The picture of the cow above is Molly. She is by far the prettiest cow on our homestead/farm. She has the perfect body condition for a cow, the perfect udder, the perfect personality. She never has been mean, and always follows you where you want to go. All in all she is the perfect specimen for a cow. There is only one problem…we have owned her for almost 5 years and she has never had a calf. Oh yeah, AND she cost us a few thousand dollars because of her blood lines and the fact that she is registered.
This is number 9. She does not have a name but my kids affectionately call her the “Horned Wonder.” She is not registered, we bought her at a cattle auction about 5 years ago for $400 dollars. She is the ugliest cow on the farm. Her body condition for a beef cow is not very good, her udder is kind of deformed. Over all she is not the kind of cow that anyone would pay good money for because she doesn’t look like anything special. The kicker is…she is the best producing cow we have on our farm. Every year without fail she has a calf and not just any calf, her calves are always the biggest and always the fastest growing. They are absolutely beautiful. The best part is she only cost me $400 dollars and has easily paid for herself multiple times with the amazing calves she produces. Contrast that with Molly the beautiful, who has yet to produce anything other than good looks.
What’s my point with showing you these two cows? My point is that in life so often we see the beautiful or the perfect looking and think that must be the best. However, more often than not it is the average or the not as attractive things in life that turn out to be truly amazing. I challenge all of us as we go about our day to look out for things like cow number 9 that are not the prettiest or the most attractive and give them a second look. You never know what you might learn.
Leave it to a few old cows to teach this farmer life lessons.