Soule: What Cows are Talking About Will Surprise You

Last week a fifteen-year-old steer with a six-foot horn span backed off a trailer into my barnyard, and Curious Bleu — who has not hurried anywhere in three years — hurried.

Red is home.
The two of them go back further than most marriages. When they were young, Red and Bleu worked together in a yoke and became best friends. They're both old now, very old for bovines, and every other animal they grew up with has died.

When we first tried to retire, Red went on loan to Bela Brook Farm in Dunbarton. Then Bleu had an accident and lost a horn, and somewhere in his convalescence he started asking after his old buddy. So I made a phone call.

Reverse Retirement
About that retirement. We tried it in 2024. We closed the farm store, put the farm on the market, kept the most personable cattle — I call them the ambassadors — and took a three-week vacation. A year and a half later, with exactly one offer on the house, we changed course and didn't feel a bit guilty.

The Ultimate Cow Experience
The new plan was the "Ultimate Cow Experience" for farm visitors. But first we needed cooperation from our employees, the four-legged ones.

I gathered them together, and the conversation went like this...

Click Here For The Cow-versation

Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, N.H., where you can have an Ultimate CowExperience, hug Highland Steer, Curious Bleu, and admire Red’s majestic horns. Carole can be reached at carole@cow-coach.com.