Having a Cow

Growing up on a farm is definitely hard, and it takes a lot out of anyone, especially a child. But there are some good parts about it, too. One of the coolest things about living on a dairy farm is that there are cows everywhere! Plus, new calves are born regularly. 

As dairy farmers, we would keep only the female calves and would send all the bulls to the Marlette stockyard, where they would be sold. We would also send females to the stockyard if they were no longer producing enough milk. Running a dairy farm is all about having milk, so we couldn’t keep those that didn’t produce, even if we liked them.

Speaking of liking cows, we would give every new calf a name from a baby book. It was fun to come up with names and mark them down in our records. Eventually, all of us kids had a cow named after us, too! It was incredibly cool to share a name with a cow. Since Fred was obviously a boy, and we got rid of all the male calves, the cow with his name was actually Frederica. 

There was this huge chart where we would keep track of the cows that were fertilized to monitor when they should have their babies. A veterinarian would come out to the farm on a regular basis to help keep track of the cows and make sure there weren’t any complications. He could also let us know if a cow was going to have twins. Usually, if a cow had twins, both calves were sent to the stockyard to be auctioned off, no matter what their sexes were. Generally, a calf that was born as a twin didn’t produce enough milk to keep. 

However, we did get to keep some of the twins. Tracy and I loved when we got to keep twins! One particular set was born early, and they were so tiny that they both fit in a wheelbarrow together. We kept them around because they were both females and because they were so tiny we wanted to nurture them to see if they would be good milk producers when they got older. They actually turned into some of our best cows, but when they were babies they were just super cute! They were so tiny they could slip right under the gates that kept in the others, so we created a straw pen that prevented them from escaping. I remember spending a lot of time hanging out with those little girls because, for a while, it was touch-and-go as to whether or not they would survive. 

It was always amazing to see new life when a calf was born. I’m sure it would gross out some people, but it was always awesome to experience a birth and to be there to help deliver a calf if the mom was having trouble. We would put chains around the ankles of the calf while it was still inside the mom, and then we would pull. If the mom was standing up, we would have to be extra careful and have someone to help make sure the calf didn’t fall to the ground and get hurt when it came out. There were also times when a calf would start to come earlier than we had planned and we wouldn't have time to get the chains. We would just have to hold onto the legs and pull. That mostly happened when one of us kids saw a cow going into labor and wanted to be the first one to see the new baby and bring it into the world without the adults knowing. Some calves were born with a lot of goop in their mouths and noses, so we would have to pull all of that out. Sometimes, we even had to do a sort of mouth-to-mouth with a calf. But the minute the little baby mooed, we knew it was going to be OK. The miracle of a baby being born is just magical,

and it made all the issues of farm life seem insignificant for that brief moment. 

I Got Myself a Dad

Have you ever wondered how your life would have turned out if you had a different kind of childhood? If not, then you're most likely one of the lucky ones who had a good childhood - or at least a decent childhood. 

I believe it's important for children to have chores and learn responsibilities, but I don't think they should have so many duties that they can't enjoy just being a kid. Childhood is a time for fun, a time to be carefree. Or at least, that's what childhood should be. Children should be able to experience life and just have fun while learning basic skills and developing into caring, sympathetic adults. 

As a young child I thought I had that life. The first few years of my life seemed carefree, fun and much like those of any other child. I lived "up north," as they like to say in Michigan, on a tiny body of water called Dodge Lake. I lived with my mom, brother (Fred) and twin sister (Tracy). We didn't live right on the lake but rather across the street from it, about a quarter mile from my grandparents' place, which was right on the lake. I remember making that quarter-mile trek many times as a kid and even after we moved downstate walking around the lake. That was always one of my favorite things to do. Walking has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember - and it's one thing I still love to do.

Sometime when I was between the ages of 3 and 4, my mom started dating this man, Loren, whom I was nervous around at first but soon grew to like quite a bit. It wasn't until I was older that I realized my mom had met this man through a classified ad in the newspaper. That seems like a strange way to meet a man with whom you plan to spend the rest of your life, but I suppose it's really no different than online dating today. I never asked my mom how long they dated or when we actually met him for the first time because that never seemed like important information for a kid to know. Looking back on things, I wonder how long it actually took them to develop their relationship. 

I do know that this man was at Tracy's and my 4th birthday party because he brought the cake and I know that was a big deal. It was a Bert and Ernie cake. I think that was when he officially won me over. Even as a young child I had known I was missing out on something, but I wasn't sure what it was until this man came into our lives. Once we celebrated our birthday, I knew I didn't want him to leave. He made me feel safe, like he could always be my protector. 

Later that year, I got my wish. My mom married this man and I got myself a "dad." They were married on October 18, 1987. I don’t remember exactly when, but sometime around that same time, our family moved about two hours south to live in a single wide trailer on the land where my new “dad” and his family lived and operated a dairy farm. The farm was called Sky Light Farms, Ltd., and seemed MASSIVE to me.  

I thought it was pretty cool to be living on an actual farm, somewhere with so many cows! Up until that point I couldn’t even remember seeing a cow up close. Granted, it was also kind of scary because cows are ENORMOUS (or at least they seemed that way to me at the time). However, the "coolness" of living on a farm was pretty short-lived. Not long after moving there we were forced to start working and putting in our time helping do all the chores associated with running a successful dairy farm. 

The downturn of our happy, carefree childhood had officially begun...