Photos in this morning's local paper* showed 7-month old heifers running in a pasture for the first time. The accompanying article said, "...they jumped from the trailer into the pasture where they will be spending the next few months."
Oh, how I remember watching Mr. Hooper's heifers leap from the back of his truck when he brought them from his Danvers dairy farm to the Locust Lawn property near my home. At Locust Lawn they would have acres of fields and woods in which to roam. Probably they had been cooped up in a barn all winter.
They arrived packed side by side in the truck, with no room to maneuver. Mr. Hooper parked the truck on the old dirt road just south of the big barn at Locust Lawn. He opened the wide gate to the pasture, which sloped down towards the east, beside the ski slope. Then he lifted the back panels out of his truck and prepared to position ramps for those young cows to walk down from the truck bed.
Well! The heifers didn't wait for a ramp. Some leapt sideways into the air, and hit the ground running! They seemed to jump for joy. They cavoted around in the free space, and ran off in various directions.
What fun to watch this ritual of Spring!
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* See the Daily Hampshire Gazette, May 13, 2020, "Who Let the Cows Out?" online (with video of the heifers) at
https://www.gazettenet.com/Barstow-Farm-in-Hadley-releases-several-cows-on-Pasture-Day-34283329
I enjoy writing about my memories of growing up in Danvers, Massachusetts. I began this weblog in 2007 in conjunction with the beginning of my series of monthly columns for the Danvers Herald. I have used the blog to post links to the published columns, and also to provide photos and supplementary information relevant to Danvers and my family. I invite comments from Danvers residents or others who have shared similar experiences.
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- Sandy
- I grew up in Danvers, attending Danvers Public Schools grades 1-10. I now live in western Massachusetts and enjoy writing. You can send me email via this form or add Comments to any of my posts.
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