Anyone raising long-haired Highland cattle — or honestly any bovine with a tail, which is most of them — knows what I'm talking about. The burrs have invaded, and they've brought two different armies. I spend a chunk of every August with scissors in my hand, prying burrs from bovine ears.
We know the benefits of therapy dogs and the remarkable healing of therapy horses, but cattle deserve the same recognition: their healing qualities have been largely ignored...until now.
Training calves is a lot like training children. Both have short attention spans, and both would rather play than work, as I discovered at the 2024 Miles Smith Farm camp.
What's the point of a cow experience for people who can't see the cows? I said yes anyway, figuring I'd learn something. That part I got right.
I gave this talk because a cow taught me something no human ever could.
That's the thing about cattle: they are forgiving. I can bark at a steer at nine in the morning, and by 9:02 he's looking for a treat. Cattle don't hold grudges. They don't read tone. They don't lie awake replaying what you said to them by the water trough.
