Kids....

Remember when you were young and refused to eat your supper? Most parents did the old "go to bed without" thing - mine took it a step further.

Whenever we had something particularly nasty - like ham or jowl bacon - or anything we just couldn't choke down, we'd sit at the table, alone, until we either ate it, or it was time for bed. If it was the latter, we woke up to the same thing - usually cold - for breakfast.

It's a form of child psychological torture...

Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to "feed the rose bushes" or the dogs. Some people have all the luck.

Last night, we found out that bovine are just big, four legged kids, in cow skin. Deb read something about giving cows a bit of yogurt to help keep things straight in their rumen. Cows, being who they are, are not usually fond of semi-soured milk, no matter how you disguise it.

Mabel, the "good" kid, usually eats just about everything I put in front of her. Daisy, on the other hand, can smell a 1/4 teaspoon of something "odd" in her normal fare. She'll just stand and snort, then every so often take a TINY nibble, and spit it out.

Last night, I forgot to take the yogurt out, so Deb brought it to the barn when we were about half done with the evening milking. We ended up mixing about 1/2 a cup of yogurt into a pound and a half of feed.

BOTH cows turned up their nose at it. Even Mabel just picked around the edges, then looked at us as if to say, "Now WHY did you ruin perfectly good food with THAT garbage?" Daisy just sniffed at it and left it lay. She didn't even BOTHER to taste it.

"FINE. You'll get it cold for breakfast, then!" (I didn't have time to sit there until they ate it, or it was time for bed....). Some people's kids just don't know what's good for them....

So, this morning, I head out to do chores. Mabel and Daisy saw me heading to the barn, and turned on their "radar". They were probably hoping I'd feed the yogurt to the chickens.

Nope. I hadn't forgotten.

What I found surprised me a little - the feed had soaked up the yogurt, and made it edible-looking again.



The pile on the left is the yogurt soaked feed, the other is what it normally looks like.

Now, came the test - would it be eaten by the cows, or would the chickens get it after all?

Mabel was the first victim. I am happy to report that she gobbled everything down without batting an eyelash.



I think she even wanted MORE. She didn't really want to leave the stanchion. Daisy - amazingly - proved to be only slightly finicky. She gobbled it up, and even asked for more, too.



I dunno, maybe they actually liked it, or just wanted to get things done, and get out of there. Maybe they're hoping they'll never see it again. One thing is for certain - As soon as breakfast was over, they stood by the gate, wanting out to "play" in the yard.



Just like human kids....