Oxen stories

[Nat(wasIxy)]

@Vicki 12128 wrote:

I find, like Ixy, that cattle are knowing and affectionate, some more than others. I’ve eaten lots of my own cattle, bred on our farm, and some that were trained as oxen. But it will be a hard day when my current “boys” have to close their eyes for the last time. Unless my world changes drastically, I will not be able to eat them. They don’t sleep on the bed like the dog, but we have a lot more between us than I have with the dog.

Yep, I love Angus the same, if not more than I would a dog. Most animals are fair game for me dinnerwise but there are a few exceptions 😉

[bivol]

@Ixy 12119 wrote:

Oh gosh bivol I have tears in my eyes- I can just imagine it 🙁

IMO, my oxen are way more affectionate than 95% of all horses I’ve worked with – I’ve worked with, it must be, near 200 horses and most had a very aloof kind of temperament. Whereas, my cattle are genuinely curious about people and seem to love to spend time with me, they love physical contact more too, I guess because they groom each other by licking for a long time, whereas horses just nibble shoulders. I can rub mine all over for hours and they lap it up.

Yesterday I was picking berries with my partner in the herd’s field – eventually Angus came over and hung around watching patiently so I just had to go have a ‘grooming’ session with him 😀 I think cattle are slightly less expressive than horses – less noise and the ears going back etc – which makes it hard for humans to understand/relate to them. I can ‘read’ Ang pretty well now though.

i know, i was almost crying, too…

some animals are bred for food, and we know that from the start, so we don’t bond with them too closelly. so, when i’d get them killed, at least i won’t be someone they completely trust.
but animals we work with spend much more time with us, we inevitably bond with them, and they bond to us, they trust us – this may be the most difficult part when sending them to be butchered.
i know when in the past the oxen got too old to work, the mearchant would come to buy them off, and included giving two older calves in the deal, too. but still, it was sometimes a drama for the entire family, everyone crying…

for now i couldn’t send an animal that completely trusts me to be butchered, be it working or not, although i know i will sooner or later be in this sort of situation.

but if i work with an animal that doesn’t have a good character, and constantly tries to hit/outsmart me, or pull something off, than i’d certainly be more willing to send it to the freezer than an animal that trusts me.

i think one can read cattle almost as good as horses, if not better.they are quite expressive, if one knows where to look (ears, as mentioned) i can clearly see where a cow is looking, and what she thinks of it, whereas i can never be sure just what goes in a horse’s head. that’s also one of the reasons i like cattle better!

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