I'm new to the forum and I thought I would post my little story and see if there were any people with any similar stories (or that just might like this sort of thing!).
A couple years ago we purchased two castrated calves from the local dairy as an introduction to raising our own cattle for meat. They're Holsteins, and my younger sister and I named them Tyson (the mostly black one) and Rhett (he's a pretty even split). Our parents of course told us not to get attached.
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But look at those cuties! As they grew up, their personalities really started to show. Tyson was a bit stand off-ish and had an attitude when given treats like apples. He stayed away from the dogs and unfamiliar people. I'd say he was a pretty typical steer, to be honest. Rhett on the other hand was completely different. He'd come trotting up to us looking for pets and rubs. He'd play with the dogs (quite gentle even as he got older) and they'd play with him (play bows and everything). If anything, Rhett acted more like a dog. He'd bounce around for his treats and lick us. When he'd hear our truck pull up, he'd start mooing. If my dad mooed at him, he'd moo right back. We could tell there was something special about him from the start. My dad would actually get on Rhett and "ride" him around the pasture (which consisted of Rhett just walking around grazing without a care in the world).
But all good things must come to an end, right? It was time for slaughter. Tyson was a bit younger, so we were going to hold off slaughtering him. But as we were scheduling the company to come out and slaughter him, we just couldn't do it. My dad loved this boy and so did the rest of us. We figured that Tyson was big enough that we could slaughter him instead, so we scheduled him. Only to be woken up by a panicked call from the neighbor that someone had shot our cow. We weren't told much by her, so we rushed out. The company was supposed to wait for us to get out there to make sure the right steer was slaughtered. The whole time we were panicking and thinking the worst because (of course) it would make more sense for the largest steer to be the one to be slaughtered. Thankfully, as we pulled up we saw that familiar face of Rhett. He was quite a bit panicked (Tyson had already been killed). My dad threw quite a fit at the company, but he was thankful the right cow had been killed. Tyson is now in our freezer.
We decided to get another steer (this one a Black Angus) to keep Rhett company. He was named Trevor, and we still have both Rhett and him. And let me tell you. Trev is an annoying thing. Completely stand-offish. He kicks up his heels when you near him. In other words: he acts like a cow. We decided that we couldn't afford to keep Rhett as a pet, and we couldn't stand to eat him ourself. So we offered him up for sale. We got a lot of inquiries, but nothing took off. Meanwhile, we found a secondary pasture to keep the steers on while ours regrows some. This is saving us enough money that we came to a big decision: Rhett would be kept, as a pet, for as long as it was feasible.
Trevor is expected to be slaughtered late spring, and at that time Rhett will move back to the house where he will have company from the neighbor's horse and a pair of goats. He'll be maintained at his current weight (instead of trying to beef him up), and he will get all the luxuries that come with being one of our spoiled pets. He got apples today, and he'll get a little grain as a treat here and there. If anyone else has a "pet cow", do they have any favorite treats? Rhett LOVES apples and pears. I'll post some pictures below. Any suggestions to pamper our little (big) guy would be awesome. We're trying to get him used to fly spray, but we haven't managed that yet. It's funny because there are other renters near the pasture their on right now, and they've commented to the owner, "You know that black and white cow? He's always coming and looking for attention! He's the friendliest thing!" We affectionately nicknamed Rhett "Cow Dog" for his dog-like personality. There is just something special about this boy, and I thought I'd share. Here are some pictures. First two are from this summer. Next two are this past winter. And the last two are from a year ago.
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