THE RED COW 



interests were not involved in any way she made a 

 bigger disturbance and got more thoroughly worked 

 up than the cow that was really bereaved. And no- 

 body thanked her or gave her a word of praise. I 

 admit that this lesson came home to me with great 



force. 



* * * * 



Though I got the cows in the stable the excite- 

 ment was by no means over. The cow that had lost 

 her calf the day before is a kicker by nature, but 

 after getting excited she simply refused to be touched 

 when milking time came around. When she was be- 

 ing broken in last year sympathetic friends sent me 

 many receipts for conquering a kicking cow, but in 

 the state she was in none of them was of any use. 

 Though I could keep her from kicking by tying a 

 strap around her hind legs and another around her 

 body in front of the udder, my friends neglected to 

 tell what to do when a cow tries to lie down on top 

 of the milker. But just when I was in the thick of 

 this trouble an experienced milker came along and 

 gave me a plan that was so simple that it seemed 

 silly. I took off the leg and body straps and then 

 took a rope and looped it loosely across the cow's 

 back in front of the hip bones and then tied it be- 



48 



