THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THEIR HAND UP
The calves that carried their names
By Sam Marwood
Post 7 of 19
The first spring on the farm, the youngest was at the calf pen, and the marked heifer calves in it were the family's.
The children were already there when the buckets came across from the dairy. The couple had finished milking, and the pen was the next job of the morning, the same job it would be tomorrow.
One calf was slow on the bucket and another had finished and was nosing about for more. The couple worked along the row until every calf had had a feed, and they rinsed the buckets as they went.
The shed smelled of milk and fresh bedding, and the youngest watched which calves needed the extra minute. The marked heifers were among the ones that took it, and the mark showed from the shed door.
They ran the place as share farming on a community owned farm, where locals own the farm together, with a farming family running it. The couple were that family, two farm workers the district chose through an open call, and they won the place on their merit.
More than a job. A pathway to ownership.
The marked calves were in the family's care, the mark went on them this spring, and nobody said the land under them was already theirs.
One of the couple got the slow calf steady on its feet, and the youngest called that calf from the far side of the pen and was right. The mark was clear on that calf, and the couple kept working the row while the youngest stayed on the outside of the pen.
Before the calves went out, one of the couple checked the slow one a last time and made sure it had had enough. The bedding under that calf was kicked flat, so they threw a little more straw into the corner it used.
The water in the pen trough was low, and one of them filled it while the other hung the rinsed buckets on their nails. A calf that finished early nosed the gate, and they left it there until the whole row was done.
When the feeds were done, the calves went out with the mob, the marked ones among the rest. The couple watched from the pen gate until the slow calf was through, and then the paddock had them.
They walked the paddock the milkers would get next, and one of them checked the trough on the way. The marked calves were in sight with the others, and the rest of the day was the ordinary work of the farm.
At the house they ate in their work clothes, and the talk was the slow calf and then the paddock. The youngest talked about the pen, and the calves were already settled, so the couple left them where they were.
By the evening check the marked calves were lying in with the others. The couple were tired in the ordinary way of a spring day, and the marks would still be on those calves in the morning.
The family would be at the same pen tomorrow, with the same buckets and the same slow calf to watch.
This is an illustration of how it could unfold when it goes right. The district and the people in it aren't any one place or person.
Community Owned Farms is free at cultivatefarms.com/resources.