Friday, March 13, 2009

Lessons we learn on the farm

The one thing I loved about growing up on a farm is seeing the new baby animals being born in the spring. I remember lots of times running out to the barn before school to see the new calf or colt born in the night. After a long winter, it was starting to warm up, the sun would shine, and new life was all around me. It was and still is my favorite time of the year.
About a week ago Dad called and asked if Saul was still around and said that he needed his help to pull a calf. Saul ran over and luckily all turned out well...the mom and baby were both OK.
Justin was over at Dad's helping him move some things to get ready for the new irrigation pipes to be put in. He was working right next to the pen with the calf, ever so often reaching in and petting him. After several hours of working, Dad came out to do chores. He was going to open up the cow's pen to let her and the calf out for water, so Justin offered to do it for him. He jumped in and then turned to talk to Dad...just then the cow started to charge. Dad saw her coming at him and yelled at him...Justin turned around just as she hit him. She hit him several more times before he could catch his balance and scramble out of the pen. One lesson we all learned farely early in life when growing up on the farm is that you are always leary of a new mother...whether it was a cow, horse, hen or other! We were on the run numerous times from different animals that thought we were getting to close. The cow hadn't shown any previous signs of being mean... Dad and others had been in there numerous times since she had her calf and she had been fine. Justin called me laughing and told me about, saying it hurt a little but he was ok. I laughed and thought back on a few of my experiences. Later when I was over at Dad's, he asked how Justin was and told me the story...only showing quite a bit of concern. He said that the cow really got Justin pretty good and that he would probably be pretty sore. I found that a little interesting...usually it was Dad that was laughing while we were crying over things like that. It made me a little more concerned for Justin, but when I asked him again if he was ok, he just started laughing again and assured me he was fine. He was a little sore and bruised the next few days, but it doing good now. I think he will have a little more respect for the animals when there is a baby involved...chalk it up to another lesson learned on the farm!