Pecos the Calf

This past summer, my friend Melissa and her sweet husband David decided to move their little family to a small home on her family's farm.  I, of course couldn't have been more thrilled because she now only lives about 20 minutes away!  This now means more friends and fellow creative folks to hang out with!  It is also very convenient that we were both remodeling our little homes at the same time.  You know misery loves company!

We look forward to featuring Melissa and her company, Greener Grass, here at The Southern Mercantile.  We can't wait for you to get to know her, we already consider her a part of the family!

To get to know Melissa better, visit her at:
http://melissadark.blogspot.com/

Here are a few words from a fellow Southerner:


In the midst of the moving and renovating this summer, we also acquired a cow.

A baby cow. That needed to be fed twice a day with a bottle. 

He's adorable and we named him Pecos.

One of Daddy's rancher friends originally owned Pecos, but when he was just a few days old he was accidentally separated from his mama. Isn't that sad? Then, by the time they reunited mama and calf, the mama wanted nothing to do with the baby. It was like she had forgotten about him. 

Are you crying? Yeah. Me neither.

This is evidentially fairly common in the ranching world. Mama's won't feed their babies or they get separated and these little orphan cows are sometimes sold at a steep discount because of the extra work that feeding and caring for them requires. 

Daddy got this little calf to start Ford his own herd. By the time Ford is 30 he should have about 200 head of cattle. Just kidding.

Kind of. 

Anyway, now we're ranchers and we're feeding this sweet little cow twice a day and trying not to get too attached. BUT HE'S AN ORPHAN BABY! I'M FEEDING HIM WITH A BOTTLE! Yet, one day we will load him onto the cattle trailer to take him to the sale. Farm life is emotional, y'all. 

As the summer came to a close we decided that it would be best if Pecos joined the rest of the herd. He loved watching the other cows from his stall in the barn and you could tell he was feeling lonely. (I'm not emotionally invested in this animal at all.) So we turned him out and now he plays with the other calves and eats grass all day.

We still give him one or two bottles a day, depending on what's going on that day. Pecos comes up to the fence by our house and let's out these little moos to let us know he's there and wants to eat. Ford can usually hear him and he'll start chanting "Feed Pecos! Feed Pecos! Pecos is huuuuuungry." 

Now that Pecos is hanging with all of his herd friends, I think he's embarrassed of me. When I go to feed him he runs up excited to eat, but when I try to give him a little love he just ignores me and walks off like he doesn't even know me. I share a movie on Instagram of him giving me the cold shoulder. 

Pecos was not too proud, however, to chase David and I across the entire pasture yesterday. We were cutting through the cow pasture to walk to my parents house and when Pecos saw us come through the gate he ran up to us wanting to eat. I sweetly told him that I didn't have his bottle and that I'd be back later to feed him. He couldn't imagine a world were we had other things to do besides feed him so he followed us the whole way nibbling on David's shorts and HEAD BUTTING ME IN THE REAR.

 You've got a lot of nerve little Pecos. Good thing you're cute.

-Melissa