A Sad Goodbye

It was a sad day on the farm today (at least for me); we loaded up Blacky, Socks, Betty (formally known as "The-One-Who-Is-Not-Blacky-Or-Socks") and- gasp!- Ferdinand.  We had planned to sell the heifers in the the next few weeks but I not planned on selling Ferdi. Ever. A friend of ours called and said that he was taking a few of his calves up to the sale barn in Cascade today and Art asked if we could include ours and save a trip.  So Josh came over and we loaded them up.  It took some time to herd them into the trailer (Ferdi being the most stubborn) and I was not helpful but instead called passive-aggressive comments like, "This was not my idea, Ferdi", and "If I had it my way you'd stay Ferdi".

I realize that Ferdi should not be a pet. He is a cow. He can be extremely ornery and a bully when it comes to sharing feed with the other cows.  But Ferdi is so damn sweet and just wants you to rub his neck while he tries to lick your face.  But as Art said, we have a dog and I'm not the one that feeds him (to which he received a withering glare from me).  It's just that I would much rather have taken him to the butcher and enjoyed him myself than sell him off to a stranger.  Besides, he's a lanky dairy cow, not a fat beef cow so it's not like we're going to get a whole lot of money for him.  Art has six- SIX- more calves coming from the same diary farmer the others came from and he wanted to make room for them.  Yes, it will be easier for Art who does the feeding not to have to separate Ferdi from the others so that he doesn't steal all of their food, but we could have waited a couple of more months and then put him in the freezer.  I know that sounds heartless, but it wouldn't have bothered me to put Ferdi on the grill- it would have been a sad day, yes, but at least I knew he had a very comfortable life right up to the very end. I just don't like the idea of him being sold to a slaughterhouse, that's all.  This is why you shouldn't love your cows too much.