And they deserve to be. They are two in a truck load of bullocks destined for the meatworks. Both are pets with a story to tell.
The big fellow in the lead lost his mother in a wild electrical storm the night he was born. Next morning we found him- a calf without a mother. We also found a mother without a calf but could not get the two to bond so he was brought home and bottle fed. He was such a big hungry fellow with the most gentle of natures. Every feed he drank his measure of milk and then one or two more bottles of water. A student teacher I had staying with me at the time named him Brown Sugar a name that has stuck until today. Big as he is, he still loves to come up for a rub.
The guy at the back was just a naturally quiet calf. When he was weaned it was not long before he made friends with the hand that fed him and was soon able to be patted and rubbed. This worked to our advantage later when the mob was moved to a new paddock. Some pig shooters left a gate open and the weaners got out onto the road. We found them on our way home from town with only enough light left in the day to just see them. What were we to do? Hobo1 had an idea. He put his belt around this fellow’s neck and lead him back in through the gate while I herded the others in behind and you wouldn’t believe it. The mob followed much to our relief!
Beautiful animals reared with love and care - it must be very hard to see the ones you've grown attached to going off to slaughter but I suppose it's part of the job to look after them right until the end - minimum stress for them if not for you...
@judithg@vernabeth Yes a very sad day but as Judith says I focus on making their departure as stress free as possible for them while pushing my own anguish to the background.
