My Cranky Cow

Moo! Did you know that I have a very loud cow? Maybe it’s that all cows are loud, but I somehow don’t think so. This morning, after I finished milking her, we went off to do all of the other chores, knowing full well that she and the sheep were due a new big round bale of hay, but we left that for the last thing to do. She was NOT amused. She followed around the edge of her paddock, watching us, bellowing loudly in protest. BRING ME MY HAY! I’M STARVING!

Ms. Elly can be all calm and quiet, when she wants to be. You know, when everything is absolutely perfect and the world operates as she thinks it should. She’d like green grass, and plenty of it. Ok, fine, she’ll eat hay, as long as it’s a brand new bale and she doesn’t have to share it with anyone. Ok, fine, she’ll share if she has to, but she gets to be the boss and decide where to stand. She only lets the lambs push her around, NOT the sheep. She likes babies. I sometimes find the little orphan lambs sleeping on top of her, like they used to sleep on top of Gracie.

The whole time I’m milking Elly in the morning, she spends most of it bellowing. When I’m brushing her before I milk her, she’s bellowing. As soon as I let Danny out and he latches on, then she shuts up, finally. When we tie him up at night? Yup. She bellows for a good while, as if it never happened before. Three or four times during the night she’ll let out a bellow or two. Did you know her calf was tied up in the shed and can’t follow her?!

She also lets me know helpful things, like a lamb caught in a fence or when someone got out. There’s a different tenor to her voice, then, more insistent, less irritated. I’m getting pretty good at reading her, my cranky cow. She really is the sweetest, but don’t tell her that. She has a reputation to uphold.

It’s about time for me to wean Danny and I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it. I don’t want the people in the village (a mile away) to hate me when we do it, you know? I’m thinking that I may take her up to Orford to visit a bull and milk her with their other cows. Hopefully she won’t make such a noisy fuss of missing her baby with all the other cows around. Maybe?

3 thoughts on “My Cranky Cow”

  1. If this is her first calf, don’t count on being able to distract her just because you put her in a place with other cows around. She’ll make a fuss, no matter what. At least, that’s what I think. It’s funny to me that her nickname isn’t Bossy, since that what she acts like.

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