Chewing The Cud

With the semester finished, I’ve had three busy and eventful weeks adjusting back to life as a country girl on my cow-calf operation in Southeast South Dakota. Having barely unpacked my bags, my dad had me outside working my tail off. The adjustment from sitting in a desk to working on the farm is quite a rough road.

The first job Dad had me tackle was cleaning out the calving barn. A winter’s worth of manure and straw greeted me. With a pitchfork in hand, I spent two days throwing manure. I even earned myself a few calluses that had long since disappeared in my "easy" days at South Dakota State University.

Every night, Daddy and I would check over the babies to look for signs of scours. Mind you, we are not a horse and lasso family. With our four-wheeler and a long metal hook called a calf-catch, Dad and I snuck up on our sickly suspects. Dad extended the catch, looping a back leg above the hock. I would bail off the four-wheeler, grab the front leg, and flip the calf. Dad would proceed to sit on the belly of the calf while I inserted pills in the calf’s mouth. It was a nightly rodeo for my Dad and I.

Other chores for the week included washing the show calves and hanging up fans in the barn. At night, Dad and I would trek to our customer’s farms, delivering bulls and turning them out to pasture.

Finally, this week the whole family has been working to move all of the cows to pasture. Working cattle is no easy task. In my family, everyone has an opinion on how to sort and work the calves, and any farmwife or daughter can relate to a dad who has his own symbols and hand gestures for communicating to his family what he wants done. The waving and whooping made for an interesting scene as we maneuvered pairs into the working chute and onto the trailer.

With that task completed, the entire family breathes a sigh of relief. The cows are out to pasture, the show calves are in the barn, and the bulls have been delivered. The summer can finally begin on our cow-calf operation.

Having finally adjusted back to life as a farm girl, it’s a sad thought that I’m leaving once again for my next adventure. In a week’s time, I will be leaving the continent for Argentina. For the month of June, I will explore the city of Buenos Aires to attend Spanish classes, live with a host family, and complete my goal of studying abroad during my college career.

As I pack for this long-awaited adventure, I anticipate many differences. Did you know that Buenos Aires is the ninth largest city in the world? I’ll be trading cows for people, four-wheelers for subways, English for Spanish, country music for salsa and tango, summer for winter, and prairie grasses for skyscrapers. I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous for this trip, but I’m very excited to explore a new part of the world. And like they always say, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl!