Lead Me Home by Amy Sorrells

Author:Amy Sorrells [Sorrells, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781496414380
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2016-05-03T07:00:00+00:00

Noble went back inside the barn to switch out the cows and the automatic milking devices. He turned up the radio.

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine

I keep my eyes wide open all the time . . .

From George Strait to Johnny Cash. Not bad. An old wives’ tale said the cows gave more milk when they listened to music, and he’d trained them all up on country and western. Helped pass the time, too. Eight cows at a time meant about eight rounds of milking, each round taking about fifteen minutes by the time he got through cleaning all the teats beforehand, hooking them all up and unhooking them, and dipping the teats in a protective Betadine and lanolin mixture when they were done. The rhythmic sound of the machines reminded Noble of a candy factory as the pulsations mimicked in mechanical form a suckling calf.

Of all the farm duties, milking time was his favorite, especially since Dad had left. The cows were happy, he and Eustace were happy, and they all relaxed into the hum and whir of the milking and the sway of the cows as they gave up their milk. If Dad had done anything right, it had been to maintain the Jersey herd. Jerseys were the gentlest, most trusting of the milking breeds, and the extra richness of the milk allowed them to get enough more cents per gallon to keep the farm going with a smaller herd than some of the other breeds like Whitmore’s Holsteins.

They could ride a Jersey cow, too.

He remembered the first time Shelby had been brave enough to let him help her ride Marcia, one of the older cows named after the Brady Bunch girls.

“Where’s the saddle?” Shelby had asked.

“Ain’t no saddle for a cow.”

“You expect me to ride this thing bareback?”

Marcia stuck her huge tongue out and reached it up to lick the dripping snot off her snout. Noble had fixed a bitless bridle to her head.

“Yep.” Noble grinned. He leaned down and laced his fingers together for Shelby to step into.

Gingerly she did and pulled herself up. Marcia sidestepped, and Shelby leaned her whole body flat against the cow’s back. “I don’t want to do this!”

“Too late now,” Noble said, taking the reins and guiding Marcia out toward the pasture, where he led them in a big circle before bringing her back around to the barns.

By the time they got back, Shelby was laughing so hard she was in tears.

“So I guess you had fun then, eh?” Noble asked, holding her gently under her arms as he helped her down.

“I surely did.”

Shaking off the memory, Noble fixed his attention back on Eustace, who was shooing Dolly into the barn with the last of the girls. She’d recovered nicely from the traumatic birth of Pecan, who was still relegated to the barn with the other calves being weaned from their mothers.

Before Dolly, Eustace had other favorites, but none like her. She’d been born shortly after their dad left them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.