The Simple Life

A little glimpse of daily farm life....

***

I pull into Farm Buddy's driveway, I'm on my way to work and am there to drop off Tanner so he is not home alone while I am gone.  I am actually on time, I am wearing clean cloths, white sneakers and I am on my way to the hospital to bring home the paycheck that keeps everything afloat.  Barely.

Kelsey is in the drive, belly wet and panting, but I don't see Farm Buddy.  That's a bad sign.  I finally catch a glimpse of her through a small gap between an old shed and the house.  Everything looks ok except....what the heck is she doing back there, out in the middle of a very wet, very muddy cow pasture, standing under an old apple tree?  The guilty thought goes through my mind, I could just wave and go on my way.  I dont actually see a problem and I am wearing clean clothes and white shoes after all.

I don't do it of course, all the signs are there. "Hello?"

A head pops up and a relieved shout, "can you help me for just a second?"

Sigh.  "Is the fence on?"

"No"

I climb over and begin the treacherous trek across the very wet, very muddy pasture, recently occupied by a good number of young heifers just turned out onto the very lush spring grass.  The resulting copious, nearly liquid land mines are difficult to avoid.  So much for dry feet and white shoes.

As I approach, I see Farm Buddy working on a heifer who, at first glance, appears to be tied to the apple tree.  Not so.  This heifer, one of a group of recently arrived, rather scrawny and scraggly young dairy cows belonging to a neighboring farm and boarding with Farm Buddy for the summer, has stuck her head in a crack in the tree and gotten it wedged in there like a vice.  Her stubby, three inch, adolescent horns anchored firmly in the soft interior of the tree.  Farm Buddy has got a halter on the heifer and is trying with all her might to pull the cow's head free, succeeding only in wedging the horns deeper.

I eye the dirty, scruffy beast, the churned muck beneath her, the futile yanking, swearing and tugging and I give up on the silly idea of arriving at work on time with clean clothes.