Despite the snow, spring bursts forth in warmth and mud. Spring air smells different from winter. Winter has no scent, but spring brings a rich, musty fragrance that seeps up like smoke from a chimney.
After a long, snowy winter, it’s time to do a happy dance and welcome warmer days. If you don’t know how to dance, the cattle can show you the bovine style. Every spring, when I let the cows onto a new pasture, they kick up their heels, bounce into the air and dash for the best patch of grass. It’s hard to imagine a 1,000-pound cow leaping in the air, but seeing is believing, and now there’s green grass and lush pastures for my dancing cows.
My elderly, 2,000-pound, gentle giant Scottish Highland steers Finn and Bleu aren’t quite so energetic, but they do enjoy the buffet of tender spring grass. Venus and her sister, Iris, Belted Galloway heifers (they look like matching Oreo cookies), have a lot to be joyful about. They’ve been wooed by my Highland bull, and this fall will give birth.
Because we’ve decided not to sell the farm, we are making great plans for this summer. The first job is to fix our fences. As Robert Frost wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors,” and because we live next to a golf course, this is especially important. Who wants a moving cow obstacle on the ninth hole?
My cattle might be curious, but they would avoid the golf course because there’s nothing to eat. They love grass, but not the golf-course variety — it’s more like Astroturf and too short for their taste. Bovines prefer tall grass, and golfers do not, so groundskeepers keep it short.
Only once did a farm escapee wander onto the course, but it was mid-winter, the ground was frozen, and no damage was done. The owner was angry, but nothing happened. Of course, this time could be different.
Husband Bruce and I will spend the next few weeks fixing our 26-year-old wire fence. With secure fences, the bovines can dance in the fields, but they won’t take their show on the road.
Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm (www.milessmithfarm.com), where she offers the Ultimate Cow Experience, where visitors can hug, sit on, and feed her cattle.