Bethers wrote:Farm kids were way ahead of most of us regarding sex. They were birthing something or other all the time. No one had to tell them where babies came from. Us city kids mostly had no clue. Thus the questions parents dreaded lol
Too true, Beth!
All of this talk about calving brought to mind an incident that happened many years ago on my old place up in the Sierra foothills. We kept two or three cows, and had not had success with A.I., so when I found a young bull calf for sale at a cheap price from an acquaintance I snapped him up.
The owner, being truthful, told me that he had had this calf for quite a while, and he was concerned because it seemed to him that the calf had never done much growing. For this reason, he didn't want to sell the calf to me, but I perservered. I wasn't trying to start a herd, I just wanted to get my cows with calf.
I figured this young bull could get the job done, and then I would just. . . well, never mind on that part.
Anyway, this guy never did get very tall (he was unusually short-legged, was a black whiteface), but he did bulk out quite a bit as time went on - and he did "get the job done", even with my (much taller) cows.
One day some teenage city friends came to visit (we were good friends with their parents) with their girlfriends, and I gave them a tour of the "ranch". When we were looking at the cows, one of the boys, closely holding hands with his girlfriend (they had been sneaking smooches) noticed my little bull, and how he was, um, "different" from my steer, and pointed to the bull's back end and asked "what is
that?" As I said, this bull was very short-legged, so his "equipment" (we also had a young steer at the time that was missing this part, which is why the kid noticed the difference) was hanging down almost to his hocks (it was a hot day).
I looked at the guy, and his girlfriend, and didn't really know what to say! So, trying not to embarrass him or laugh (and actually able to keep a straight face for once) I said, "Well. . . hrm. What do you think it is?"
He thought.
I could see the light turn on, as a look of amazement spread across his face, his jaw dropping open. That little bull might have had short legs, but that part of his anatomy was definitely full-size.
I turned away, hiding a smile.
Anne