Last weekend, I went home for a super quick visit because it was my High School’s Homecoming.  It was so much fun to go back home and see everyone all at once, to get to experience our first annual Homecoming Parade, and to reminisce about my high school cheerleading days.  Just being at the football game brought back so many memories….which I will blog about later.  But what this blog is about…is something we do a couple times a year at my house.

If you haven’t read my blogs before, my Dad is a farmer, and we basically have a herd of cattle in my backyard.  I love looking out the window in our kitchen, and being able to see the calves out in the pasture…but there are a few times every year when it isn’t so pleasant to have cattle…and that is when you have to wean calves.  Weaning calves is basically when you separate the baby calves from their moms, and it is a rather unpleasant process….for several reasons.

#1 – A couple of years ago, we built a new barn….and the one thing that my Dad did not consider with the whole building a barn process was weaning calves.  As you can see in the photo, there is an opening on the barn, and that opening faces our house.  Thus, the noise from the barn travels very easily to our house.  Not good.

Our barn...

#2 – There are a TON of calves in our barn when we wean them…like a TON.  I think my Dad said we had about 25 calves in there, and when they get to bawling, everyone chimes in….and it gets REALLY loud.

All of the calves being weaned....

They all got really excited when I came up to visit.....and they all crammed into one small area.

#3 – I guess this isn’t an unpleasant part of weaning calves….but they are so sweet and cute!  Usually, calves won’t come up to you unless they are fearless (most cows aren’t), or if they are like your pets (like my old show cattle).  But for some reason, so many of the calves came up and licked my hand….so sweet.

This one was my favorite....I love its white face!!!!

And then some of them posed for me...

Being at home, with all of the bawling calves made me so glad that humans don’t handle separation with their parents the way that cattle do.  Just imagine…for the first two weeks or so of the school year…if all you ever heard was wailing coming from Ross and Schwitzer….it would get old pretty fast.  So thank you, freshman class, for being so grown up and handling being away from your families better than our cattle at home do.  I appreciate it more than you know.