Post by Christine on Jul 15, 2006 17:56:24 GMT -5
As a cow "novice", I was under the impression that cows weren't big kickers. Sure, I heard countless tales of cows kicking over milk buckets, and occasionally kicking owners, but I always thought that cows only kicked forward, and gently at that.
Finding myself in Western Massachusetts after a date, I decided to stop by the farm where my bovine family is currently staying. Arriving at evening milking time, the farmer and his wife were working in the stifling heat to complete milking chores for the evening. For a short period, I spent the time scratching Magnus (Melissa’s bull calf), telling him what a handsome lad he was turning out to be. Very soon though, I felt awful about hanging around doing nothing while the farmer and his wife were laboring so strenuously. After a few minutes, I offered to shovel out the manure trough in the calf / non-milking cow area. The farmer told me what to do, so I started mucking out the stall areas around each cow. Working slowly, I was able to remove all of the wet poops, and sawdust without unduly alarming any moos. I’m pretty comfortable around cows, and don’t worry much about them as long as I’m minding where everyone’s feet are planted. (I’ve been stepped on way too often).
Things went smoothly until I reached underneath one of the Holstein cows that was tied up across from Magnus’s pen. Apparently, the shovel made a bit too much noise against the concrete floor, and the cow decided she didn’t like that one bit. In a microsecond, her rear hoof executed a perfect high kick that would have scored gold medal points in the summer Olympic games. Starting on the floor, the hoof accelerated forward and up towards the ceiling. When the hoof reached the maximum point of extension, the cow kicked back and out to the side, inscribing a perfect circle towards the back of the pen. I had never seen a cow that could kick almost four feet sideways. Had I been standing next to this cow, she would have knocked my feet out from under me, and I would have ended up face first in a pile of fresh, squishy manure. Who knows what kind of damage this would have done to my shins. This wasn’t the kind of movement associated with swatting a biting fly. This was GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip! Who knew that cows practiced Karate?
Anyway, when I told the farmer’s wife (in reality, the co-farmer – she worked even harder than her husband), she laughed, and told me that cows were a heck of a lot more agile than they appeared, and that I needed to stay on my toes while working around such big animals. I always knew to be extremely wary walking around the rear ends of horses, but never made similar considerations when walking around cows. Needless to say, this demonstration changed that habit pronto.
BTW, Mel, Gwen and Magnus are doing just fine, thank you.
Moo!
Kip
Finding myself in Western Massachusetts after a date, I decided to stop by the farm where my bovine family is currently staying. Arriving at evening milking time, the farmer and his wife were working in the stifling heat to complete milking chores for the evening. For a short period, I spent the time scratching Magnus (Melissa’s bull calf), telling him what a handsome lad he was turning out to be. Very soon though, I felt awful about hanging around doing nothing while the farmer and his wife were laboring so strenuously. After a few minutes, I offered to shovel out the manure trough in the calf / non-milking cow area. The farmer told me what to do, so I started mucking out the stall areas around each cow. Working slowly, I was able to remove all of the wet poops, and sawdust without unduly alarming any moos. I’m pretty comfortable around cows, and don’t worry much about them as long as I’m minding where everyone’s feet are planted. (I’ve been stepped on way too often).
Things went smoothly until I reached underneath one of the Holstein cows that was tied up across from Magnus’s pen. Apparently, the shovel made a bit too much noise against the concrete floor, and the cow decided she didn’t like that one bit. In a microsecond, her rear hoof executed a perfect high kick that would have scored gold medal points in the summer Olympic games. Starting on the floor, the hoof accelerated forward and up towards the ceiling. When the hoof reached the maximum point of extension, the cow kicked back and out to the side, inscribing a perfect circle towards the back of the pen. I had never seen a cow that could kick almost four feet sideways. Had I been standing next to this cow, she would have knocked my feet out from under me, and I would have ended up face first in a pile of fresh, squishy manure. Who knows what kind of damage this would have done to my shins. This wasn’t the kind of movement associated with swatting a biting fly. This was GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip! Who knew that cows practiced Karate?
Anyway, when I told the farmer’s wife (in reality, the co-farmer – she worked even harder than her husband), she laughed, and told me that cows were a heck of a lot more agile than they appeared, and that I needed to stay on my toes while working around such big animals. I always knew to be extremely wary walking around the rear ends of horses, but never made similar considerations when walking around cows. Needless to say, this demonstration changed that habit pronto.
BTW, Mel, Gwen and Magnus are doing just fine, thank you.
Moo!
Kip