Post by Rhonda on Feb 6, 2009 5:19:00 GMT -5
Ashley the Cow
This is the story of a dairy cow called Ashley, who started her life as a calf club calf, and ended it in retirement with the one calf out of 11 that she was allowed to keep.
Everyone thinks that cows don't remember their calves, and that they don't really mind that much when their babies are taken away from them at just a few days old, but I know different.
Every time Ashley had a calf as a dairy cow, she and the calf were taken to the cowshed and that's where the calf was taken from her and put in a pen with the other calves. It happened every year.
Out of the 11 calves that Ashley had, only two were kept to be in the herd when they grew up. They were both taken off her at about 2 days old. Ashley was a notable cow in the herd because she was a pet so when she started spending time in the paddock with the first of her previous calves (two years after her birth) my Uncle thought it was a little strange. When the second calf came into the herd another two years after that, you could go into the shed at milking time and see the three of them lined up, one after the other in the bails. Clearly Ashley remembered her calves.
Ashley was kept in the herd for much longer than most cows because I wouldn't let my Uncle sell her, but eventually she was too old to have any more calves, so at age 13 she came to live at our farm. To everyone's surprise Ashley got pregnant again, we were concerned because of her age but she successfully had a little calf called Emily.
Ashley had much more milk than this tiny calf could drink so we decided to take her to our retired cowshed to milk her to make her more comfortable. Ashley did not want to go to the shed. We pushed and shoved this very big Freisian cow and eventually got her in and milked her. When we put her back in the paddock we noticed that she just stood by the gate looking forlorn.
After about an hour of this I wondered whether she thought that we'd taken Emily away, Ashley couldn't see her because she was lying in the long grass. So I went into the paddock and lifted Emily up onto her feet so that Ashley could see her. I called to Ashley to have a look and this 13 year old cow, gave out this loud moo, and literally ran over to Emily and started sniffing and licking her. She obviously thought that since she went to the cowshed, her calf was gone, just like all the other calves she had had.
Ashley died the winter that Emily turned one, and Emily was with her the night that it was just too cold. Her last year was her best, she finally got to keep one of her babies and I know she died a happy cow.
Story by Gina Sturkenboom, Hamilton, New Zealand
Read more animal stories at www.smarterthanjack.com Each week the story with the most votes will be emailed to you as the Story of the Week, and the writer of this story will receive a gift from Smarter than Jack.
This is the story of a dairy cow called Ashley, who started her life as a calf club calf, and ended it in retirement with the one calf out of 11 that she was allowed to keep.
Everyone thinks that cows don't remember their calves, and that they don't really mind that much when their babies are taken away from them at just a few days old, but I know different.
Every time Ashley had a calf as a dairy cow, she and the calf were taken to the cowshed and that's where the calf was taken from her and put in a pen with the other calves. It happened every year.
Out of the 11 calves that Ashley had, only two were kept to be in the herd when they grew up. They were both taken off her at about 2 days old. Ashley was a notable cow in the herd because she was a pet so when she started spending time in the paddock with the first of her previous calves (two years after her birth) my Uncle thought it was a little strange. When the second calf came into the herd another two years after that, you could go into the shed at milking time and see the three of them lined up, one after the other in the bails. Clearly Ashley remembered her calves.
Ashley was kept in the herd for much longer than most cows because I wouldn't let my Uncle sell her, but eventually she was too old to have any more calves, so at age 13 she came to live at our farm. To everyone's surprise Ashley got pregnant again, we were concerned because of her age but she successfully had a little calf called Emily.
Ashley had much more milk than this tiny calf could drink so we decided to take her to our retired cowshed to milk her to make her more comfortable. Ashley did not want to go to the shed. We pushed and shoved this very big Freisian cow and eventually got her in and milked her. When we put her back in the paddock we noticed that she just stood by the gate looking forlorn.
After about an hour of this I wondered whether she thought that we'd taken Emily away, Ashley couldn't see her because she was lying in the long grass. So I went into the paddock and lifted Emily up onto her feet so that Ashley could see her. I called to Ashley to have a look and this 13 year old cow, gave out this loud moo, and literally ran over to Emily and started sniffing and licking her. She obviously thought that since she went to the cowshed, her calf was gone, just like all the other calves she had had.
Ashley died the winter that Emily turned one, and Emily was with her the night that it was just too cold. Her last year was her best, she finally got to keep one of her babies and I know she died a happy cow.
Story by Gina Sturkenboom, Hamilton, New Zealand
Read more animal stories at www.smarterthanjack.com Each week the story with the most votes will be emailed to you as the Story of the Week, and the writer of this story will receive a gift from Smarter than Jack.