OR…
Number Nine Nearly has a “Nother
October already! The leaves are changing…the weather is cooler. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but the days seem to be passing at an alarming rate!
The fall calving season is well underway. It’s been very successful so far this year; we have even had 2 sets of twins! Unfortunately, we did lose one, but the other 3 are doing well. All of the mommas have been protecting their babies from their predators, and we are about to get our largest calf crop ever!
Each morning The Farmer goes out to check cows, and he usually texts me to let me know we have a new baby added to the herd. We have a pretty good system:
He goes out on the 4-wheeler and looks for babies, while I keep Lucy (our dog) busy at the back door with the promise of a piece of bacon, so she won’t follow him.
If he finds a baby, The Farmer will text me the number of the momma, I make an ear tag for the calf that coincides with her number, he comes back, gets it, and tags the calf (usually). If he doesn’t get it tagged, he doesn’t get breakfast. (Haha…not true) However, I do tease him relentlessly, if he doesn’t get the job done.
We’ve been doing this for years…well not the texting part, we used to have to verbally communicate in the archaic days. But this year we discovered how efficient the texting method is…oops…sounds like a story…
This is exactly how I “remember” it!
Number Nine Nearly Has a ‘Nother
It was a warm morning in September when the first fall calf was born on Enloe Farm. “That’s a great looking calf,” remarked The Farmer after he finished tagging it. “And according to your very efficient, and well-drawn out chart, this should be our biggest calving season ever!”
“Yes, Darling Farmer, it looks like it’s going to be a very successful adventure,” the humble wife modestly noted.
The Farmer continued each morning to go out and check the cows, and each morning he would return with exciting news of a new birth on Enloe Farm, and each morning the conversation would be the same…The Farmer complementing his delightfully devout and explicitly efficient wife on her cleverly kept book keeping, and her quietly accepting each properly pointed praise with humility and grace.
However, one dreary, dismal day The Farmer returned with distressing news…one of the calves were missing! “I’ve looked everywhere for it!” exclaimed The Farmer.
“What number is it?” asked the courageously concerned wife.
“Number 9,” The Farmer answered, as he checked his list that was prepared for him by his wisdom filled wife.
The wife was used to calming The Farmer, so in her most endearing tone she quieted the fears of her husband by wisely suggesting that all would be well, and reassuring him that no harm had come to his most precious calf and he would be sure to find it on the morrow.
However, the next morning was spoiled again by the unsettling news of the missing calf. As The Farmer looked over his list, his heart began to sink at the thought of one of these valued, viable bovines being lost under his characteristically cautious care.
So again, the lovely wife soothed the fears of her husband with her wistful ways and calming comments.
The next morning, The Farmer was very diligent in his search for the missing calf. As he drove through the briars, and he drove through the brambles, and he drove through the bushes where a rabbit couldn’t go, but alas, no calf was to be found.
However, as The Farmer was away on his early morning excursion, the wife had an Ah! Ha! moment. Grabbing her trusty cell phone that always laid by her side, she quickly scrolled through the momentous messages The Farmer had sent to her at each new birth. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling… nope… no number 9…
However, we soon realized that the calf would never be found, because it had not been born, yet. Fortunately, Number 9 had her calf the very next day…so… I guess it was found, after all!
And they lived happily ever after…until the next crisis, of course. 🙂
We still have a few laggards waiting to calf, however, I’m hoping it will happen very soon, so I can keep my impeccably important book-work in audaciously accurate order.
If a line in the above article sounded familiar to you, you may remember Johnny Horton had the same problem as The Farmer! 🙂
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