Page 27 of Herds and Hooves

“I haven’t seen a newborn calf before,” Bart said and his eyes lit up like he was about to get the best gift ever.

“Pass me those pastries and let’s see what goodies you brought from the bakery.” Asa crumpled up the foil the burrito had come in and held his hand out for the bag. He was thin and wiry, but every bit of him was muscle, and it amazed me how much he could eat.

“We got a variety. Did you know the baker is some famous guy who used to work at a Michelin star restaurant?” Bart said, repeating what he’d read on the menu at the bakery.

“I did not know that,” Asa said and chose a chocolate croissant.

“What’s a Michelin star?” Noah asked and the conversation switched to explaining how a star was a really big deal and the fact the baker now lived and worked in little ol’ Foggy Basin was a big deal.

“All I know is they have really good treats,” Noah said and took another pastry out of the bag.

Bart finished his burrito and leaned close enough to rest his hand on my leg, which I immediately covered with my hand. Asa noticed and gave me a quick wink before finishing his croissant. “It’s going to be a good day on the farm,” he said.

“I can’t wait to see how Georgia is doing,” Bart said and looked past me out the window that faced the pasture. “Have you seen her since milking?”

“No, and she didn’t come in for milking, that’s how I knew it was probably time. She’s always been a cow that prefers to go off on her own to have her babies,” Asa said.

“How many has she had?” Bart asked.

“This will be her third. Audrey is her first, then she had a steer we sold to one of the other farms. He was getting a little too feisty to be around the girls.”

“Audrey is her baby? I didn’t know that,” Bart said.

“Yep, I try to keep all of them that I can. I don’t like to break up their families. There is nothing worse than a cow and a calf being separated and crying for each other. I just can’t do it. I’d rather give up milking and keep the cows as pets,” Asa said.

“Why don’t you? We could get a few more of the hairy ones,” Bart said.

“They’re the cutest little fuckers,” Noah said.

“Maybe someday, but for now we’ll keep doing what we’re doing. Until the girls don’t want to keep up the routine we’ll stick to it,” Asa said.

“I can totally see you having a place where people can come and hang out with cows,” Bart said.

“Is that a thing?” Asa asked.

“Yes, people go there just for the chance to hug a cow, and hang out with them,” I said. “I mean I’ve seen it on TikTok.”

Bart leaned against me and pressed down on my leg. “People love cows. Well really all farm animals, I guess. Mostly it’s people who have never been near any farm animals and they’re curious.”

“Do these people never to go the fair? I mean they have plenty of opportunity to see farm animals at the fair,” Asa said.

“No clue, I only know they seem to love hugging cows.” Bart ate the last of his breakfast and started gathering up the leftovers and the paper bags.

“Well, I can’t say I blame them,” Asa said. “Okay, let’s go see if we can find a new calf.”

Twenty-Three

Bart

Asa got on the quad and Noah jumped on the back while I ran for the jeep and Keith slid into the passenger seat. “Have you seen a calf being born yet?”

“No, this is my first.”

“I hope it all goes well,” he said, and while I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant, I knew there were so many things that could go wrong. But I hoped none of it did. Asa flew down the dirt road that ran alongside the pasture he’d said was where we’d find Georgia. At the far end was a small grove of trees the cows loved to go to in the heat of the days. Today I realized the other cows were all standing a little away from that area which I probably wouldn’t have noticed before.

Just as Asa pulled to a stop Georgia came running at him from under the trees, bellowing like I’d never heard a cow do before. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked Keith and hoped he knew.

“She wants him to help,” Keith said and hopped out of the jeep before I had a chance to set the brake.