The other day I was invited to go feed cows. Cool. This is where the learning curve begins (it is very low on the charts.) In my head I had an idea (it was wrong) that when you feed cows you take a bucket with feed (don’t ask me what’s IN the bucket), put your hand in the bucket, take your hand out and somehow let the cow feed from your hand. I realize in hindsight that I was thinking of a petting zoo, NOT a farm. So Erik and I dress in our worst clothes that we packed and we set out for the farm.

First lesson—you do not feed cows by hand. A really big tractor that pulls a really big container that holds a mixture of ground corn, hay and other ingredients that I don’t know (see learning curve still needs to grow) actually feeds the cows. The operators have to be EXTREMELY talented to not only line up their big tractors but also the container that they are pulling to the feeding troughs.

Second lesson—cows can eat corn, but often it has to be ground up. When you grind up corn it the air is completely filled with corn dust. I think my clothes were pretty much covered with this fine, film of corn matter.

Third lesson—cows are not the smartest animals in the world. A very, large tractor has to honk its horn SEVERAL times before a cow thinks “Hmmm… I better move.” However—a cow does know where its food come from—and when they realize the tractor is dumping food into the trough they high tail it for some noms. I’m glad that I was up in the tractor and not in the midst of cow chow time!

Fourth lesson—it takes a lot of time and investment to be a farmer. The family with whom I was visiting spends of a lot of time and effort—and mad kudos to them. I’m glad that someone knows how to handle cows and corn—because this seminarian certainly does not!