Hello, world, my name is “Shadow”
It’s Monday morning and our skittish range heifers cautiously approach wooden feed bunk. Breakfast is a generous helping of fragrant silage and a bit of cow mix mineral supplements. The farmer counts, re-counts furry heads and realizes one is missing.
He discovers her in the back of open cattle shed…with her newborn calf, first of the season! Little black bull is healthy and already standing. Our son carries him to shelter in the barn. We soon coax mama into stall where they can nuzzle and nurse.
calf eyes wide to world
fresh cow licks her baby clean
new life birthed in spring
Linking this spring haibun to dVerse Poets pub where Frank hosts today…
a poem in my pocket 
Feb 10, 2020 @ 14:39:30
Having grown up on a farm this surely resounds with me. I was reprimanded at work for saying an engineer was always having to lick his calf twice. The manager thought it was a sexual reference. So I educated the city boy as to why a cow licks her calf twice. Sometimes it is all about context!
Feb 11, 2020 @ 10:11:53
For sure! Our culture is growing farther away from its rural roots…sometimes we need to educate people. I was a city slicker once 🙂
Feb 04, 2020 @ 14:27:26
I would love to be in the company of such a cute harbinger of spring.
Feb 05, 2020 @ 11:57:05
🙂
Feb 04, 2020 @ 12:27:43
Oh my goodness, what a glorious start to the day – a beautiful black baby calf.You are so lucky to live with creatures. I miss my sister’s farm, and horses, in my apartment building where only humans are allowed.
Feb 05, 2020 @ 11:58:15
Thanks for your comment, Sherry…reminds me to be grateful!
Feb 04, 2020 @ 06:20:16
such a joyful haibun! the first of the season, so much more to rejoice from here on
Feb 04, 2020 @ 09:26:22
Yes…remind me in the middle of the night watches!
Feb 04, 2020 @ 06:10:12
It makes a pleasant change to hear of a cow being able to keep her calf. It’s the exception rather than the rule these days.
Feb 04, 2020 @ 09:25:21
Difference between dairy and beef…I enjoy seeing them together, naturally.
Feb 04, 2020 @ 10:23:06
Ah, I hadn’t thought of that. I hate the idea of killing any of them, but that’s life for a cow, I suppose.
Feb 05, 2020 @ 11:59:24
We try to make it a good life while here…
Feb 05, 2020 @ 13:35:38
That’s the best attitude to take. Not all meat producers care.
Feb 06, 2020 @ 14:38:26
We’re a small family-run operation…makes a difference, I think.
Feb 06, 2020 @ 14:51:43
Probably. Though round here they are all small family-run businesses and the calves are taken from the mothers, never go outside and are fattened up on artifical stuff then sent to Italy to be butchered. Tragic.
Feb 04, 2020 @ 02:08:11
I love this haibun, Lynn! Spring is the best time of the year on a farm. I’m on the look-out for the first spring lambs – there are so many sheep in the fields around here.
Feb 04, 2020 @ 09:24:01
…and lambs like to “spring”!
Feb 04, 2020 @ 11:10:49
😊
Feb 03, 2020 @ 18:50:04
A tender Spring moment, indeed! Bravo!
Feb 03, 2020 @ 20:35:23
Thanks, Frank, for giving me opportunity to share what happened on our farm today!