COWS
Yesterday was Newsletter Day. I hope you all received yours. If not let me know and I will send you a copy today.
The links to the Farmy Shops are in there (and below).
The Newsletter has a Monthly Letter. Every month the letter is different because every month brings me to a different point in my thinking. It is crafted as opposed to conversational. I like my conversational coffee laden voice that you read every morning but I also like the challenge of writing a piece once a month that has more thought and care in it. Something a little more challenging.
Here is an excerpt from yesterdays Newsletter. It is a collection of notes from my observation of cows:
1. Cows drink lots of water.
2. Cows stick with the herd but hold onto their own space.
3. Cows never stand out in the hot sun without a hat.
4. Cows have favourite friends amongst other cows in the herd.
5. Cows are nosy and will stare without apology.
6. Cows will stand without complaint in nasty weather knowing it will change.
7. Cows hide their babies from everyone for a few days after birth.
8. Cows burp and fart without saying ” Oh, pardon me”.
9. Cows will not go forward unless they can see where they are going.
10. Cows find open gates irresistible.
11. Cows will walk the same track day after day and are OK with that.
12. Cows lie down and doze for hours on end in the middle of a work day.
13. Cows can walk up steps but cannot walk down steps.
14. Cows will quietly and forever hold a grudge.
15. Cows will give more milk if you give them a name.
16. Cows take the time to stand chewing and staring at nothing.
I say: THINK LIKE A COW
And today I will make the Think Like A Cow T Shirt. I will let you know on Sunday how that went.
If you received your Newsletter and enjoyed it I would love you to be part of the marketing team and share it with your friends. I would greatly appreciate that. And thank you if you have already. If you see something you like on Zazzle but cannot buy it today click Like and share that too: on Pinterest or Facebook or your social media of choice. Spreading the base helps me gather a little revenue towards managing the permanent guests on the farm like Wai and Sheila.
Making that extra is hard on a small sustainable farm so Thank You for being a part of this new venture with me.
And now to pigs. It rained yesterday and I found Molly a number of times out in her backyard with her udder in a puddle of rain. The milk bar ended up a bit muddy. 
But she was seeking relief. The poor girl has sixteen teats with lots of milk and only three piglets so she will be very uncomfortable. I bet she loved that cold water. I am giving her aspirin a couple of times a day for a few days to help alleviate the pain. Her babies are the fattest wee babies I have ever seen. They feed quite silently – no need to push and shove there is plenty for everyone.
Tane is the picture of health now. Though he still limps he is getting around quite quickly. His coat is thick and glossy. Tima, his fat wife, is not allowed out of her field because she is decimating the corn in the cornfield. She eats through the stalks felling the corn trees like a beaver then devours whole ears of corn. Then moves to the next stalk. She is a machine. Once I found what she was up to she was locked up but Tane is much better behaved and he and Wai are allowed to roam the grounds at will.
I am slowly getting more and more straw into Wai’s bedroom. Soon I will begin to build a hut over it for warmth in the winter. This has to happen very slowly because he hates change.
It will be wet and windy today so I have opened up the North side of the barn with the creep so the calves have a space they can sleep, away from the hooves of the big cows. Wet is fine – wet with wind is more chilling. Though the wind will be warm in the afternoon and here it is October! Of course, the calves would be fine outside too but I have shut the big fields to encourage maximum growth for this wet week. They have Pat’s Paddock and hay for the meantime. Having good grass growth at this point in the season is incredible. I intend to let it grow for late autumn feed.
I hope you have a lovely day
Love celi
WEATHER: Wet and Warm and Windy. Perfect for the fields.
Saturday 10/07 100% / 0.32 in
Showers early, becoming a steady rain for the afternoon. Windy. Thunder possible. High near 80F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Saturday Night 10/07 10% / 0 in
Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 52F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph.
Sun
6:56 am 6:24 pm
Moon
Waning Gibbous, 96% visible 8:02 pm 8:50 am
c
46 Comments on “COWS”
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Consider one more cow item. They don’t like to be tipped. 🙂
Plus it would take five big strong sober fellows and a tail wind to tip any one of my big cows.
Are there cow-tippers in NZ?
No. Laughter. I think they are a myth
“ some animal behaviour is a lesson to follow
Does Wai have tusks in his mouth? I saw something yesterday about pot bellied pigs being able to grow quite long ones. They don’t seem to be very useful as they grow up and curl backwards.
Goodness – no he does not have tucks but he is only a couple of years old – hmm – I will keep an eye out
It sounds like they don’t grow on neutered pigs and that they can be trimmed if necessary…
Ah – well he is neutered . I have always wondered why Manu does not have tusks yet.
Roosevelt was a pot belly and he did grow tusks. I had to take him to the vet to have them cut off one time because he had somehow cracked one and it was hurting him. I spent several hours in the recliner in the back room of the vet waiting for Rosy to wake up, no way he could be carried out! I had to help him up the steps into the house when we got home and there he sat on his butt with his front legs splayed and his head hanging between them. He looked like he was suffering the worst hangover ever.
He was neutered.
It has been an unusually good year here too for plant growth and favorable weather. Your critters are looking good! I love how you know the ways and peculiarities of every animal. Wai is such a lucky boy.
He is a rather unusual character that is for sure
That Wai has such a formidable personality. I love it. And yes I received the newsletter yesterday. Enjoyed being a cow very much. Fun to read and learn. As I’ve said before I learn so much from this blog.
Amazing that Tane is almost 100%. I remember worrying he was close to being a goner! Trying to navigate on his two front legs!!
I was deeply concerned for him too. He still takes a minute to get going but he does look so much better now and certainly gets around
Yes I go the leter….thank you! and aren’t all your photos grand! Love that Wai and Tane are doing so splendidly! Hats off to you!
dang it …my “T” escaped again….meant to say I got the letter!
They are both pretty tenacious pigs
Those three little piggies will have the best table manners ever!
ha ha – that’s what I read too – seeing what I expect to see again
I did not receive the newsletter…dang it
email me and I will send you a copy then re-register – I am not sure why it did not work for you!
… and possibly one further one: cows enjoy listening to music while they’re milked (https://modernfarmer.com/2014/02/milking-music)
I have read about it but it seems to make no difference to Lady – so it is not something I have observed. It is nice for ME though when i remember
It might make a difference in a highly automated dairy. I think your girls have a much nicer environment to be milked in 🙂
I am always so amazed at how green your pastures are. And maybe could I add a cow observation? Cows love to lick things.
PS~ I did receive the newsy letter, YAY! 🙂
I received the news letter, and loved the list of being a cow. Poor Molly soaking her boobies! 😀
Aw, shucks! No letter again this month. Help!
Thanks for the newsletter and I am intrigued by cows bearing grudges, could be scary 🤗 Laura
All the cow bottoms are very fetching…and I believe the piglets look like they are growing at speed. I loved the newsletter. It’s one of those lists someone of old would have needlepointed and hung in their bathroom.
Hi Miss C, I, too, didn’t receive the newsletter but would very much still like it. I am having a hard time finding your email address to let you know as instructed above. Will you pretty please help me? Your content is my favorite in all of the Internet. I hope YOU are having a lovely day.
celima.g.7@gmail.com – send me a message and I will send you the newsletter – no problem – technology is like that: just does not work for everyone
On a whim I just checked my deleted emails and found it in there. My apologies for the false alarm and accidental delete. I’m delighted to have found it. I’m digging in now.
LOL! Are you going to try to fit all of the Cow’s Rules onto a T-shirt or doing graphics, or (still thinking about it; )?
What a wonderful idea! I never thought of that!
I got the newsletter. I love the cartoon… always have been a fan, from times way back the cartoons in the newspaper seemed to sum things up nicely and as a kid the cartoon pages were always my favourite part of the Sunday papers!
I have the best cartoonist EVER!!
I got my newsletter. Loved the list about cows. Learned something new about them. 🙂 The two baby cows together is so sweet. Autumn weather is setting in here too.
Thinking like a cow is fine except for the part about holding a grudge. Ya gotta let that shit go…
Oh boy, now wouldn’t THAT make a great slogan for a Cow T?
Got the letter. Sending it around. I’ll look for the t-shirt, but maybe casa mariposa’s second sentence could be added (in parentheses)? Or not.
Yes, EXACTLY Albert! LMAO
The “Cow Bottoms” pic (as Daily Cure put it) would also be a wonderful T-shirt graphic : )
LOVE the pic of wee calfy-babes in their bower of straw… (And, why have I never noticed that you have Herefords before?
Such lovely, silky wee piggies (and they’ve almost filled out their wrinkles already?) Amazing!! But oh, poor Mollie, total sympathy here… ):
Well I do disagree with #13. Cows can go down steps. They don’t like to go down steps and will look for an alternate route. They also can’t be rushed when going down steps, leads to slipping or jumping, both of which can have some really bad outcomes. I think their vision is such that steps make it really difficult for them to judge where they are in the process of reaching the bottom. In the past milking parlors, with a pit for the milker to stand in, were built with steps or ramps for the cows to use to enter and exit. Very wide steps of about 3 risers and a easy slope. The ones I know of were built in the 60’s and 70’s. At some point the farmers and the parlor designers realized it was better for the cows to make the humans use the steps into the pit instead of the cows using steps to enter and exit the parlor.
Wai is looking like a totally different pig these days. It is nice that he and Tane can hang out with each other. Those chubby little piglets are beautiful.