19 yr old cow died .. reminscing and more

wisht I woulda put this post in Your Stories,.. I think most will agree after reading this ,../if anyone knows how tell me ok ,. tonite ,I am melancholy pretty bad ,, I found Ginger down when I went to feed at noon , she had been doing just fine . pneumonia,. I went back and got some 72-200,. gave her 30 ccs and made her comfortable best I could with some cornstover ,. went to corydon 13 miles to get penicillin and talk with feed store folx,.. by the time I got back to her side ,.. Ginger's life was all gone ,. she had a white sockt calf about the 1st week in dec ,. this last sept,. I sold off 3 old cows, and I really should have included Ginger but she always was a fall calver , and I chose to keep her , and she had a pretty red heifer with sockt feet and a white blaze ..So it it is just as well ,. she deserved a natural death ,. instead of becoming McDonald yuppi meals ,. She was the Gentle Voice of the ENTIRE herd ,.. the bull mourned for her and cussed at me as I pulled her out of the pasture,.. Ginger lost her own mother shortly after birth ,. she was given to my pal and friend Rick Easter sunday , spring of 1998,. he recalls bottle feeding her in the old shed he tore down in 1999 and built his barn -shop the following summer,.. when he suggested her age last fall , I protested his accuracy, and declared Ginger is the picture of health! .He said my barn Shop has been there since summer of 99 and I bottle fed Ginger in the old shed a yr or perhaps 2 before that ,. perhaps even 1997,.. I bought Ginger from Rick fall of 2006 , she had raised him 4or 5 calves and was real buket baby ,and would remain so all her days . I had just lost the election for what would had been my 2nd term as Harrison county Commissioner ,. it was a close hard fought run , and a lot of terrible lies were being said about me ,,..I was kinda down in the dumps for getting beat ,, I remember appreciating the change of pace and feeling a bit upbeat when Rick and I agreed on her price,.he Had taken a job that would take him away from his place during the week,.his wife Birdie could handle the minture horses and Lady ,. but Ginger really needed to meet Cow friends,.. and most of all ,she needed a bull,. and that is how she became a fall calver , Tonite Rick Agreed to accept Gingers heifer as a gift from sara and i to bottle feed her on the hope that one day he would sell her to me to put back with the herd as a good momma cow ,. so everything will continue full circle . it is Sad to Lose a good old friend .and Then . tonite , they announced another old friend passed away at 95yrs young , MILTON METZ ,Long time Louisville News Anchor.. we had the pleasure of meeting Milton when his wife came over to our table at KiNg Fish ,.she was attracted by Dianna and complimented her for the way she handled our babies ,. Mikey could not had been much over a yr old , and Elizabeth was perhaps almost 3 ,. when Milton came over in his spiffy sport suit,. it was just " like meeting Santa Claus ,. we exchanged names and chatted, we could tell they were genuine family love type of people ,.. fast fff today ,. Elizabeth just turned 36 yrs old on Elvis's birthday,. little mikey is now Michael and is runnin the home improvement biznez i founded before I married their mother,.. and I tonite I sip peach brandy,REMINSCING .recalling the wonderful love I had with the mother of my 4 children ,thanking God for my wonderful Sara ,. surviving cancer ,. my happenstance of being in the rite place at the rite time ,. giving me Great opportunities of a lifetime that shaped my life , and even saving my life in a split second more than once ,. my bulls over the yrs and cows that Were almost an equal to good Ol Ginger, my good Dogs and barn cats,.and all my old iron I have mastered to run so well . But most Of All The many good Friends here ,.. many I have met, that are so much like like Rick and my other neighbor Rick and just being thankful for life and peace and love I have known in so many ways ,and FAMILY . In all of lifes sadness and hardships , sometimes it hurts so much a man can scarcely shed a tear ,. but yet all in all,. life is still a thrill in spite of itself
 
I know your pain and sadness, joy comes with the new day. All part of loving and living. It really is a wonderful life. gobble
 
I feel for you too,we sure can get attached to the animals that display they have a caring heart
 
When I sold my herd, I loaded my oldest cow last. This cow was a young heifer when my Wife and I were dating. Unique coloring a real mutt, brown swiss, Simmental, Holstein, Herford mix. Cow was 34 years old, gave me a calf every spring. Mostly blind, but cared for by the herd like the queen she was. My wife cried when she realized she was gone.
 
The hardest thing I ever did was loading my herd for the dispersal sale. They all went to good homes, but my wife and I were in tears for some time after. Still miss milking.....sometimes! Ben
 
when I was about my favorite cow died giving birth and I raised her heifer calf by bottle. That calf turned into my pet. I would turn her loose and she would follow me everywhere. I even had her broke to lead and we would walk down the road to my grandmas to feed the steers and back. Later on I could even set on her. When we got out of cows to grain farm it was hard to get rid of her. I remember Milton Metz from WHAS TV and still make it to King fish several times a year.
 
Olgent,

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing it. Sorry for the loss of your old bovine friend, Ginger.

Many like to say, "time marches on", but it doesn't... it RUNS, full-speed ahead! (I know this because I have become my mother and my husband has become his father... and our babies have babies! How did this all happen in only the blink of eye???)
 
Beautiful story olgent, my condolesences on your loss. I've heard it said more than once, the longer you live, you'll know more people underground than above it. We laid a man in our church to rest yesterday, a man I probably would have never met, except for our common bond in God and a shared love for tractor pulling. If we couldn't find anything else to talk about, we could talk tractors.(I didn't dare get him started on NASCAR). Times like this get me thinking about friends and family that have gone on, and how some are still sorely missed, but I too am thankful for the ones that have come into my life, not to replace, but to make new, (grandkids). I'm pretty sure because of all the people I've met at tractor shows or pulls, plus the ones I know from church, I know more people now than I have in the 60 years l been around. I think those that really know more people below ground, than above it, can change that if they so choose, exception being mobility problems. Thanks for the time, DP
 
My family has been through that several times. My youngest son who is now 33 yo came to be when he was 9 years old and said he wanted a calf to, as he called it, "show off". I had a friend about 17 miles away who had been a reputable Angus breeder. I saw him a few days later at the courthouse getting his truck tags and mentioned what we had in mind and he fixed my son up with a heifer calf to show. calf was 7 mo. old and he got up earlier every morning in order to go to the barn and work with the calf in order to get it to lead. really wasn't much trouble to teach her to lead. Needless to say, she became quite a pet. we hauled her to every show our work schedule would allow from Indianapolis to Perry GA and Baltimore to Tulsa, OK. We all learned a lot that summer and we came to realize that what makes an Angus heifer desireable was strickly in the eyes of the beholder, or in this case, the judge. some shows she would be Grand Champion of the entire show and some shows she would be last in her class.
the whole family got attached to her, she was even in the family portrait for the Christmas card we sent out that year, 1994, I believe it was. Her, (named her Sally) show career ended when she had her second calf and she, naturally raised some excellent seed stock. Son's herd started with that one heifer. He now keeps about 50 head and almost all of them have Sally's blood in them. When she became 'elderly' several years ago, we talked to the vet about what our options were because she was getting arthritis and joint problems and really having a hard time walking and really hard on her to get up from laying down. We, naturally, did not want her to get to the point where she was down and could not get up. This was the same vet who cared for her in her show career, having had pneumonia, coccidiosis, and numerous other complications. my son thought of him as our primary care physician and really became a good friend and mentor to him.
You have probably already guessed where this is all going........the time eventually came for a decision having to be made about, not if, but when were we going to have to relieve Sally of being miserable in standing, walking and even getting up as some days she could not.
After conferring with Doc the date and time was set for him to come to the farm and carry out the plan. I dug a grave with the bakckhoe the evening before; and my son broke the news to me that evening that he could not bear to be there when the shot was given. I told him I understood and would be there with Sally and the vet. The next morning came everything went as scheduled and planned. After Doc administered the shot, we had to wait a few minutes for it to do its work and neither one of said a word. I was relieving a few tears and looked over at Doc and the tears were rolling down his face, also. Lots of memories went thru my head as we sat there. Sally was not only a good cow, but she taught a kid about life, growing up to be a man, and accepting that sometimes things just don't go the way we expect them to. Whether he won the show or came in last, everything was the same, just evaluated by a different person. As the old saying goes, some days your are the windshield; some days you are the bug.
 
A wonderful story sir. I thought I was the only person that turned to mush when something happened to cattle you get close with. It is amazing how you can get so attached to an animal, especially when you are their sole caretaker each and everyday. My wife and kids never understood that part of being a cattleman. I told them I am the one who takes care of their every need twice a day, chores before work in the morning and again in the afternoon after work again, no matter if the weather is 100 above or -30 below zero. You get to know each of their personalities, whether good or bad. Cattle are my passion. Sometimes I think they understand me better than people some days. LOL There is just something about beef cattle that I can't explain to some people. They are what I live for somedays. They are my "therapy" I love to listen to them eating, drinking, are just plain laying in the quiet pasture. I am glad you got to spend the time with her that you had, Hope you have pics of her to always remember her by. I have pics on my desk of cattle I have raised in the past. To me they are wonderful memories of days gone by. Thank you for sharing your story again sir.
Kow Farmer Kurt
 
I'm sorry for your loss. Ginger had a good life with you and i know she understood you were doing everything you could for her.
 

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