007

It’s been a super busy weekend around here!  We spent Saturday weaning our last bunch of calves. Sunday we spent the morning trailing our heifers to fresh pasture.  It’s a lot of work, but feels great to have it done. 

On Saturday, after spending the day sorting and weighing all the calves we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house to tally up the numbers and visit for a bit.  While talking about cows and how the calves looked, Grandpa tells us that this will probably be 007’s last year here on the ranch.  007 is the girls’ favorite cow! She is 14 years old, older than my oldest daughter, and I have never met a cow quite like this one.  The idea of losing this beloved bovine breaks my heart.  I truly believe this cow loves these girls as much as they love her.  I have seen this cow walk out of the herd on the way to the feed ground to stop where the girls are playing to say hello and get a rub.  I have pictures of her sharing a soda with my 4^th daughter on the back of a 4 wheeler.  She had a late calf one spring and came up dry the next year.  She survived being culled that year only because there would be some very heart broken girls here on the ranch.  007 probably won’t escape being culled this time.

My oldest, KJ came to the breakfast table this morning and told me she had a hard time sleeping last night.  She said she thought about 007 all night long. KJ wants to make sure to get out to the pasture at least one more time to see 007 before she is sold.  She asked me why Grandpa couldn’t let 007 live here until she died?  She knows that that’s not how business is done, but these cows and horses around here aren’t just equipment to be used to make money.   We grow special attachments to them and they become part of us. This isn’t just a way to make money, but rather a way of life.  Our children learn the hard truth about life and death at a very young age.  They watch these cows and calves be born, help take care of them and are devastated when one is lost, but they quickly learn that is part of life. 

They often learn it, and then remind you of what it is exactly that they learned when you least expect it.

 My husband’s grandmother passed away almost 2 years ago.  She was a bit of a prankster, so I am sure she would’ve enjoyed this story.  When she passed away, the night before her funeral we went to the visitation.  All of my kids paid their respects to Great Grandma and good stories were shared.  The day of the funeral we were headed out to the cemetery for the burial.  My husband was a pall bearer so he rode with the rest of the pall bearers to the cemetery.  So I load up 4 sobbing, upset little girls and made our way to the cemetery.  All of the sudden from the back seat #4 says “Mom, I have a question.  How come Great Grandma didn’t die with her tongue sticking out like a calf does?” I quit crying and a smile crossed my face, her innocent question made me forget how sad we were to have lost Great Grandma.   Instead I started to think of how Great Grandma would have laughed at that, so the girls and I told happy stories about Great Grandma the rest of the way to the cemetery.

Loss is tough, whether it be a loved one, or your favorite cow.   So we suck it up, and try to remind ourselves how blessed we were to have them in our lives.  In the end memories are all we are left with, so all we can do is try to make as many good ones as we can. (Even if they are from a funeral.)