I've mentioned before that all of our breeding is done via artificial insemination. One of the biggest reasons we do that is this: 2 days ago, the younger sister of a college friend of mine was attacked by their Holstein bull. She's in high school (I believe). She raised the bull herself from a calf and treated it like a pet. It attacked her 5 times, broke her shoulder, ankle, and severely damaged her liver. She's lucky to be alive. If you are a prayerful person, please add the Brown family to your prayers.
My dad and I just had a conversation last week about trusting larger animals. He was saying how it makes him a little nervous watching the boys in with the cows. It makes me nervous too. I did not grow up on a farm. When I first started milking, I hated bringing in cows. I was afraid I'd get kicked or squashed. My boys have no fear, and that little bit of fear usually causes a person to err on the side of caution. Can you really trust an animal that big? Cows? Maybe. Bulls? No. There are cows I trust, and cows I don't. Some tend to be more skittish than others and working with them day in and day out, you learn which animals to watch out for. Cows in heat are even worse. They tend to be overly friendly, and I don't know about you, but I don't really want to snuggle with a 1500lb animal. Bulls are another story. I've never raised one, but I don't know a person who was gored by a bull and expected it. The story is always the same. "He's tame. I KNOW him. I trust him."
I hope and pray the Brown's story has a happy ending. No one deserves that. Bulls have a place on this earth, it just sure isn't on our farm.
1 comment:
We used bulls. I remember a few times when Dad would take a pitchfork into the freestall barn with him to push up the cows. There were also a few times when he would have to use the skid loader to move the bull - usually that was to move the bull onto the trailer to take him to the sale barn.
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