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A great time of year"Shh! Look over there in the corner of the barn. My cow Penny just had her calf. Oh it's so beautiful all shiny and struggling to get up." That was an introduction to a speech I did many years ago in 4-H about tagging new calves. At the beginning of spring each year, I remember that speech because of all the new calves running around the pastures. Growing up and living on a cattle farm makes spring one of the most exciting times of the year. I love to see the new crop of calves hit the ground. Having that background has allowed my children to have the opportunity to share in those experiences. About a year ago we moved back to Iowa after living on a cattle farm in Indiana for three years, calving out nearly 1,000 cows each year. Let me tell you, you see everything when you have that many cows around. Calves come out frontwards, backwards, nose first, leg back, butt first, one at a time, two at a time and out the side. I could tell you all kinds of stories. Our kids are 18 months and six years old. Even though the youngest isn't old enough to understand a lot of things, I'm sure he will have his own questions in time. Meanwhile, however, our oldest has learned about life, death, calf clothes, seeds and more. When you have a young child that asks lots of questions, sometimes you have to be very creative in your answers. Kassidy, the six-year-old, has always enjoyed watching and helping with the cattle. About three years ago she watched us pull a calf for the first time. Everything went well and the cow and calf were fine. As we were cleaning up, our sweet little girl caught us off guard and asked, "How'd that calf get in that cow's butt?" My husband and I looked at each other, baffled, we laughed and each proceeded to call our parents for an answer for our child. What do you tell a 3 1/2-year-old? Our parents, who also raise cattle, were quite amused by their granddaughter's question and didn't know what kind of answer for us to give her. That answer was put off for a while until later that spring when she learned what artificial insemination was. A whole new set of questions start when you put your arm in a cow's rear end. So, that then became the way that the calf gets in the cow's tummy. The next calving-time question she asked was, "Why does the cow lick the wet stuff off of the calf?" This is where the term "calf clothes" came into the picture. You see, calf clothes are what protects the calf when it is in the cow's tummy and when the calf comes out the cow cleans that off by licking them. She was convinced and I am convinced that is a much better term than "afterbirth" or "placenta." Of course, when it came time for her little brother to be born she wondered when I would be going to the vet clinic to have him and if I would be licking off his calf clothes. I guess kids will be kids and they do say the darnedest things. As time went on in the calving season, more questions arose as well. "How can a black cow have a red calf?" and "How can you tell the difference between a boy calf and a girl calf?" Later in the summer we had to explain the castration process. That was another interesting conversation. "Dad, what are you doing?" So then the answer was, "Making him a steer." She dealt with that okay, but the next question was, "What are those?" The term we used was "seeds," so all she knows is that we take out their seeds and that the dogs like to eat them. Yes, gross, but she'll figure out the rest soon enough. Our daughter has had many lessons in farm science: anatomy, physiology, reproduction, life cycles, nutrition and agronomy. I'm sure she knows more than most six-year-olds do about that kind of thing. I'm also sure that the time will come when she'll teach her little brother about why baby calves come out of the cow's butt, why they wear calf clothes, what seeds are, why black cows can have red calves and how to tell the difference between a bull and a heifer. I'm sure that there will be a lot more questions in the future that will be a lot harder to answer. Isn't that what parenting is all about? But I'm glad they will be growing up on a farm where they can learn first hand the kinds of important life lessons a farm can teach. Jennifer Bremer can be reached by phone at 641-938-2342 or by e-mail at jbremermaj@hotmail.com. B 4 4/2/07 6 Star Midwest Ag Date: 3/28/07
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