Bessie Gets Pregnant Again

By Elton Camp

When I was a child in the 1940s, we kept Bessie the cow for a supply of fresh milk. After we sold her calf, she quite naturally ceased producing milk. To renew the supply, she must have another calf. That didnt seem likely to occur since we had no bull. A bull was a liability except for the rare occasions when he was needed. Only a farmer with a large herd could justify keeping one full-time when it worked only rarely. My father related how the problem had been solved when he was young. People took their cows to a neighbor who owned a bull. He described the last time he heard of that being done in the rural area where he grew up. Lige, about the middle of the morning, approached a neighbors house leading his cow with a rope. Can I speak wif Marvin, please? he asked the mans wife. Marvin aint home rite now, she replied. Can I holp yu? She knew full well why hed come, but decided to have some fun at the expense of a man whom she knew to be quite bashful. Care if I wait round till he gits back? Hitll b a long wait. Hes at th courthouse n Guntersville an wont be n till near dark. Shore thar aint nothin I can do, Lige? The man spit and sputtered, but couldnt bring himself to announce to a woman the need for the bulls services. He hated to waste the long walk and still have to come again. Lige stomped around in the yard a while before he left in frustration. She barely managed to control laughter until he was beyond hearing distance.

But many years had passed and a new technology was available to us. From a perch high in the barn loft I saw artificial insemination performed. The vet came with a packet of materials. After he pulled on a shoulderlength rubber glove, he inserted bull sperm. The procedure was a success in so far as we were concerned. A calf appeared at the appointed time. What the cow thought about being impregnated in such a manner, I dont know. Our milk supply was renewed and after a time we had another calf to sell. That was all that mattered to us.