“Bring her to Thornton-Le- Dale,’ said the big brusque North Yorkshire farmer as he slapped Crystal on the rump. Any other site and you may be wondering exactly what I mean?
This particular Crystal was a 300-kilo heifer who my nephew and I had saved from the slaughterhouse. I say saved, it wasn’t like the Iranian Embassy Seige but we did break the law. Once a beast has been sold to kill there is no going back. We decided she would make a great show beast and so it was a grey area haha. Upon our return, my sister and brother-in-law, noticing the punched ear, ran around the fold yard screaming. “We’re all going to jail,’ as I remember.
This was to be our first major year of showing cattle and the total was nineteen Championships, Crystal was the first. Of course in those days (the 1980s) cattle were ‘fluffed’ up so they resembled teddy bears. Whereas today it’s more natural.
We took Crystal to Thornton-le-Dale show and Mr Peckitt true to his word gave her the Championship. Crystal herself did well out of the deal as my nephew couldn’t bring himself to send her for beef so she lived to a ripe old age and spawned several calves. Of course, this was years ago and my nephew (red hat) now has a butchers shop with his son, he’s the one on the left and also the one doing free deliveries during the lockdown. But as you can see from the above photo livestock health and safety has always been a massive priority.The showing life was grand. As I mentioned last week there was a lot of work, breaking in for instance. Have you ever been dragged around a barn by a 3-400 kilo animal for half an hour? Then there were the miles of walking, the washing, the blow-drying and the soaping up. It wasn’t just for grown-ups the kids loved it too xxx
An interesting snapshot into the lives of rump-slappers!
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Thanks Pete, yes a lot of rump slapping 😉
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I love cows. They are so gentle and kind. Ours were anyway. Ours weren’t fancy like these though.
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Yes they are very gentle unless they’ve got a small calf and you get between them lol. Thanks for reading 😀
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Oh yeah. That too.
And: Don’t mess with the bull.
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I love the teddy bear one.. looks like it’s all blown up!!
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Haha, we did use a a giant hair dryer to ‘blow them up’ 😀
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Awww… My former supervisor (passed in 2012), when I was living in Texas, had a 20 acre ranch outside of Abilene in Clyde, TX. He’d had cattle at one time and had show cows. Oh, the stories… Fluffing a cow was never mentioned but, he did speak of their gentle intelligence.
I have another friend on a farm outside of Toronto that raised cows. He, too, spoke of cow behavior and how they enjoy music.
Love the teddy bear cow photo. Bless your family.
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Yeah, it’s a good life, funny you should mention music, my nephew had a radio in the cow shed tuned to an easy listening programme all day! 😀😀
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I’ve seen videos of cows gathering to listen to good music. It’s amusing and heartwarming, all at the same time.
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Great photos, and a great story. Good to see there are still some old-fashioned butchers about.
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I love cattle, heifers in particular. Good husbandry makes their short lives so much more pleasant.
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Yes, we always had a soft spot for heifers and he was always very particular about husbandry, as you say 😀
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Fun story!
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Thank you 😀
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Lovely to see the farm animals being looked after so well. And the next generation helping out.
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what a fun post!
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Thank you, Jadi 😀
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I showed cattle back in the day. Never got into it much. Then I had the opportunity to show pigs, and it was a blast. Our county fair had a meat animal auction, where all of the local businesses would bid on the animals that were shown by the 4-H kids. Walking away from the fair with $300 bucks as a 13 year old kid was one of the greatest feelings ever.
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Yeah, great learning curve for kids 😀
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For sure!
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aww! such a cute post! thank you for sharing💞
Follow @everythingtips for tips and recommendations if interested! It would mean a lot to me!🥺🤍
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Thank you and done 😀
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