The Bovine Choir

Last Friday afternoon, we returned from town and noticed the cows around the property seemed to have joined the choir. Several of them bellowed along with the chorus. As the evening wore on, Greg decided that the farmer (the owner of the stock) must have come and taken the calves. The herd did look significantly smaller, but the area they have to roam is quite large, so we couldn’t be sure. There were over a dozen calves in this herd. Well, all evening and all through the night…’MOO’…(pause)…’MOO’…(pause)…’MOO’…(pause). Well into the next morning, the bellowing continued. Greg had gone into town to study (on Saturday), but Traci was outside cleaning the BBQ. Along came the farmer, as a couple of calves had jumped the fence and he was bringing them back to their mums. He was an older man, so he didn’t hear when Traci asked if he had come and taken the calves. Once he got close enough, Traci asked again. He said it was time to wean the calves as they now needed better nutrients than what they were getting from their mums. Whoever said animals don’t have feelings? (I'm cheating here with this photo, as it was taken when the calves were small--I didn't take a new photo of the depressed mamas missing their babies).