freezer

Jersey bull calves do not sell well at the auction, especially as small as this one. The neighbors gave him to us, to raise for beef.

I feel guilty seeing his adorable face knowing in two years he will be in our freezer. Then I think about what his life would have been like if he had gone to the sale. We will love him and pamper him. He will eat green grass all summer, frolicking in the fields with the other cows. He will never see a crowded feedlot or get unnatural feed shoved down his throat. He will not be injected with growth hormones.

But someday I want to keep just one as a pet. Even if it has to be trained as a draft oxen.