Take a Cow to School Day

"Mama! Plee-aa-se!!  You promised!"


My daughter looked into the pleading eyes of her youngest daughter and knew a sinking feeling in her heart.  She had promised.  Rashly. Months ago, when the tiny, little miniature Herford had been born.  Small, even for the small breed, he had soon become a pet around the barn.  He displayed a calm, cheerful acceptance of life that didn't change as he started to grow.  Bigger animals pushed him away from the feed pan, he would just placidly move to another one.  He greeted every visitor to the barn with his head stuck up to the gate for a little head rub and a scratch.  He was a sweetheart.


And she had promised.  "But, honey," she responded to the plea, "Your daddy is in the middle of harvest and you know we would need his help."  Now harvest is serious.  The little girl knew her daddy was in the field from early morning to late at night.  The only time he wasn't was when the weather kept him from it.  Naturally, the weather looked to be perfect for the next week. 


"But you promised!!!!" she pleaded again.  "Conner is going to his new home next week!  It has to be NOW!!"  Conner, the little Herford. was indeed sold to two little girls who would be loving him and showing him next season.


"Ok", her mother sighed, "We'll talk to your daddy and see what we can work out, but it may not be possible."


Sunshine came out with her smile, as she gleefully ran to the barn to catch her daddy before he got away.  He didn't have a chance.  Conner was going to school!


I guess "Show and Tell" is a little different in rural areas.


After showing cattle successfully for a couple of years, she wanted to "show" and "tell" her classmates about the experience.  Of course, you need a cow (or in this case a steer) to demonstrate all the finer points of getting prepared for a cattle show.  So the gentle little animal was the perfect choice for this adventure.


So early the next morning, Conner walked calmly into the cattle trailer (he couldn't exactly ride the school bus) and went to school.  He walked out sedately into the parking lot and looked inquisitively at the children waiting for him.  His young mistress, grabbed her bucket of grooming supplies and her notes and proudly proceeded to instruct her classmates on the art of preparing a calf for the show ring.  She explained the early morning feedings before school, the careful feed ration that would make his coat gleam and his muscles grow, the time spent teaching him to walk with a halter and stand still for the judge, the baths to keep him clean and shiny.  She told of the chores that she and her sister did before after school to keep their cattle stalls clean and them fed and watered.


Then her daddy stepped forward and explained that just like children needed vitamins cattle needed supplements and vitamins too.  Then he showed them how you used a tool to get a cow to swallow a pill.  Also, like children, cattle needed to get vaccinations and sometimes medicine with an injection, with a special syringe that would let him do it quickly.


The children were spellbound.  Conner was ecstatic, as the class gently took turns giving him a head rub and a scratch.


The teacher approached my daughter and son-in-law to thank them for a very special morning.  "I am so impressed", she added, "with how much Kinsey knows about cattle and showing.  She really did a great job." 


"Yes." her mother agreed, "She works hard with her cattle and she truly loves it"  To herself, she added, "and maybe you can understand why sometimes her homework is hurried and a little messy !"