He Knows His Cows Better Than His Own Children

Last night was a restless night due to one cow who mooed the whole entire night...

Dan the Man and I settled down in our warm, soft, comfy bed complete with freshly laundered flannel sheets and four warming modules (aka the cats).  The quietness at the end of the day started to envelop the house.  The silence of the country night was lulling us into a much needed relaxing slumber.  I was drifting in and out of slumberland, but I keep hearing something...

What was that?

Moooo

"Danny... Did you hear that?"

"Hmmm?"

"I thought I heard a cow mooing."

"I didn't hear anything."

Five minutes later...

Moooo

"Danny. There is a cow mooing outside."

"Hmmm? I don't hear anything."

Again... five or so minutes later...

Moooo

"Danny, there IS a cow mooing out there."

"I heard."

"Well, are you going to go see what is going on?"

"No, it's cold outside and I don't think anything is wrong."

This mooing went on ALL night long.  Just as I was beginning to fall asleep...  there it was...  Moooo!

Now, if you have cattle, you know that cows generally bed-down at night and don't usually moo in the middle of the night.  If the cows are mooing in the middle of the night, you generally need to get up to see what the commotion is all about.  You also know that cows have certain moos for certain circumstances.  Let me name a few for you:

There is the "Are you coming for feed us?"  moo.  This one is usually loud and all the cows participate in this one.

Then there is the mooing that takes place when you are sorting the cattle.  Once again all the cows participate in this one and it can get so deafening loud, that you can not talk to someone standing five feet from you.

Of course, we mustn't forget the weaning moo.  This one is usually an individual moo that each cow does on her own accord as she feels necessary to let us know that her bag is full and how much longer will it be before her utters dry up?  Being a mother who breast fed, I can feel her temporary pain and also rejoice with her as she is now liberated again from the never ending sucking and head-butting machine known as her calf.

There is the unmistakable moo, which is actually more like a beller or roar of a mother cow charging something that might be endangering her calf.  That one sends chills down your spine and I have only heard it a few times but will never forget it!

Oh yes, and then there is the moo of the crazy cow that is trying to ram you into a corral pole or plow you into the ground.  This one too is very frightening, trust me!

This particular moo that kept waking me up ALL. NIGHT. LONG. was neither a distressed moo or one that was trying to alert her master (Dan the Man) of trouble.  It was just an annoying moo that seemed to go on all night long, non-stop.

I think I told Danny at least three or four times that the cow was still mooing in case he was not aware of it.  He just grunted, rolled over and took the covers with him to his side of the bed each time.  I finally got the hint that he was not going to get out of bed to investigate.  He finally told me that it was probably Sweetheart.  That her calf had probably gotten out of the corral and Sweetheart was calling him and telling him that he had better get back in the corral where he belonged.

I remember waking up around 5:20 just before my alarm was about to go off.  In the quietness of the frosty morning I lay in bed thinking of my day ahead.  The mooing had left my memory temporarily.  As I became more conscience and awake, the memory of the night's never ending mooing came back to me.  Oh yes, I wondered to myself if that cow ever stopped mooing.

Moooo.

Guess not.  I nudged Danny a little and told him that the cow was still mooing.

I got up and went about my morning routine.  Danny soon got up and took his shower.  After his shower he usually eats, but this morning he decided that he would go straight out to do the chores before he ate breakfast and see what was wrong.

I was a little anxious for him to return from chores to ask him what was the deal with the cow.

As he had predicted, it was Sweetheart.  Her calf had crawled into the feedbunk just on the outside of the corral.  The little stinker had burrowed down into the leftover hay still in the feedbunk just inches away from his mother.  I guess Sweetheart did not like the fact that he was on the wrong side of the corral.

I think it is somewhat amazing that Dan the Man knows his herd so well that he knew what the mooing was all about.  I think he might know his cow herd better than he know his own children!

Here is a picture of Sweetheart and her little guy.  Awwww, isn't he so sweet?  The little turd had BETTER stay in the corral tonight.