How it all Began

People frequently ask me how I ended up so interested in cows, so here is my story.

I was just about to turn seven when I started working in the barn with three of my best friends. All four of us were home schooled, and we were all lucky enough to have parents who were willing to help us work in the barn. We each had one calf to take care of; mine was named Tahiti, and she actually still lives on the farm.

We would come to the barn at five o'clock each night and clean our calves' stalls, feed them, clean their water, and of course walk and brush them. Every night as soon as we finished our chores, we would take the calves out and groom them. Some days we pretended that we were about to show the calves at the fair, other times we pretended that we were the vet and we had to give the calves a checkup, or cure a fictitious disease. Sometimes we even pretended that we were orphans who had nobody but their calves.

We had made up commands for everything that we wanted the calves to do. If we wanted them to turn, instead of using 'gee' or 'haw' we would say "churn like the butter." If a calf tried to reach down and snatch some hay off of the floor we would shout "hey no hay." 

Since we were so small, it took all four of us to move one hay bale, and it took two of us to move a bucket of water.

One day when we were feeding the bottles to our calves, one of my friends was standing next to her calf's water tub and the over-enthusiastic calf pushed her backwards and she fell in.

When our calves became too big to live in their small pens in the barn, and were ready to move outside, we held them a graduation ceremony.

After our first calves grew up, we took care of many more. In 2009, we took our calves to the fair for the first time. And in 2012, when the farm found itself short of workers, we began to work a lot more. That was when I learned to milk cows. It has been almost a year since then, and I have again found something new to try: training working steers. I had been thinking about oxen for some time, although, I had simply never had the motivation to start training them. When Beech had twins, however, I realized that this was my opportunity to have steers and I had to take it. Now as I start my way down a new path with Bright and Bold, all that I can hope is that it will be half as wonderful as my past eight years on the farm.

 Me feeding Tahiti, the first calf that i ever took care of.

Me and my three friends who did barn chores with out calves. From left to right, Marta and her calf Bora, me and Tahiti, Nora and avalanche, and Gretta and Morea.

winter coats

Bright and bold are looking handsome in their new
, bright purple winter coats!

bright and bold's 2 month birthday

On the right is bold and on the left is bright. Bright now weighs about 150 lbs and bold is about 170 lbs.

Uncle Phillip

A few days ago, my grandpa sent me this photo of his uncle Phillip, with his oxen. My grandpa thinks that this photo was taken around 1929. It is really cool to know that i am not the first one in the family to have oxen!

The Trailer

This trailer was built in 1947 (or so i'm told) and has passed through several owners before it became mine. I took on the challenge of rebuilding it last summer and am now just about finished. I have replaced all of the wooden parts and some of the metal as well. I also went ahead a painted it bright green because, well...who doesn't want a green trailer? I originally took on this project with the hope of using the trailer to bring cows to shows before Bright and Bold were even born. But it will be perfect for Bright and Bold since it is a two horse trailer and there are two of them! 

Above: A recent photo of the trailer.
Below: A photo of the trailer taken last summer shortly after i started working on it.

Jessie, who works at Cedar Mountain Farm, and her daughter Sawyer stand with Bright and Bold.

Bright and Bold's new friend.

Yesterday i finally met someone who was able share their knowledge of oxen with me. there were some people visiting the farm and one of them had trained quite a few teams of oxen. He helped be take Bright and Bold out and work with them each individually for a few minutes. It was very helpful to finally have someone answer the questions that i have been wondering about ever since i started working with the steers.

Twin brothers and best friends.

Bright and Bold's mother Beech had moved out of the pen with bright and bold to live with the other milking cows. Bright and Bold now have a pen to themselves, and are now bottle fed. Beech however is not so far away that she can't hear and smell them. She frequently moos to them and they moo back.

A new yoke.

 Instead of putting a lot of time, money and effort into making or buying a real yoke for bright and bold,  i decided to make them one from a 2X6 board and some 1/2 inch plywood. It wasn't too difficult to make and only took a few hours, and it is a nice to not put too much work into something that the calves will soon outgrow.

1 Month Birthday (9/23/13)

 Bright and Bold going for a walk on their one month birthday. I still haven't finished the first yoke, so they are currently both wearing halters, as well as collars that are attached together with a clip.

 Bold, one month old.

Bright, 1 month old.

First time walking together! (9/11/13)

I have been walking bright and bold almost every day since they were three days old. Today was my first time taking them both out at the same time. To my surprise, they were much easier to handle together than they were separately. They wern't frightened like they were when i took them out individually. I don't have a yoke for them yet though, so i guess making one is going to be my next project.

Beech and Bold.

Bright and bold were born on August 23, 2013. This photo was take when they were less than a day old. From left to right, Bright, Bold, and their mother Beech.