Ever heard the phrase “Til the cows come home”?

Could be yours!

www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/style/self-care/cow-cuddling-therapy.html

I remember when I was young working off and on on family farms. Squished between cows in stalls when doing chores, stepped on by huge heavy hooves. My favorite was getting whipped in the face with poop crusted tails. Or splashed when they relieved themselves.

Fun fun.

Oh and PS, there will never be one in any of my rentals.

I hear ya, NE.

LOL, NE! Dirty tail in the face is the worst.

And the flies! Where do they all come from?!

I spent a week once on a dairy farm in Ocala, FL. It was kind of fun, partly because I didn't have to get up at 3 am for the 5 am milking.

Was fun to see all the cows line up for milking. And I learned how to stick the milk sucking things on them. And we went mud bogging on Saturday night. Redneckery at it's finest! LOL

SERVICE animals are officially limited to dogs and miniature horses. ESAs have no limitations so technically speaking a cow COULD be brought (forced) into the rental.

I bought a foreclosure where the former owners had kept their pet goats in the bedroom during cold weather. Peee-yooo!

As a city kid teen I worked parttime for a farmer (detassling led to driving a plow-AWESOME driving a big powerful tractor at age 16!)

We were repairing some boards in the cow stalls, ankle deep in manure. I told him I needed to step out to relieve myself. A man of few words he spit his tabaccy and said “Boy. Whadda ya think yur standin in - just add to the soup.”

Add to the soup. I'm laughing tears.

Thanks- I needed a good laugh.

Always surprised me how other farmers let their animals live in filth. My dad mad sure we kept our barns very clean. We might have gotten swatted with a tail, but it was never a poop-crusted tail. In the winter we didn’t, clean out the loafing sheds, but we added fresh straw daily, so by spring, the steers were much closer to the ceiling.

$75/hour to hug cows? Woa!!

There was a picture going around the Fakebook of some cows that broke into their owner's house while they were on vacation (that's the story on the pic I saw at least). Absolutely TRASHED the house. The floor was nothing but mud and the walls were totally covered in mud too. I'm sure that mud had "other" things mixed with it too. (in reality, it was totally the "other" things) Haha! ;)

The fast food chains want very lean meat so they don't lose weight from the fat melting out when cooked. Old dairy cows are thin animals and yield meat that is low in fat.

The cows are not sold to fast food chains. They go through regular channels and the fast food chains simply order the low fat (low grades) of meat and probably, but not necessarily, what they are getting is older animals.

The dairy breeds of cow produce very good meat, but they are not efficient at turning feed into beef. That's why what you buy in the supermarket is beef from beef breeds of cattle.

With a beef cow, it take less feed to produce a pound of beef.

Older cattle tend to taste good, depending upon what they have been fed. The meat has a more mature flavor, but it is tough, which is why it is ground.

Roy, old milkers typically become ground beef. Too tough for steaks. Steaks come from cows about 18 months old.

I have no problem cuddling with a burger or steak.

We get 95% of our meat directly from farmers. We have a hog coming in the fall and a 1/4 of a steer soon.

We raise our own rabbits for meat and sometimes chickens. Sometimes we get chickens from the farmer as well.

Lambs we buy at a local fair in the fall from 4-H kids.

Nowhere in this process do I see any of these people needing to cuddle with any of these animals.

I remember as a young man going to the sale barn in KC. That's where we sold our steers each spring. I watched the ring and the buyers. You see all kinds of beef there: old milkers; old cows past their calving years; culls that had a bad eyes, open wounds, deformities, cancerous eyes etc.

Cows can be bribed to hang around for food. They can be desensitized to allow touching. They do not have much interest in human company beyond that and they are dangerous, large, heavy animals with a very different idea of personal space.

I'm surprised that there is even any liability insurance available that would cover livestock-inexperienced people around cattle.

Busy,

Hahaha! So the comfort cows who I assume have pleasant names, can now comfort some tummies!

Nothing like a great steak and taters to adjust my attitude!