We have a Holstein steer that came to live on Thompson Table Farm about mid-summer. He was eleven months old and well tempered, with a beautiful black-and-white hide. We had never raised a cow before and are excited for the prospect of homegrown beef. A wise and dear friend taught me years ago that if you’re going to raise an animal for food, edible names make it easier to let go. Mr. Bacon settled right in with our two Nigerian Dwarf goats, Mama and Max. We got lucky that Mr. Bacon doesn’t challenge fences and the three of them had been happily wandering around and trimming down the front pasture all summer and fall.
At the beginning of December, as we were loading our family into the truck to go cut down our Christmas tree, we spotted a light brown cow eating grass just outside our front fence. She had wandered over from a neighboring ranch. Mr. Bacon was meandering down the pasture to check things out and as he got closer, he began to jog. He got to the fence, smelled and nuzzled the new arrival, and stepped right over the wire like it was a suggestion. The two of them hit it off instantly.
Fortunately, Mr. Bacon follows alfalfa anywhere, so long as a vehicle isn’t involved. He followed his farmer up the driveway and his new friend trailed right along behind him. It took some serious convincing from their owners, but the two eventually made it through the gate and onto the pasture. Apparently, cows need friends, too, so we all arranged for Mr. Bacon to join his new friend and another steer on a neighbor’s plot for the next few months. Have you ever seen a wily cow wrangled down the road by half a dozen riders on horseback? It’s quite a sight and very effective. The three of them will work on trimming up the pasture and ours can get a break to regenerate before spring. Most of the time, we can see the three cows from our window; all of the fences are in tact; and, midday they can be found lounging around in the sun.
Farming is a never-ending series of lessons. This time, we learned that four-foot fences may keep well-behaved animals in, but when there’s a potential friend on the other side, you’d better add some reinforcements. Thankfully, we have awesome neighbors who added a line of barbed wire for us by the time we came back with our tree in tow. Also, next time, I think we’ll buy two cows.
