You were lucky, you got muddy, smelly manure covered tails. Mine weren't diluted with mud, I got the fresh out of the gutter, 5am, pee-soake, manure infused switch across the face most mornings. Wakes one like no cup of coffee ever will. I tried loading bales of hay onto the conveyor with shorts on once. Can you guess what my legs looked like? Yeah, back when hay bales were done by hand, not this big bales you just load up with a tractor and stack. Summer was fun, wasn't it? 5am start milking, feeding, cleaning the barn. After chores and all the mild dishes were done, then you got breakfast, then you went out to rake hay, then you got lunch, then you went out to stack hay until chore time again. Chopping season was even more fun, then you got to either run wagons until midnight or you got to do all the chores alone. I never got asked out in school cuz the boys were all afraid I would kick their a**es and because my biceps were bigger than theirs! Good times!
I do miss delivering calves and the calves in general. We showed also, so some weeks that got thrown into it, but it was a labor of love then. I don't regret any of it, it was a good wholesome lifestyle and taught me to work hard and appreciate animals and what they give us.
