(no subject)
My dad had me out to help with a rough calving today -- the heifer had cast herself (that is, rolled over in such a way as she couldn't get up and was compressing her lungs) and the calf had one front leg cocked funny, so she was having a hard time delivering it. So we rolled her over, tied some ropes onto the calf's legs, and pulled it out. Standard fare for the situation.
After kneeling in dirt, manure, and amniotic fluid, having my hands halfway into the cow's rear to right the cocked leg, having the calf puke amniotic fluid down my leg, and then fishing out the afterbirth that the heifer managed to not pass completely, I needed a shower.
I noticed, while squirting my shampoo (Herbal Essences: Long term relationship) into my hand, that it looked an awful lot like the afterbirth that I had just fished out of a cow's ass end. A stray thought entered my mind: I'd heard once that afterbirth was good for your hair. (Whether or not that's true, I have no clue.)
I spent a few minutes pondering this, then just used it anyway.
On a unrelated-to-cows note, I have this random... obsession, I guess. I always take a folding knife into the shower with me and, for whatever reason, like to use it to scrape the sweat/dirt/gunk off my upper arms, chest, and feet. I think of it sort of like how people use pumice stones to rub away dead skin, and it leaves that same slightly stingy feel, but I just somehow prefer using a knife to a rock.
Oh, and if you were curious, the calf didn't make it. She'd been straining too long before we got to her, we figured; it looked pretty dead when we started helping her.
But when we left, there was another heifer that had just dropped a calf. It had a perfect heart shape on it's face. On my girlfriend and I's anniversary, no less!
After kneeling in dirt, manure, and amniotic fluid, having my hands halfway into the cow's rear to right the cocked leg, having the calf puke amniotic fluid down my leg, and then fishing out the afterbirth that the heifer managed to not pass completely, I needed a shower.
I noticed, while squirting my shampoo (Herbal Essences: Long term relationship) into my hand, that it looked an awful lot like the afterbirth that I had just fished out of a cow's ass end. A stray thought entered my mind: I'd heard once that afterbirth was good for your hair. (Whether or not that's true, I have no clue.)
I spent a few minutes pondering this, then just used it anyway.
On a unrelated-to-cows note, I have this random... obsession, I guess. I always take a folding knife into the shower with me and, for whatever reason, like to use it to scrape the sweat/dirt/gunk off my upper arms, chest, and feet. I think of it sort of like how people use pumice stones to rub away dead skin, and it leaves that same slightly stingy feel, but I just somehow prefer using a knife to a rock.
Oh, and if you were curious, the calf didn't make it. She'd been straining too long before we got to her, we figured; it looked pretty dead when we started helping her.
But when we left, there was another heifer that had just dropped a calf. It had a perfect heart shape on it's face. On my girlfriend and I's anniversary, no less!