Monday, October 29th/2007

-The beef calves left today. It's always a sad time. Last night I gave them an extra bucket of apples and watched them butting heads and playing for the last time; I'm happy they're oblivious. I watched them from the back of the farm and thought about the first day they came: they'd never been outside before and they went wild in the pasture. Now it was their last night. I like to think that Annie and I gave them a pretty good life outside in the sun with a warm place to sleep. We always brought them wild apples and they had second cut hay along with their corn and feed. They were better off than in a barn or feed lot anyway. Whenever it is time to do the cows or chickens it always makes me think of the impact I have on other living things. Let's say I live to 80 years old. I eat one cow every four years, that's 20 cows that have to die for me. The calves leaving is always a catalyst that causes me to think that at one point I'll have my last night on the farm too.