Calving season is upon us! It is a very busy and restless time of year. However, this year is unique in that my husband has recruited myself and our three children to be his helping hands. Each morning starts out with Coffee and breakfast, then we are off to tag all of the newborn calves. Gwen my avid animal lover absolutely loves doing any thing that involves the calves. In fact Gwen is so motivated to help her dad that she usually gets herself up and ready to go with out me having to do a dang thing. Earl and Frank need a little encouragement but they still enjoy going with too. Frank loves to look at all of the "moos" everyday. And Earl just loves doing anything his dad does.
Out in the fields we are quite the crew. All five of us stuff ourselves into a standard cab pickup with a manual transmission just to make things more interesting. I am the writer, I write the calve's tags out, Gwen and Earl 3 are the tagger keepers (the tagger is the tool used to put the tag into the calve's ear) they hand their dad the taggers when he is ready to tag the calf. Frank is the "complicater" He feels that it is very important to touch or grab anything that he can get a hold of to make things more interesting for the rest of us. And for a 17 month old little boy he is quite fast. The little turkey. I can't complain about my job, though, my husband has the most difficult. He drives and catches the calves to tag. This is a very dangerous job at times. Some of the "mommy cows", as Gwen and Earl refer to them as, do not like their babies to be touched. And this Gwen feels that the cows need "Spankings" for chasing her dad. One morning in particular the cows were feeling very feisty. After the third cow chased Earl, Gwen quietly leans over to me and whispers "Mom i think the mommy cows are very grumpy today, maybe dad should give them a spanking". Ah, the mind of a child, they just crack me up with the way they think.
We love helping Earl out with the cows. Although it is very stressful at times, it is also the most rewarding part of our job. Getting to know the animals and take care of them gives us all a sense of pride and compassion. It is great family time spent together.
Out in the fields we are quite the crew. All five of us stuff ourselves into a standard cab pickup with a manual transmission just to make things more interesting. I am the writer, I write the calve's tags out, Gwen and Earl 3 are the tagger keepers (the tagger is the tool used to put the tag into the calve's ear) they hand their dad the taggers when he is ready to tag the calf. Frank is the "complicater" He feels that it is very important to touch or grab anything that he can get a hold of to make things more interesting for the rest of us. And for a 17 month old little boy he is quite fast. The little turkey. I can't complain about my job, though, my husband has the most difficult. He drives and catches the calves to tag. This is a very dangerous job at times. Some of the "mommy cows", as Gwen and Earl refer to them as, do not like their babies to be touched. And this Gwen feels that the cows need "Spankings" for chasing her dad. One morning in particular the cows were feeling very feisty. After the third cow chased Earl, Gwen quietly leans over to me and whispers "Mom i think the mommy cows are very grumpy today, maybe dad should give them a spanking". Ah, the mind of a child, they just crack me up with the way they think.
We love helping Earl out with the cows. Although it is very stressful at times, it is also the most rewarding part of our job. Getting to know the animals and take care of them gives us all a sense of pride and compassion. It is great family time spent together.
