Do you think animals are smart? When you think of intelligent animals, do you think about cattle? Most of us DO NOT think of cattle as being that smart but cattle are intelligent and have distinct personalities. Some of our cows (both the beef and the dairy) are naturally friendly and seek out human interaction. Others are more reserved and want to be left alone. Cattle express fear, pleasure, anger and even gentleness and affection. Mother cows lovingly tend to their babies, and adult cattle will show affection to one another. Cattle are “herd” animals. This means they are meant to live in groups with other cattle. If you separate or disturb their group or herd, they often become agitated, unhappy, or even mournful. Calves (babies) and adult cattle all like to run, jump and play at times. Cattle are also extremely curious. In our Jersey herd, we have had a few cows that stand out as being full of personality. Maya was one of my first dairy cows and she was very smart. She learned how to open the door on the feed room. Princess is very dramatic. She gets very irritable when she is pregnant and close to her delivery date. Faith loves to be scratched and hugged but will kick us if she’s in a bad mood. Tori is shy and prefers not to be touched but would never kick at us. Patience had to have medication when she was a calf, and learned to open her mouth without being coerced and chew up her pills and swallow them. These are just a few examples of some of the different character and personality traits of a few of our cows. There is a great children’s book about some cows that had a lot of personality! In the bookClick, Clack, Moo: Cow’s that Type, Farmer Brown’s dairy cows send him a typed note requesting electric blankets in the barn. Farmer Brown has to decide if he is going to give in to the demands of his cows. The story that ensues is sure to bring a smile to the face of those who read it. The book is available in board book format for the youngest of readers, as well as in the paperback and hardback varieties.
Friends can come in all shapes and sizes, especially when you live on a farm! Over the years we have had a number of animals that were special in the way they interacted with Farmer Mike and I. I wanted to introduce our readers to a few of them.
Geese
Splish, Splash and Splosh were three very special geese that hatched out (unknown to us) under a chicken in our barn. There was some “fowl play” by a young man who was visiting the farm and that is how those eggs ended up under that hen. When the goslings hatched (on Mother’s Day), the young man informed us of what he had done. Since I didn’t think the chicken would be able to raise the goslings adequately, I brought them home and hand raised them. They lived in our bathroom in a great big bathtub for a while. I would fill the tub with water at least once a day when they got big enough to swim. They loved it. I fell in love with them and they became very special friends who were very bonded to me.
You can see additional pictures and videos of these adorable goslings at this link.
This link at Kidzone has some interesting information on Geese. If you follow the page to the bottom, you will see links to activities, crafts, and worksheets for this subject.
Chickens
Another “bird” friend was a dear, little Speckled Sussex hen. We never named her but she followed us around whenever we were in the barnyard and loved for us to pick her up and pet her. She was always “talking” to us in her sweet voice. We just loved her and she brightened our lives for five years.
Here is a link where you can find interesting facts about chickens as well as additional links to songs, stories, poems, crafts and other activities on this subject for kids.
Of course, we make pets out of our cattle! But there have been a few that have been especially friendly and loving over the years. As with any large livestock, children should never approach them without an adult along, but if you get the chance to meet a friendly cow up close, it is truly a treat!
Here is an interesting info-graphic about cows shared by Hobby Farms:
Miniature Horses
Our little horses are great friends. They bring our grandchildren a lot of joy with their sweet dispositions. An interesting job that some mini horses take is that of being a guide to people who are blind (like a seeing eye dog). You can find out more and see some photos of these horses at work here.
There are a lot of interesting facts about horses at this link.
Farm Dogs
Every farmer needs a great farm dog as a friend. We have been fortunate to have some amazing dogs here on our farm. Lady, the Great Pyrenees, was a wonderful and faithful friend to all the farm animals, watching over and taking care of them.
Casey, a female Corgi, wasn’t at our farm very long, but had a heart of gold. She actually worked as a therapy dog for a while with a friend of ours who had cancer.
Spencer, a male Corgi, is my ever present companion in the barnyard. He is really good with all the animals and loves people of all ages as well. We definitely couldn’t have a farm without our wonderful farm dog friends.
Goats make great friends! They act very much like dogs when you give them a lot of attention and they easily bond to humans. This little goat went with me to the library where I gave a lesson on making cheese!
I started thinking about sharing these pictures of just a few of our animal friends with you when I came across a beautiful book by Wendell Minor called My Farm Friends. I fell in love with the artwork in this book and wanted to share it with you. Here are a few pages from the book:
Farming can be very hard work and often the farmer must work alone. The fact that some of our farm animals can be our friends sure does make our work more enjoyable! We hope you enjoyed these pictures of a few of our farm animals and maybe even learned some things as well!
Rubbing his face in the dirt, while pawing the ground,
He ripped and he roared and made terrible sounds!
He pushed and he shoved whoever was in sight.
He broke down the fences with all of his might!
He flipped over the trough and broke through the gate,
Angrily snorting and throwing his weight!
His tantrums were wild! A sight to behold!
His anger was obvious and never controlled.
Afraid of his fits, his friends ran away.
No one could trust him. No one would stay.
Unpredictable, hateful, crazy and mean,
He was the wildest bull anyone had ever seen!
He was left all alone, with his pent up anger.
The cows certainly didn’t want to put themselves in any danger.
On the edge of the pasture with eyes big and wide,
A small calf named Albert stood by his grandma’s side.
Grand Moo, as they called her, old and very wise
Said, “Listen up, dear Albert and I’ll give you some advice.
Don’t bottle up your feelings and push them down inside.
When your sad, hurt, or angry find someone in which to confide..
Talk about things you don’t understand and things that make you sad,
Talk about things that make you angry, Talk about the bad days that you have had.
Don’t stay angry like Rudy and drive your friends away.
Don’t let the things that upset you take charge and ruin your day.
Learn to talk about those feelings and some solution find,
To replace the negative feelings with feelings of a different kind.
Communicating our feelings is such an important part of life,
And gently explaining what we feel inside can end a lot of strife.”
Then Grand Moo smiled at Albert and gently stroked his head.
Albert thought carefully about what his wise Grand Moo had said.
He decided that being bully, simply was not the way,
That he wanted to be remembered at the end of the every day.
Albert decided to learn to talk about the things inside his head
Especially the things that caused him anger, fear and dread
By giving those negative emotions a chance to fade away,
Little Albert left a lot of room for better things to take their place.
And maybe this little story about Rudy, Albert and Grandma Moo
Will help us to remember to not let bad feelings grow inside of me and you.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed this simple story I made up about a bull named Rudy. I got the inspiration from this story from a real, Jersey bull that we own here at our farm who loves to blow and snort and make terrible squalling noises! The truth is, he doesn’t do those things because he didn’t talk about his feelings when he was little. He actually makes those sounds and appears angry because that’s what bulls tend to do in order to protect their territory and their herd. It’s their instinct to do those things. What I did when I made up this story was to anthropomorphize. Anthropomorphism is when a person takes human characteristics and attributes them to something that isn’t human. In other words, I pretended that the bull, Rudy, Grand Moo and Albert had human thoughts and emotions. A lot of authors have used anthropomorphism to write stories. Just think about all the Disney movies that you have watched where the animals talk and act like people. That’s a really good example of anthropomorphism.
Disney actually produced a movie about a bull named Ferdinand who was sweet and kind, much the way that I imagine Albert in our story wants to be when he grows up. As you watch the movie, think about how Ferdinand takes on human qualities and characteristics.
The Disney movie about Ferdinand was actually inspired by a book by Munro Leaf that was written in 1936 about a young bull that would rather smell flowers than fight. The book was written right before the Spanish Civil War and was thought be many to be a book against the war. For that reason, it was banned in many countries to take a stand against people who are against wars, called pacifists.
The book, Ferdinand, was illustrated by Robert Lawson , who illustrated close to 60 children’s books, 17 of those he authored himself.
“Lawson was a witty and inventive author, and his children’s fiction is no less engaging for grown-ups. One of his inventive themes was the idea of a person’s life as seen through the eyes of a companion animal, an approach that he first realized in Ben and Me. Some of his later books employed the same device (which was compatible with his style of illustration) to other figures, such as Christopher Columbus (I Discover Columbus) and Paul Revere (Mr. Revere and I). Captain Kidd’s Cat, which he both wrote and illustrated, is narrated by the feline in the title, named McDermot, who tells the story of the famous pirate’s ill-starred voyage, in the process of which he is shown to have been a brave, upright, honest, hen-pecked man betrayed by his friends and calumniated by posterity. His artistic witticism and creativity can be seen in The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, where he illustrates a cork tree as a tree that bears corks as fruits, ready to be picked and placed into bottles.” ~ From Wikipedia
For more information on the story of Ferdinand the Bull written by Munroe and illustrated by Lawsone, visit this link.
Do you think animals are smart? When you think of intelligent animals, do you think about cattle? Most of us DO NOT think of cattle as being that smart but cattle are intelligent and have distinct personalities. Some of our cows (both the beef and the dairy) are naturally friendly and seek out human interaction. Others are more reserved and want to be left alone. Cattle express fear, pleasure, anger and even gentleness and affection. Mother cows lovingly tend to their babies, and adult cattle will show affection to one another. Cattle are “herd” animals. This means they are meant to live in groups with other cattle. If you separate or disturb their group or herd, they often become agitated, unhappy, or even mournful. Calves (babies) and adult cattle all like to run, jump and play at times. Cattle are also extremely curious. In our Jersey herd, we have had a few cows that stand out as being full of personality. Maya was one of my first dairy cows and she was very smart. She learned how to open the door on the feed room. Princess is very dramatic. She gets very irritable when she is pregnant and close to her delivery date. Faith loves to be scratched and hugged but will kick us if she’s in a bad mood. Tori is shy and prefers not to be touched but would never kick at us. Patience had to have medication when she was a calf, and learned to open her mouth without being coerced and chew up her pills and swallow them. These are just a few examples of some of the different character and personality traits of a few of our cows. 
There is a great children’s book about some cows that had a lot of personality! In the book Click, Clack, Moo: Cow’s that Type, Farmer Brown’s dairy cows send him a typed note requesting electric blankets in the barn. Farmer Brown has to decide if he is going to give in to the demands of his cows. The story that ensues is sure to bring a smile to the face of those who read it. The book is available in board book format for the youngest of readers, as well as in the paperback and hardback varieties.
T Cupp's Junior Farm Friends 