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Monday, November 12, 2012

Norma II

I have found that writing this blog has helped in ways that I never imagined it would.  I thought I was doing this to help you 1. understand where your food comes from and 2. find easy, nutritious, farm mom tested recipes.

But you have helped me:
  • educate you the reader and answer your farming questions in places I will probably never visit.
  • have a release from some of the tension that builds from working everyday with family and drought situations.
  • find friends that are very much like me.  One that I was lucky enough to spend some time with last week shared her favorite pork recipe with all of you in October.  I think she may love her cows ALMOST as much as I love mine.
If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I requested prayers for Dairy Carrie's favorite cow Norma last week.  Unfortunately, Norma passed away while Carrie was attending a conference here in Kansas.  Here is her post of the events of last week.  My boys loved the Norma updates.  I think mainly because my walking cattle breed encyclopedia known as my oldest son knew what breed she was and I had never even heard of it before.  When I told them that she was gone, they promptly said that they would say prayers for her and Carrie that night.

This all brings me to this photo:


After soybean harvest was pretty much wrapped up, we traveled to pick up this darling.  Isn't she beautiful?

She is a Maine Anjou heifer that our oldest son will show this 4-H year.  As we ate supper, I asked the boys what we were going to call her.   Quickly, one said, "Norma" and the other said "YES." 

I told them we had to ask for Dairy Carrie's blessing.  Norma was a very special cow to Dairy Carrie (she refers to her as the best cow ever) and if she follows me at all she would know where the name had come from. 

I sent her a message asking for permission for the boys.  The boys sat on the edge of their seats.  She responded quicker than I expected to tell me yes she would love nothing more than for them to call her "Norma the Best Beef Cow Ever"  through her tears.

My six year old quickly told me to let her know that she could visit Norma anytime.  Isn't he just the sweetest kid? :)

Our Norma is not broke to lead by halter yet, so I am sure there will be some adventures and hopefully no injuries.  Thanksgiving break will be fun at our house.

I was glad to see in Carrie's post that her Norma was not always as friendly as I saw her in her video a few month back.  Norma has a little bit of calming down to do and my 6 year old son does as well when he is around her.  I don't think she had ever seen a bouncy 6 year old before.  LOL

Wish us luck with this winter project!

Some of my social media friends have encouraged me to write a post about my best cow ever and the eerily similar story that she had with Norma.  I will work on it, but after reading Norma's story it was amazingly similar. 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

-A Kansas Farm Mom

11 comments:

  1. Thank you to you and your boys for doing such an amazing sweet thing. I really do appreciate your prayers for my Norma and I am glad I got to spend some time with you this last week.

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    1. I really had a great time getting to know you better last week. The boys were really more upset than I thought they would be when I told them. Farm kids grow up with living and dying everyday, but Norma had a story that they apparently weren't ready to send the end.
      Thank you for letting them tell the story of another Norma.

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  2. Best of luck with the new show heifer! She is a pretty little thing and I love her name. Remebmer breaking heifers to lead, always an interesting experience. Remember getting a bruse from my first heifer and it being in the shape of her foot. :) That is a story I will have to share with your 9 year old.

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    1. She is already broke to tie, which I am very happy about. I am always scared a calf will hang itself the first time I tie one up.

      I had a really great bruise on the top of my foot one year, the day before the style revue in which I was to wear heels. I don't remember getting hurt breaking the calves, it was always when the steers got bigger and tempermental.

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  3. What a sweet, thoughtful gesture. Hello to cow-to-be Norma The Best Beef Cow Ever.

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    1. Carrie,
      My boys often surprise me on their thoughtfulness. I sometimes wonder how they could be my children. They really did enjoy the adventures of Norma the Dairy Cow and I am sure they will enjoy the adventures of Norma the Beef Cow for many years to come.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, my boys can be sweet on certain days. :-)

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  5. I love this story! 4-H is such an awesome program. I don't think there is a better way to learn life's lessons than working with cattle.
    www.crystalcattle.com

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    1. I agree fully! 4-H is for every kid everywhere and the fact that they learn from older responsible kids and learn to be responsible for their own projects makes it the best youth program out there in my book.

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  6. I remember years ago when the dairy my (ex) hubby and I worked at was going out of business. They gave us our pick of any cow on the place at half market value. I picked a small cow that had never had any problems. The owners son showed up at our place with her in a trailer . He had torn jeans, scraped elbows and bloody knees. He said, "That cow don't lead or load fer shit!" (Really?? LOL) I taught her to lead in one day with nothing more than a bucket of grain, like a carrot before a horse..lol Cows are smart! She learned to go up and down steps, and to wear a saddle and be ridden! :)

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