at night.  Black cows are even blacker at night and unfortunately not smart enough to get out of the way when a car is headed toward them.  We had to hire some cowboys to go in the woods and hustle them out.  Was exciting, but also expensive.

Yep, the cows left today.  Guess when spring comes and the pasture looks really, really, bare, somebody somewhere will have a few black cows that they want to sell.

PCQ