Did you know that you can listen to cows chewing their cuds? Did you know that cow’s breath smells a certain way, and did you know that a cow’s tongue is like very coarse sandpaper so it hurts when they lick you? (That layer is peeled off after you cook it, before you slice it, but that is a different train of thought) When it is dark in the very early morning and you cannot find the cows in the pasture, you stand still and listen for the breathing, or if they are up, for the loud tearing sound of teeth biting off great mouthfuls of grass. When I was young, there were no 4-wheelers and headlights, so going after the cows was an adventure, finding them in the dark in the big field, or up on the hill pasture. I called them loudly, “Boss, boss, boss! Come boss!” Often they would come, but not always.

What a disappointment if I got back to the barn and some were missing. No waiting, they must be gotten for milking. There is the feel of bare feet kicking up dust on the cowpath, less pleasant the stepping in the still warm manure. In the late fall the same bare feet will be so cold, refusing shoes yet, but tingling in the frosty grass.