The Truck Butting Cow

I am married to a farmer who is also an insurance agent in a rural community.  Sometimes the insurance companies, that he represents, have trouble understanding some of the claims they receive.  I can understand this,  they are located in cities. 

A prime example of this came a few years ago when a farmer came into the office to report a loss.  It seemed he needed a new door on his pick-up truck.  Hubby filled out the papers while chatting with the farmer about "farm stuff"....you know, hay, weather, cows, weather, fencing, weather...you get the drift.  "Now," he says, "How did this accident occur?"  "It wasn't an accident", the farmer declared, "she did it on purpose!"  A little taken aback, Hubby frowned and asked, "Who hit your truck on purpose?"  "That old cow!" replied the farmer with some frustration.  "Ummm, who is an old cow?" Hubby queried in some confusion.  "Not a who" he replied, "an old cow!  Probably the best cow I've got!"

It seems that he had taken his truck to the field to check his cows and while he was driving around one of his cows had suddenly charged the truck, butting into the passenger door.  Not satisfied with that she did it again and then again, before wandering off in disgust.  The result was a badly dented door and a confused farmer.  He confessed that he didn't know why she had attacked the truck, but since she had raised a dandy calf he was willing to forgive her.

The door was duly paid for and repaired and the story chuckled over and forgotten.

Then a few weeks later the same farmer returned to the office to report the loss of another door on his pick-up truck.  It seems that he had again taken the truck to the field to check on his cows.  Again the cow with the dandy calf had charged the truck, repeatedly.  The result was the same, a badly dented door that needed to be repaired.  "Why is she doing this?"  Hubby questioned.  Shaking his head, the farmer replied, "I don't have a clue, but she sure has a thing for my poor old truck."  "Well,"  hubby advised, "You might consider checking your cows from the tractor for a while until you figure her out!"

A few weeks passed and the farmer again showed up in the office.  "Now don't tell me you need another door!"  Hubby exclaimed to the farmer.  "Nope", he replied, "but I've figured that old bitch out!"

"I've spent the last few weeks watching that old cow.  Every chance I'd get I would go to the field and just sit and watch her.  I got to know her really well.  She's a good mama and what I call an 'easy keeper'.  She feeds her baby good but doesn't lose weight like a lot of good mama cows do.  Then, after a while of watching her I began to see why she was keeping her weight up so well."

"What did you discover?", asked Hubby with interest.

The farmer replied, "I had put her in a field with a lot of cows with newly weaned calves.  So to give the calves a little extra while they are learning to eat on their own, I keep a creep feeder in the field. (For you non-farmers this is a metal bin with a corral around it that lets the little calves "creep" under the bars for feed but keeps the bigger cows out.)  I got to watching that old cow and I noticed that she attacked that creep feeder just like she did my truck.   So I decided to investigate."

"I took a good look at the creep feeder, which was an old one I had used several years. After poking around I discovered that there was a weak seam on the back corner.  She had figured out that if she butted that back side, the seam would open a little and a trickle of feed would flow out.  She would then enjoy her snack."

"Watching her butt that creep feeder, I thought back to when she had attacked my truck.  At that time I had her in a field with pregnant cows, which meant no creep feeder.  When she saw my truck door she evidently thought it was a strange creep feeder and so she attacked it to get her feed 'fix'!"

By now both Hubby and the farmer were laughing over the antics of the crazy cow.

"I just wanted you to know that I would be checking cows from my tractor from now on so you won't have to replace that door again!"

By now the entire office was laughing about the truck butting cow.

You just don't get claims like this in the city.