National Cow Appreciation Day

Now, hold your horses, because July 15th is National Cow Appreciation Day. Before you snicker too loudly, stop and think. Cows do give us much to appreciate - all those dairy products, nice juicy steaks, and a hamburger hot off the grill.

Cattle were not indigenous to America. In fact the first cows in America arrived in Jamestown in 1611. Goats had come on earlier ships, because they took up less space. Until the mid-1800's, nearly every family kept a cow to milk. In 1854, Gail Borden discovered a way to condense milk by taking some of the water out of it, and it could be shipped and stored without taking up so much space.

Cows are herbivores. They chew their cud, or regurgitate what they eat and rechew it for up to eight hours a day. Dairy cattle are raised for the milk they produce. Herds are also raised as beef cattle, to be sold for their meat. Western ranching developed for this market.

I grew up on a small, forty-acre farm, but we always had at least one milk cow, and often more. Every three or four years, my dad would let the cow have a calf to keep her "fresh." He usually sold these at some point, and he saved the money to help put me through college. So, I really do have a lot to celebrate on Cow Appreciation Day.

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