I was out shopping one day, minding my own business, when this woman I know came up to me and called me a dirty name. She immediately started laughing. Now, I didn't take offense to this; personally I took it as a compliment. I know others who would have taken offense. But I didn't. But I wasn't going to call her one in return. I had a better compliment for her. I called her a heifer.
She immediately started laughing again. She told me that she didn't take offense to it because her daughters-in-law call her that all the time. I told her that if she was going to take that as an insult she needed to learn a few things about cows.
I was raised in the city. I can remember my dad calling me “Tubby”. My sister found me this little Precious Moments pig named “Tubby”. She bought it for me. She thought it was so funny. I didn't mind being called Tubby. I sort of had an issue with being compared to a pig. But the little statue was cute. And it reminded me of my dad. So I liked it a lot.
But I didn't know a thing about cows. I didn't know anything about heifers. I did know that calling someone a heifer was an insult. But then I moved to a dairy farm.
I will tell you that being called a heifer is not an insult. A heifer is a young cow who has had one calf. When the heifer has had her second calf then she turns into a cow. So, being called a heifer is really a compliment. I came to realize that anyone who wanted to call me a heifer was doing me a favor. Because when I moved to the farm I had already had two kids. When I had my youngest daughter I made up my mind that I was going to start over as a heifer. I knew I couldn't but I liked that idea. Because if I didn't remain a heifer I was going to be the aged cow.
Jimmy showed cows. They started showing calves when they were 3 months old; Junior calves. They go up to the Aged Cow. The Aged Cow is 5 years old and up. This is a cow who has had 4 calves or more. When I married Jimmy he showed an Aged Cow. She was 6 years old. She put out good calves and gave good milk. The big deal was her udder. She had a great looking udder.
One of the problems an aged cow will have is getting an infection and developing mastitis. A lot of times a farmer will sell a cow that has mastitis or has an issue with calving or something like that. With 3 out of 4 of my pregnancies I had problems in carrying my babies and birthing those babies. Jimmy would have sold me off a long time before I became an aged cow.
I made sure my friend knew that being called a heifer was a compliment. She should take it as such.
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