A Little Trivia To Think About
Like every other day, I was feeding the cattle their regular feed and supplements. We are in our calving season and we keep a close watch on the cows and heifers that have delivered and those that are still waiting to deliver. Our herd looks really good this year and seems to be thriving. Most of our mamas, some pros and others new to this experience, are calm and easy to be around but, there are a few that are extremely protective of their babes and you can’t get within 100 ft. of them. Can’t really blame them for that.
As I was looking over the herd, I noticed one new Bromvie mama, her baby, a bull calf, only three days old, just standing by the livestock feeders and watching. She had her baby hid out somewhere and did not bring him up to eat. She had already ate so, it surprised me to see her just standing there like she was overseeing the others finish, like a supervisor would watch his crew. I wondered what she was thinking. Was she really watching the herd or maybe she was just as curious about why I was still there after I had already left their food for them. Do you ever wonder what they are thinking?
We, also, have longhorn cattle. The discussion of horn size came up when I questioned about my young cows horn size and comparing it to her mama’s and grandma’s horn sizes. Heredity does make a difference in the size of their horns. My three ladies horns are nothing to brag about because they are not that big. I believe Angel’s, that is the grandma, has the largest of the three. Rusty and Ruby just aren’t going to have the best of horns and Squirt and Chili Pepper, their bull calves, aren’t either I’m afraid.
After comparing them, I looked over the remaining herd and we have a few that carry some huge horns. I got tickled, all of the sudden, because the thought, that for some strange reason, crossed my mind was, do cows get headaches from carrying around those huge horns?
I got the funniest look from my partner. Seriously, though, people get headaches from all kinds of things including too much hair because of the thickness and weight. So why don’t cows get headaches?
Even funnier was the look I got when I said, ”well, you don’t hear them asking for Tylenol.”
Animals can tolerate a lot of pain. They get scratched or cut and go on. When they are out in the pasture or on open range, you cannot keep a close watch on them and you cannot cure their every injury. We would like to think we can but, it is impossible to do. They were created to care for themselves and do quite well.
But, I am still curious, do they?
