To begin at the beginning........
We do not live on a farm. We live on a street in a rural area with a fairly good size flat yard that backs up to a cornfield ( that is not ours) and the street is a dead end with a large grassy field and then there is a river, but WE do not live on a farm. This small detail however did not stop #3 child from bringing home a 2 week old calf.
"Oh, it's only until it's weaned off the bottle" #3 said. And I naively believed him.
This cow (Opie) quickly became our big yard dog.
Opie was being raised through the dairy steer project from the 4-H and through the FFA chapter #3 was going to show him at the local county fair and then the Mountain State Fair and then according to the contract, he would be sold in lots with the other dairy steer cows at the conclusion of the Mtn. State Fair. We were warned, "This is a terminal project!"
But how do you bottle feed, keep warm, clean and train to show an animal and not get attached?
Half the neighborhood enjoyed seeing this cow and watching it grow. (side note: there are dairy farms and fields of cows all around us, it's not like a cow is a new and novel thing)
Opie did very well at his "showings" and at the Mtn. State Fair, #3 won Reserve Champion with him.
Showmanship Practice
County Fair
Before a bath and grooming for the show.
Reserve Champion.
Opie was sold in a lot with about 8 other cows and my son was seemingly okay with it all. But at the end of the day when he found out that a friend of his, a farmer with connections to the school's FFA privately sought out the buyer of the specific lot that Opie was in and bought the animal from that man, I think he was very happy. Opie then went to that gentleman's farm where he lived happily grazing in a field for several more months.
I have learned about cows and it was a cool experience, one that I am happy to leave to others well qualified with the sufficient means and ways to do it.
