Farmwife Confession: Frozen Cows

Until December 23, 2010, I was a city girl. I had daily lattes, shopped a little too often, relied on public transportation, and rejected the thought of ever living in the country. When my husband and I decided to leave it all for West Texas to farm, life changed completely. Read my “Farmwife Confessions” to learn about the transition.

The wind is howling, the temperatures are dropping, and the sky is spitting out snowflakes. Another winter storm is headed our way.

Last week, when the first storm hit West Texas, Russell had to get up every day to go tend to cows. And I was forced to tell everyone an embarrassing story. And now I’m telling you.

Before moving here, I used to ask Russell what work there was to do on the farm in the winter. He always replied, “Look after the cows.”

Well, what exactly do you have to do, I would ask. And he would always reply, “Oooh, you know, break ice.” He’s a wealth of information.

I grew up with cows on our family land – but we didn’t have ice and snow. The only thing I could picture were muskox (muskoxes?) in the tundra, struggling against the harsh wind, covered in ice and snow, like I had seen on Planet Earth. And, so, it followed in my head, that Russell would be breaking ice off the cows.

See the cows in the background in all the snow?? Surely they have ice hanging off of them…

When Russell heard this, he started laughing at me, while trying to politely inform me that the cows are not frozen together, and instead, he’s breaking ice that formed on their troughs and tanks.

Oh. Oops.

More reason to let him go out in -6 degree weather while I stay in the warm cozy house with my morning coffee!