Cowpies, up close and personal!
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive September 2006:
Cowpies, up close and personal!
Okay, so we are walking across the county fair, to meet up with Gary and go home! Emily suggests we walk though one of the cow barns. It so happens they are moving some of the cows around, for some reason, and one is in the aisle, where we are walking. We are only a few feet away from this cow, when she starts to poop, and it's not solid. We immediately start to back up, but it's not fast enough and we get splattered with poop anyway! I had poop splatters on my feet, my sandals, my legs, my capris and up on my shirt! Honestly, I though cows had more solid poop than that! ROFL!
One of the cowkids in the barn directs us to a roll of paper towel, laying on the ground. We grab some and try to wipe it off, but really, how far are you going to get, with a dry paper towel! LOL!
So, anyway, we just have to deal with it, until we can get home, about 10 miles away. So, we threw our clothes into the washing machine and Emily and I took showers, when we got home, after washing off our shoes, outside! Ugh. The hazards of the fair!
Then Emily was apologizing up and down, for making us go into the cow barn, in the first place! LOL!
Oh, can you tell we aren't farm people? Jasmine was quite fascinated with our new perfume, when we got home! She even licked the spots on my pants! Ewwww!
OMgosh...that's gross... 
You deserve the cow pie purple heart for that!
You almost wish they came with a warning sign, that popped up at the crucial moment!
Yuck! At least you were on your way out and not starting your day! 
Yes, it was a good thing!
I am a country girl and live around cows. Since they only eat grass and hay, their poop tends to be very loose. (Lots of fiber ). It is pretty innocuous compared to the poop of other animals BECAUSE they only eat grass. The smell of it is very frequent where I live, depending on the wind. I happen to find it kind of enjoyable. LOL! However, when the boys first came to live with us, they were from the city, and it took them a long time to get used to it.
Cow manure is excellent for growing things, unlike horse poop that will sprout oats throughout your garden! Chicken poop is the WORST! Very strong! DH and a friend went to a chicken farm once to get manure for our vegetable garden. They said that when they stuck the pitchfork into it, clouds of ammonia gas came out, causing their eyes to water. It was so potent, that it stayed in our soil for about three years. We had the BEST corn and pumpkins in those years.
As much as I don't mind cow poop, I can't say that I would want to be showered with it. I'll BET that Jasmine found it very intriguing! LOL!
At our fair, they have cow dung throwing contests. Of course, it is dried into cow "patties". I was in physical therapy two weeks ago, when our fair was going on. One of the patients is a farmer and she was teasing one of the therapists about competeing in the dung throwing contest. This girl is a city girl all the way (who just happened to marry a guy from our area). She said, "EEWWW! Do you wear gloves?" We all laughed.
LOL Hol, that is the way it is around here too... Depending on the direction the wind blows. We have two horse farms on one side and a cow farm on the other.. The joys of (cough)fresh air. LOL
You have to wait a bit for the poop to dry up and become more solid Dawn. I had Many hours of walking across cow field avoiding poop and thistles. Shoes might have solved the problem but they took too long to get on when you wanted to get outside.
Hol - ditto on the cow poop. It's a welcome smell in the spring when farmers start spreading it on their feilds around here.
Best smelling poop though? Horses. Hands down.
I guess I haven't seen that many cows poop, in my lifetime! I just would have liked to have been a little farther away, when it happened. I still have little brown specks on my shirt. They didn't come out. I have washed it three times. I'm guessing they are there to stay.
I grew up in the country, tho not on a farm. My parents still live there, and they are surrounded by fields on all sides, but only the one in the front of the house across the street and the one behind the house on the other side of the creek are farmed. The one behind is just for hay, but the one across the street is for corn, and when they spray the fertilizer, my parents close the windows.
I read an article in our local paper about "farm factories," which are concentrated animal feeding operations that house thousands of animals in barns and store millions of gallons of liquid manure in lagoons until the waste is used to fertilize farm fields. They are making neighbors angry about the smell and the possible chemical pollution.
What do you think about those kinds of farms?
If the animals are treated humanely, I don't have a problem with them. However, most of the "factory farms" that I have heard of produce HORRIBLE living conditions for the animals in their short little lives, all in the name of big profits.
Chickens are crammed in these huge chicken coops where they can barely move, and are packed on top of one another. Sometimes their beaks are cut short to keep them from pecking each other to death.
Cows and pigs are confined to stalls to fatten them up. Because they stand in their own feces, they are injected with antibiotics to prevent disease, which of course, is passed on in their meat. The worst thing is the production of veal. Baby calves aren't even allowed to nurse from their Moms. They are confined in small crates where they can't even turn around, and are fed a "mash". They are only a few days to a week old when they are sent to slaughter, as the light pink meat is supposed to be the best. The mother cows cry for their babies.
When I first learned about these "factory farms" about fifteen years ago, is when I decided to become a vegetarian.
I'm sorry to be such a downer, but you asked our opinion.
Don't worry about the downer. I really wanted to know your opinion. I have just always wondered why this type of farming would be popular when the conditions around the farm are so bitter.
Apparently there is a move in congress (in Michigan) to stop any more farms from going into business until there can be more laws regulating them.
I'm glad to hear that. I hope the other states follow.
|
Members
