Sometimes I get so engrossed in the farm that I forget that not everyone speaks "farm". I got a cute reminder the other day...
So I December 29th, 2012, our calf barn came crashing down in the heavy snowfall. One of the many times this winter the weatherman predicted 2 inches and we got 12. Luckily we didn't loose any animals and with the help of the fire department we were able to get everyone out. Stressed out that morning beyond belief and low and behold if one of our guernsey/red angus mix cows didn't calve. My father-in-law, who does not do stress, offered to bring her back to the dairy farm to be milked while me and Brian dealt with moving animals. I called our milker, Adam, on the phone and let him know that Gerry would put her out with the switch cows but it would be no big deal because he could find her so easy because she was all red. I instructed him to collect her colostrum and I would be by after milking to pick it up for her calf.
Later I picked up the colostrum and went upon my way not thinking twice. The following day I milked with Adam at night. He said to me, "You know that was harder than you said finding the red cow."
"What, she is the only red cow in the barn right now. You can't miss her." I replied.
He looked at me and said, "I had to look under every cow's tail, but I really didn't think she was that red."
I smirked, "you did what?" "Adam, her color is red...her fur."
He looked puzzled, "Um, no she is brown." So I proceeded to show him that this is the cow world is red, took him to a gray brown swiss to show him that in the cow world, this was brown.
I laughed through the whole milking thinking of poor Adam lifting all 30 switch cows tails to look for one that was red. It was a good reminder to me that not everyone speaks "farm" and unfortunately the internet is full of groups trying to speak negative about agriculture. So I will continue on this journey to speak up for agriculture and how I care for my animals everyday. I want to be able to show people that...farminz FUN!
