Poppy the Country Girl at Heart: Little Jersey

Welcome to Poppy's Blog!

Thank you for joining me on this beautiful Sunday

Here is a story I wrote on Saturday - Little Jersey

It was my second year in Paso Robles and I decided to check out the small animal auction in Templeton. As I drove into the parking lot, I had a flashback as a child going to the 101 livestock auction with my dad. I found a parking and went into the café to find a cup of coffee. People were selling animals outside of the auction, chickens, ducks, geese, and some cattle dogs. I made my way into the auction house and found a seat in front of the round corral. As the auction started it was interesting. They had cows, goats, pigs, and horses. Halfway through the auction I saw a little jersey bull calf come in the pin. People started to bid on him. I looked at him, he was small and scrawny looking, but I liked his color markings. As the guy hit him with the cow paddle, I could see his eyes and he was scared. I decided to bid on him, and I won. A whopping $125. I had a few eyes on me but I did not care. I was going to take the little jersey home and give him lots of TLC so he could get big and healthy. They loaded him in the trailer for me and when we

arrived home, I backed the trailer into my pasture and opened the door and said this is your new home. I am going to call you “Little Jersey.” He did not want to get out. But when he saw the hay in the trough, he came out quickly. He then found the water. Every day I would go out and see Little Jersey. When he saw me walking down the hill he would start to buck and run around the pasture. He was gentle and ate right out of my hand. The neighbors watched as I fed him, and they would yell across the field "he loves you." While washing my dishes I would look out of the window to see what he was up to. One time he was chasing the chickens. It was funny. As time progressed, he started to look healthier. He was growing into a handsome jersey bull. As I entered the pasture, I would talk with him and he followed me around. As I checked the water trough, he would snuggle up against me. He was getting big and he almost pushed me into the water trough when he wanted to snuggle. I even crocheted a necklace for him. He was all grown up and strong and it was time to take him to the auction. He was ready to reenter the world but this time healthy and good looking.

I hauled him over on a Saturday morning and I had my bill of sale. They had separated him and put him in a pin by himself. I went into the office and the lady said she had called the branding inspector because she thought I was a cow thief. I had already showed her my bill of sale, but she did not believe it was the same jersey bull. She said my papers were not in the system. I had to call an old rancher friend to talk some sense into this woman. He came and set her straight along with the branding inspector. Apparently, the auction office was not organized, and had misplaced a stack of papers, which included mine and a few other peoples.

After all this mess was said and done. Little Jersey weighted in over 1,000lbs. and was sold to a dairy in the valley. I went over to see when they were loading Little Jersey into a fancy large aluminum trailer. A man came over to me and said, “mam, he is gentle and healthy. I said, “thank you” and waved goodbye to Little Jersey.

As I drove off in my truck, I was happy that Little Jersey went to a good home and will have lots of babies.

Let me end with this quote - Having a tender heart in a tough world is a superpower.