The Cows

We didn't butcher our own cows because figuring out what to do with 500 pounds of beef is a little daunting.  When we were able to afford a freezer, Daddy bought one from Greenwood Supply.  It was a chest type Hotpoint and lasted for many years.  With a freezer, we could do lots of things that we couldn't earlier.  Mamma froze green beans, (Yuck!) Field Peas (OK), Corn (very good) and the beef and pork (Yum!)

Daddy always kept about 50 brood cows and at least one bull.  He liked the Hereford breed, but also had some Shorthorns and Red Devons.  There were a couple of Brown Swiss to help improve the milk production in the herd and we usually kept one Jersey or Gurnsey for milking.  With 50 cows, you could expect 35 or 40 calves per year and all of the wonderful work that went along with them.  The bulls had to be made into "not bulls" and all of them needed Blackleg vaccinations.  Sometimes we removed the horns from the calves, but that was a pretty ugly thing and it didn't last long.  

Some of the cows in those days had names.  They wore names like Queen Anne, Princess Elizabeth, Cherry, "The Droopy Horned Cow", and a bunch of others that I don't remember now.  I especially remember Cherry, because if you weren't careful, she would attempt to stomp a mudhole in you.  She chased me once and I had to learn the lesson of not running from cows.  While Daddy was alive we didn't have a mean bull.

The other thing that I remember about cows was getting the hay bales up and put in the barn and then during the winter taking them out at the rate of 20 or so per day to feed the cows. The hay would be placed on the 4 wheel wagon or on the back of a truck and doled out one block at a time.  Sometimes we just carried the bales to the field and spread them around.  We still feed cows, but we have the large 800 pound bales now and we unroll them with the tractor.

By the way, as of today, Ma and I have been married for 41 wonderful years!!