September 16, 2004
How fast can a cow run, and other puzzling questions
This afternoon our nephew, Zach Baker, was giving Karen and me a hand doing some things around the farm. We moved the layer hen house to a fresh patch of grass, and then moved some heifers from the young heifer/steer group over to the older heifer/steer group. The four heifers we were moving weren't very cooperative and we had to chase them around some before they went through the gates we wanted them to go through. This prompted Zach to ask me, "How fast do cows run?".
I had to admit to him I really didn't know. I do know that many times I have tried to run and get in front of an animal to turn the animal back where I want her and I just could not run fast enough. Then Zach, showing confidence in his older cousin, asked it the cows could run faster than my son Ben. Ben is a cross-country runner and quite fast, but I told Zach that even Ben could not outrun every cow. I told him that at next herd clinic I would talk to Dr. Steve and see if he could tell me how fast cows can run.
Kids aren't the only ones who ask interesting questions. I remember a milk truck driver who picked up our milk for several years once asked me do cows sleep. I thought they did, but I posed the question to Dr. Steve and he felt that cows do sleep, but not the same way you or I do. Some mornings I have to poke a cow for several seconds before she will stir and finally get up. It's always fun to have kids or even adult visitors here on the farm and to hear what questions or observations they will come up with.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
Posted by Blogger Chris at September 16, 2004 08:08 PM
This is fantastic- I love how the site has grown and developed since I first logged on way long ago to sponsor a cow. : ) Consumer note: I also wanted to let you know that the Costco in my area (Washington state)has started to carry your yogurt in Strawberry and Blueberry. This was especially nice as they had carried your 4pk smoothies for a while but then rotated them out (?) and there was a temporary dearth in Stonyfield products. : ) That man I married has taken to the blueberry cups---and he never had like yogurt! Keep up the fine work.
Hi,I am brand new to your Blog and am luvin' it. When I was little, we had a herd of cows next door and about once a week they would get loose, come into our yard and look in our windows. I remember that we thought that it was very funny to look out and see a cow looking back. On the other side, we had lots of pigs. We used to love to sit on the fence and watch the them. The fence dividing the acerage was one of the walls of the pen. One day our Mom saw that we were doing that and told us that if we fell into the pen that the pigs would eat us. We got so scared that we never sat on the fence again. I guess that she was afraid that we would fall in and get all dirty, but I really doubt in retrospect that they would have eaten us. It sure did the trick though, scared the living daylights out of me!
Do cows run when they get older? Or do they get lazy and sedate?
Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont.