life in the farm 3

Mari has finally taught me and Claire so well that she allows herself one free evening. Cows take their time to appear in the milking station but most of the time everything goes fine. Except for the system letting one cow out without milking which means that she has to be caught with Bæring’s (the farmer) help and chased back in.

Claire leaves one day earlier than planned, Mari goes to take her to bus station and Bæring also disappears somewhere so I’m one day home alone during the feeding of the calves. So I happen to witness the birth of a new bull. The others have been born in the night. The cow snuffles quietly and after some time two hoofs become visible from her backside. The other cows sniff and look at this extraordinary situation. Nothing happens for some while until the head comes out as well. The cow stands up and the calf falls head first with a thump on the urine-covered concrete floor. It lies there for a while and stick his head then up, shivering. The cow starts conscientiously to lick it clean but then comes Mari and takes the calf outside. He will be called Lennart after the former Estonian president (the first famous Estonian that Mari remembered). The cow tries to continue the cleaning through the metal fence and moos angrily at the passing traffic. They meet no more.

In industrial animal keeping one has to think of the animals more like of things and not like of humans. This is somehow disturbing, I still tend to pat cows on the head when I pass them.