What is the deal?
Why are we all of a sudden nuts about cows? Don’t get me wrong, I see those adorable faces, shaggy coats, and I’m doing the math figuring how I’m buying a 10 acre farm. With all that cuteness, my Instagram feed is flooded with adorable farm animals. Seriously, how long have we called baby donkeys, bonkeys? Did this just start or did the pandemic make homesteaders out of all the influencers? I’m not sad, I’m a lover of animals, particularly dogs, but my dream is to rescue all the unwanted horses I can.
It’s a dream and that’s all, I have been on the back of a horse a handful of times, 40 years ago, it wasn’t pretty. But oh do I love those soulful eyes, and it breaks my heart to see how humans treat animals. We don’t deserve them, but we sure do need them. I don’t know what I would do without my two house cows, they are my constant companions, guardians, comedians, and slobbery cuddle bugs.
My Dogs
Every evening when I sit down on the couch, Odin is waiting to lay his head on my lap. His head weighs a lot, but his ears are so incredibly soft. Every Great Dane owner will tell you these guys are equal parts soulmate and crazies.
They’ll destroy your hardwood floors without even trying. They knock your grandkids down, leave slobber drying on the walls, and run from a fast moving leaf. No matter where you bring them, they steal the show, everyone loves these big goof balls.
Winnie
We have to be really carefully with toys around Winston, AKA Winnie. He can’t seem to understand that toys are to be chewed, even destroyed, but never swallowed whole. On two separate occasions he has swallowed an entire large rope toy. Fortunately, he was able to vomit them both, ending up no worse for the experience. Since then we only keep hard, super chewer toys, or balls, he loves balls and does not destroy them. My husband bought this one when they were under 6 months old, they still have the original, I bought another one a month or so back. It has tabs on it, Winnie loves them, carries by the tabs like they’re treasure.
Farm animals
Ok, back to the main topic of this post, cows, and all other types of pasture pals. I’m really amazed at the interest in farm animals. It’s become so popular to move to the country, buy a farm, and raise all kinds of animals. I grew up around farm animals, my uncle had a nice farm with goats, pigs, oxen, chicken, rabbits, and horses. These weren’t pets, they were raised for food or service, even the dogs and cats had farm chores.
The animals were treated kindly. The horses were everyone’s friends, my sister and cousin actually rode on the backs of the oxen. Back then, in the 80’s, we knew farm animals were great, but they certainly weren’t mainstream.
Farming was not for me. I do live out in the country on three acres, have done for the past 25 years. I have no desire to live anywhere but the country with my husband and the house cows.
Puppy Love
We rescued an American Bulldog, no longer wanted by a colleague of my husbands. Hazel was 10 months old when introduced to our first Great Dane, Harley, they were fast friends from the moment they met. Below is Hazel, or as my grandson lovingly called her “Hay Hay”, she was as sweet as she looks in the pic. She was a dog with no bad habits other than teaching Harley to break out of the fence, running away for hours while mom hysterically ran around in the woods praying they would come home. As she got older, chubbier, and slower this didn’t happen anymore, thank goodness.
We had to put her to sleep a couple years ago, one of the hardest days of my life. She developed bladder cancer, and it seemed she declined overnight. She was unquestionably my puppy soulmate, it’s amazing that we can form such deep bonds. Looking at this picture it’s like she’s still laying down in front of the sliding glass door catching the last of the days sunshine. Today Winnie and Odin are my puppy soulmates, I don’t think Hay Hay would mind sharing.
House cows, grass puppies, horses, all stealing our hearts and making us better with their existence. Wouldn’t it be a blessing if they could live with us forever, but then, there wouldn’t be Winston and Odin. I can’t imagine life without every one of them. Maybe someday a grass puppy will be added to the family, I’ve read that three acres is more than enough for some of the miniature breeds… My poor husband, he’s the best man on earth, if he came home to a grass puppy he would shake his head and head to Tractor Supply, making sure the new addition had everything necessary to be safe and warm.
Here are a few other pics of the house cows, I’d love to see your pet pictures, drop in the comments!
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