Curious Bleu, an 11-year-old Scottish Highland steer, had a thick coat of hair that protected him from winter cold. But with summer heat approaching, it was time to shave it all off.
Some Highlanders, like Ferdinand the bull and Kavi, the cow, shed their winter coats without help, while Sophie and Belinda need a vigorous brushing to remove theirs. Still, Bleu and about ten other Highlanders need more help than that.
I had to locate the electric clippers and the blades I had put “somewhere safe” last year. Cattle need industrial-size clippers that use expensive removable blades. Sometimes the blades get lost or, after many sharpenings, are discarded. On the clipping day, I was in luck. I found two of my three clippers with sharp blades ready to use.
Clipping cattle is one of my favorite things, but the last time I clipped a steer, I spent two days recovering from an allergic reaction to cow hair. It’s sad to be a cattle farmer with a cow allergy, but I manage. So, I recruit others who want to try their barber skills on a hairy critter. My first volunteer was Tim Stevens, who had come to pick up a heifer at my farm.
After brief instructions (I told him he could do nothing wrong), Tim and his kids went to work on Bleu. The gentle vibration soothed the steer. If he were a cat, he would have purred as the blades cut off thick hair from his back and around his tail, spots he couldn’t scratch with his long horns.
I’d met Tim in March when he bought two calves from me. Tim and his wife, Kelly, purchased these mini-Highlanders for their kids to bond with. He put them in his pasture next to their Northern Comfort Motel in Colebrook for the viewing enjoyment of their guests.
Now, back to those shaggy Highlanders. If trimming the fleece of a woolly mammoth is on your bucket list, I can provide a similar experience. Want to? Please, adults only, and we request a $65 donation to the Learning Networks Foundation. You’ll have a great time, the cattle will be grateful, and your donation will help feed Curious Bleu and his foundation colleagues.
Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm (www.milessmithfarm.com) in Loudon, N.H., where she raises and sells beef and other local products. Her book, “Yes, I Name Them,” will be available in September. She can be reached at carolesoule60@gmail.com.