Farm kids learn early not to make pets of livestock. There’s no way those friendships won’t end badly. Knowing this, kids still sometimes get attached. My younger sisters Connie and Marilyn bottle-fed an orphan calf until it was old enough to be put out to pasture with the rest of the cows. Long after he ran with the big boys, he’d hang around the fence waiting for them to walk by. They’d made they habit of letting him jump up and “hug” them, a habit they discouraged when he approached a hundred pounds. WatchIng hopefully for the schoolbus, he’d lope up as it pulled in the drive. Male calves don’t need to make long range plans. Connie and Marilyn had remained friendly with this calf so long, Mother dreaded seeing their reaction when they came home and found him gone. When Connie came in looking for him, Mother couldn’t avoid the truth.
“Connie, you know we were raising that calf to eat. We can’t afford to keep cows for pets.” She was braced for waterworks.
“Where is he?”
“We had him butchered. He’s in the freezer.”
“You mean y’all are gonna eat him!”
“Yes.”
“Can I have some?”
Your cows sound as though they had a great life until the finale. I have no problem with animals that have at least had a chance to live, eat and flourish.. here on the continent they like to eat their food young.. not something I can get into.
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Ours had a good life, up to the last.
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Reality check for sure…it happens to those so young who grow up in a farming community. I had nightmares when I saw headless chickens running about for the first time. I still ate poultry, even later that same day. Great story ! Van
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Thanks. Farm kids are realists, aren’t they.
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They are, for sure ! ☺
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Now that a good farm kid. Nothing goes to waste!
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A true realist. On the farm, there was always another “Friend.”
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I love your blog and I have nominated you for the Liebster Award. Check out my blog post here: https://honeybeeandme.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/the-liebster-award/ to see what it’s all about. 🙂 x
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Thanks so much for nomination. For some reason this went to spam.
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You’re welcome! 🙂 x
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How funny!!
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Thanks
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My 14, 11, and 10 yr old grandsons enjoyed it as much as It did!
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Oh, that’s great. There’s another they might like. I’ll go back and find name.
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If they haven’t read this one, I’ll bet they’ll like it.
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Have you read this sweet little story about my brother?
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Yes. What a funny story.
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I think that is so funny! Connie knows which way her bread is buttered (or her steak is cooked)!!
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My children hand reared Wally the lamb, when Wally’s mum rejected him. He lived with my in-laws, who we visited nearly daily. Wally loved my children so much, that when we drove away he would run after the car – even when my in-laws chained him to a tire to prevent this behaviour. I often looked in my rear view mirror to see Wally dragging his tire, while the tire bounced all over the road.
One day, we were visiting the in-laws and lamb chops were on the menu. I didn’t think anything of it, until my mother-in-law bragged at how tasty Wally had turned out. I lost my appetite, as did my children (my husband kept eating, but he has more of a farm boy attitude). Poor Wally!
For the next six months, whenever lamb was on the menu at my in-laws, me and kids ate vegetarian.
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Poor kids, and Wally,
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And poor Lynne. I loved Wally. He was a ram in a million. He thought he was a poodle dog. I plan to write a children’s story about him, without the mint sauce ending.
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But lamb is so good with mint! Sorry.
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Sometimes, you are evil. This is why we get on so well.
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Whew! I was afraid you would drop me!
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And you are so right!
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I am about to invite you for the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge. The post will be up tomorrow. Feel free to accept or decline. I thought it is something slightly different and you might enjoy it. You can read my first post for it here: https://authorsbmazing.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/five-photos-five-stories-day-one-golden-sky/
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Thanks. I’ll check it out.
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Cool
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I’ve got a great idea.
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I can’t wait to read your story 🙂
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Serial starting tomorrow using vintage pictures.
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That sounds great 🙂
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This is like the rabbits my father raised one summer. Gone, but I had no idea he / she was dinner until I asked what the delicious meat was we were having for supper. I disowned my parents from that moment on. I helped skin those rabbits but not THAT one. 😦
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That is kind of rough, isn’t it?
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Sigh. It w.a.s. tough, ❤ but that's all in the past.
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What I love about a lot of your stories, is that you bring out things that bring out strong reaction and force a person to think. Rough-and-tough realists and sensitive folks are invited to add depth to their thinking.
I’m so grateful you’re sharing this stuff!
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Thanks
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You’re welcome.
You’re a real “gusher”. 🙂
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She wasn’t so attached after all. 😉
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Realist!
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If I understand well, so I think Connie’s reaction was a little different than I thought it would be …
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Mother was so relieved. She was expecting rivers of tears.
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Marvellous!
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I think exactly the same way now I did as a kid. I just have a better vocabulary and am not quite as likely to get smacked.
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Haha, that’s cool! A real farmer’s kid….
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See, just can’t be a vegetarian when there is hamburger meat.
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And all these cows just throwing themselves on the grill for us!
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That’s right! Or, that’s the way I like to pretend.
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Never met a cow I didn’t like.
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They are lovely creatures. It is just too bad they’re so damn tasty and provide such efficient protein.
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Our cows always had a great life up until their big finale. They lived on a beautiful farm with all their friends and family, plenty of good, good food, lovely pond, good care. They didn’t have to anything but eat, reproduce, and graze. The heifers really had it good. The didn’t even have to tear down fences. The steers had short, sweet lives, but did get plenty to eat, and time to stand around and brag about their surgery. Not so band when you think about it. Don’t think they worried a lot about the future.
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Yeah, on smaller ranches and farms, you can tell the difference between the corporate factory farms. Honestly, you can taste the quality of life in the meat too. That is why Kobe beef is so popular.
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Our cows had a good life. They’d come running up when they saw the hay wagon. They loved being petted. I loved those cows. They were big, warm, and smelled so cowwy.
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Cowwy smell is nice. Cowwy poop…not so much.
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I do believe it is superior to chicken poop. I’ve sampled both on my shoes.
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Ha! Yuck!!!
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Have you read this sweet little story about my brother?
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Have now! Loved it!
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Oh good. Did you grow up on a farm?
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