Proverbs 27:23
I have heard recently by more than one person "I don't know why anyone would have cattle." I understand, of course, that raising cattle is not for everyone, and that everyone has not been raised around it like yours truly. I know those not in the cattle raising life see the late nights and early mornings, fence fixing, losing calves and cows, having to get home to feed or check cows, spending money on this or that for the cattle, etc. The words of these people resonated with me, though, because I could go on for days naming the good things that have come out of my life raising cattle. Let me introduce ya'll to one of the many.
This is Mel. I call him my Halloween miracle baby. He was born on October 28th very weak. We fed him colostrum and a bottle, and things were looking up. Then, the day before Halloween, I took my boyfriend out to see our new baby calf. He was laying flat on the ground and was so still that we thought he was dead. I have never been so happy to see an ear twitch. I called my parents, and we ended up having to get milk down him with a tube because he was too weak to even nurse a bottle. After that and a shot of Nuflor antibiotic, it was still looking grim. The next morning, a text came from my dad. I almost couldn't look, knowing that it was telling me the calf didn't make it. It was instead a picture of Mel standing up, waiting for his bottle. Later that week, I snapped this picture. It is not zoomed in. The little guy ran right up to me in the field. We are still bottle feeding him, but he is nursing his mother as well. We have to run and bail into the truck after feeding him so he won't chase the truck when we leave. Mel made a complete 180 transformation within a week.
Like I said, stories like this are one of many reasons why I love raising cattle. Not to mention that my family has worked together through this whole thing to help this little guy along, which is another big reason I love the cattle raising life. I know that it is in my blood, and that's not necessarily true for everyone. Am I a vegetarian? No. Have there been calves that we couldn't save? Absolutely. Sometimes those outweigh the cases like little Mel here. Will we keep him until he's a studly grown bull? Probably not. But, when he comes bounding up to me with his tongue sticking out and then runs off to follow his mother, I get what most call a "warm fuzzy feeling." Some things just make the time, the money, the worry, and the frustration all worth it. Not everyone may understand why anyone would have cattle, but I sure have my reasons for doing it. And, most importantly, I have my reasons for loving it.
Like I said, stories like this are one of many reasons why I love raising cattle. Not to mention that my family has worked together through this whole thing to help this little guy along, which is another big reason I love the cattle raising life. I know that it is in my blood, and that's not necessarily true for everyone. Am I a vegetarian? No. Have there been calves that we couldn't save? Absolutely. Sometimes those outweigh the cases like little Mel here. Will we keep him until he's a studly grown bull? Probably not. But, when he comes bounding up to me with his tongue sticking out and then runs off to follow his mother, I get what most call a "warm fuzzy feeling." Some things just make the time, the money, the worry, and the frustration all worth it. Not everyone may understand why anyone would have cattle, but I sure have my reasons for doing it. And, most importantly, I have my reasons for loving it.