A Mother's Love

This past week while we were down at the farm I had the pleasure of seeing a mother's love at its finest!  I am not talking about Mary Nelle's love for her son or even my love for Hunter for that matter but the love between a momma cow and her baby "Q-Tip" as we called him.

Now, I know that some people might not believe what I am about to write but I saw it with my own two eyes and can tell you that this momma cow knows love.

Q-Tip had to be born about the week before we arrived for our visit and his momma was a proud cow.  She made sure that she was never far from him and would always keep a watchful eye out for him around the other cows.

The first time I came across Momma she was standing at Mary Nelle's fence contemplating moving into  Elizabeth's pasture with the other cows.  Hunter hadn't yet laid eyes on the cows so I hopped into the ranger with him and we went to see her.  She stood there for a moment but quickly became nervous and ran off back towards the pond which she had just come from. At this point, I hadn't put two-n-two together that this was that cute little cow's momma because honestly I didn't know that a brown and white cow could have a black and white cow!  Stop shaking your head, city girl, I know!

A little while later I saw her coming back up to Elizabeth's pasture and this time she had little Q-Tip in tow.  Again, still not realizing this was momma and baby I thought she was a sweet cow for making sure that someone else's baby was safely back with the rest of the herd before nightfall.  It was cute to watch this clumsy little cow try to figure out how to maneuver between gates and make the momma cow come back and forth several times before he finally figured it out.

The next day as the cows made the usual trek across the farm I made the connection that this in fact was momma and her baby. (Ok, honestly I had asked Joe that night on the phone if brown cows could have black cows and he set me straight!) Q-Tip played for a while with some of the other babies but ended up laying down for a bit while momma happily chewed her way through the pasture with the other cows.  She was finally ready to move into the next pasture and began bellowing for Q-Tip to join her.  He didn't budge!  She kept moving on but would only go so far before turning around and bellowing again for him.  Finally, after back tracking for the third time she walked straight up to Q-Tip and nudged him.  This made him get up and follow her into the next pasture.  You know she was thinking, "You little brat!  It is hot out here and we are on a mission moving to the next pasture and you are making me come back for you. This is the last time Mister!"

The following day, Larry's dad (the man that runs the cattle on the farm), came out with the feed truck.  If you have never seen this happen, it is amazing to watch.  I honestly never knew that cows could run as fast as they do until I saw the feed truck pull into the farm.  Momma and Q-Tip lagged a bit behind the others, I believe because she knew that he would be trampled if he got in the mix of things, but were quickly up eating with the rest of the herd.  One of the other momma cows pushed Q-Tip out of her way at one point which knocked him down.  Momma came over quickly, nudged Q-Tip as if to say "you are okay and need to get up quickly" and then she put herself between him and the herd and moved him out into another pasture under a big shade tree for the rest of the afternoon.  Absolutely priceless to watch!

I could keep going with the things this momma did for her little baby but I think you all get my point...A mother's love is instinctual, unconditional and forever....no matter the species!