She knew us and we knew her and we both knew what she was capable of and in the battle of wills, she won. We had separated pastures, some ours and some we leased. We consistently moved the cattle around between those pastures for grazing and allowing the grass to replete itself. When it came time to move the cattle the first time out of the main pasture, she wasn't having it. She refused. Husband tried everything outside of drugging her, picking her up (not going to happen, she was huge) and moving her, it wasn't going to happen. She refused to move pastures.
After many various ideas and attempts, the last try was with a cedar fence post. Through much aggravation, attempts and pure exhaustion on both parts, Blue made a run at husband, he, in self preservation, swung a cedar post at her and it broke over her head. Cedar posts don't break. It didn't faze her and he realized, her will was more determined than his and he gave up. From that day on, all the cattle were moved periodically except Blue. She stayed in the main pasture, always.
One of the exciting things about running cattle is the spring time when all the calves started being born, you watch, you wait and every once in awhile you see the new addition to your herd and it was great. Most of the time it just happened, you didn't have to help or worry, just showed up one day. Every once in awhile you got to witness the miracle and see that baby wobbling up to its feet and stumble around on its first steps on your land. I remember one day kids were late to school because as we were leaving the house we stopped to watch one of our babies coming into the world. Nice.
Ok so skip to Blue and one of her new babies. She, of course, was the only cow in the field, she had recently given birth to one of her many babies. On this day, her, her baby and husband were in the pasture across the fence from the house. She was about 30 or 40 feet from husband while he was working on something. I am standing somewhere close to the house and I can see Blue and husband across the pasture. My son was also present along with Autumn, my daughter, which I am thinking about 6 years old.
At some point I notice Autumn running across the pasture and without any knowledge herself, she ran right past Blue's baby laying unnoticeable in the grass. Blue is near by. And I was close to panic while the first realizations hit me. Aut was headed towards her dad and Blue was immediately right behind that small child.
Blue had a point to make. So envision this, huge Blue was right on my tiny daughter's behind. Aut realized this and picked up the pace like I had never seen her before. She was running, shrieking towards her dad, Blue had her head down running after her.
Ok, stop. All I could do was watch in fear and horror. I was too far away. Blue was 2 inches from my child, snorting with her nose just inches from my tiny little child. She was protecting her baby and I had no shot at protecting mine.
Husband immediately started running towards daughter and Blue. He said he had no idea what he was going to do when he got to her because Blue had the power to plow both of them down, but he was running towards them just the same.
We realized that Blue could have at any moment picked Aut up with her head and tossed her into the air, she was that close. She could have just run right over her, but she didn't. When I said Blue knew us, we had her for years, it was like she was part of the family. And this day she proved it.
When husband got to Aut, in nano seconds, he, in a flash, picked her up and got his body between her and Blue, but Blue had already stopped. She just stopped, everybody stopped, it took a second for me to breath normal again. It was as if she was making a point, keep the kids away from my baby or I will scare you all. We believe she had no intention of hurting Aut, just making a point. Wow. My son, younger than Aut, was watching this whole event unfold, lessons learned the hard way!
Poor Aut, she took it well and to hear her tell this story, it is so much more detailed on her part! No lasting horror for her, no inhibitions going forward. It was part of our lives! Again, wow. It took me a minute to breath again and it wasn't too long that we were telling this story with humor! Lots of laughing again. (although for awhile, a quick thought would take my breath again)
My kids were raised with free run on all of this property. They often, to this day, comment on how fun their childhood was and wish their own children had the never ending playground to grow up on. Sometimes I cannot believe the endless imagination this spawned. Although I do often think about the risks that were overshadowed by the experiences. So different than how it is today.
So as for Blue, pay attention, it all boils down to knowing someone, even a cow, knowing the game plan. I love you guys but pay attention to the boundaries, I will chase you!
Be Happy People! ... but don't test the big beast!
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