September 5, 2017 at 3:32 p.m.
From the outside looking in
You watch the people wash their cows, thinking that must be a lot of work for farmers to wash all their cows like that at home. There are even some people cleaning out the cow's ears with a damp rag.
You see other dairy cows, medium cows and little cows all tied up in row; they seem pretty content.
Then you see certain people using clippers to cut the cows' hair and this makes some sense to you since you get your own hair cut. Then you see them using blow dryers and various sprays to spike up the hair along the cows' spines. You think maybe they are judged on their hairstyle. You notice one fella spraying Right Guard antiperspirant while using a hair dryer along the cow's spine and you wonder if sweating cows is a problem.
You see another guy using a hairbrush and Aqua Net Hairspray to poof up a cow's tail and make it look all fluffy. You hear the guy say that when he marries he wants a wife who will help keep the tails clean, and you can't tell for sure if he is joking.
You follow some of the cattle being led with shiny black harness-type things around their heads, end up at another building where cows are being led in a circle by a bunch of people wearing white pants. White pants? Even these shiny cows must poop; white seems very impractical and aren't farmers supposed to be really practical folk?
You eavesdrop upon some people standing near you. One is saying that his dairy nutritionist (Really? People make their living figuring out what cows eat?) went to a conference recently and there were 500 other dairy nutritionists there. Surely they must be kidding. There are that many people deciding what to feed cows?
You watch the judge, trying to figure out what he is looking for. He starts to point at certain cows and they are led to a line in the center.
You listen to what the judge has to say; ready for her to start talking about which cows had the fluffiest tails, the shiniest coats and the cleanest ears. Or maybe she will talk about what cows give the most milk, even though you are a city slicker you do know that milk comes from cows and not the store.
Instead, the judge starts to talk in what sounds like English, but makes no sense.
"This first cow is a more stylish individual (Style? They aren't wearing clothes...), shows more overall capacity to her barrel and has her udder tucked up higher above the hocks."
"The second place cow has an advantage in udder quality with more bloom and capacity in the fore and rear udder and she also exhibits more strength in the pasterns." (Did they say pastures?)
You keep listening, trying to make sense of it. You feel your eyes glaze over with how incomprehensible it all is. You shake your head and decide to move on.
You stop at the next building where they are showing dogs. The dogs are groomed to be very pretty and handsome, and they are showing off their admirable obedience skills. You start wondering if maybe you should have stuck around that cow show; maybe they do tricks, too.
Then you glance over and see two young people you recognize from the dairy barn, still dressed in their white pants. One of them chuckles and says, "A dog show? I don't get it. It's not like the dogs produce milk or food for anyone. It's weird that someone would spend their time teaching a dog to do tricks."
You realize, it's all a matter of perspective. A lot of people spend a lot of their time doing things that make no sense to others.
But that is part of the beauty of the world. As long as they enjoy what they are doing, receive satisfaction doing it and no one is getting hurt, let 'em have at it.[[In-content Ad]]
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