Interrupting Cow!

After visiting the goats yesterday, we headed over to the dairy farm. I get my cow’s milk from a Mennonite family in Catlett. We roll up; pass the pond, corn, ducks, and guinea hens. Pull up to two small sheds, one has furniture for sale and the other farm fresh dairy products. There is yogurt, cream, butter, lard, eggs, pork, rabbit, chicken, and granola as well as milk.

Behind these sheds is a long canopied area that houses two rows of young cows. We watched the baby cows, slowly and quietly getting closer. My girlfriend Cat reached out and let a nearby cow give her a sniff and a lick. Most of the cows were quite and friendly, hoping we had food. One cow tried to eat the shirt off my back.

Cow’s tongues are abrasive and strong, they are prehensile. They could grab my finger and hold on tight. Cows and goats use their tongues to grab foliage and pull it into their mouth. A feline tongue feels like it has tiny buckets on the surface. A cow tongue feels like razor blades.

It was very sweet how curious some of the cows were. They had very big eyes and noses. Their head would come up to my elbow at most. I think they recently received some new cows as they were four skinny brown cows with ear tags. They did not look like the other black and white cows. The brown cows seemed timid, malnourished and one looked as if it had hurt it leg.

While we were hanging out with the cows we were visited by a tiny kitty. The kitten was grey and cream, very familiar looking. It was one of the kittens from Kate’s cat; she had dropped four off on the farm. The kitten came right up to us and showed his belly and curled up by a bale of hay. He was so soft to pet, as were the cows. There were some flies but not a strong smell. I look forward to checking in on all the animals next week. One of these days I will milk one of those cows. I need to spend a day working that farm.