Medlyn

We named her Medlyn, after the farm she came from, and drove directly to the local grain store to buy a bag of calf formula and a bottle with a long, spongy orange-red nipple that to me, at age fourteen, looked slightly embarrassing and pornographic.

The Body of a Cow 2008

And we would have to milk Medlyn once she was bred.

The Body of a Cow 2008

  And we would have to milk Medlyn once she was bred.

The Body of a Cow 2008

  A triumph of individuality over bureaucracy — one that comes almost a quarter of a century too late for Medlyn, but it still pleases me.

The Body of a Cow 2008

      We named her Medlyn, after the farm she came from, and drove directly to the local grain store to buy a bag of calf formula and a bottle with a long, spongy orange-red nipple that to me, at age fourteen, looked slightly embarrassing and pornographic.

The Body of a Cow 2008

      Medlyn did have trouble conceiving, but after some time, she did.

The Body of a Cow 2008

      People say cows are too dumb to train to ride like horses, but I knew Medlyn was smart and set out to prove it.

The Body of a Cow 2008

  Most cows are only kept on for their prime milking years, but Medlyn was allowed to live into middle age.

The Body of a Cow 2008

      When it was time to choose the cows to ship to slaughter each year, Medlyn was spared time and time again.

The Body of a Cow 2008

  These murmurs did not reach my ears directly, but the gist of the message was this: when was I going to give Medlyn away?

The Body of a Cow 2008