Have you ever asked yourself, "What am I doing here?"
The idea flooded my mind standing in front of the second steer of the day!
An hour earlier, I stood beside 2,000-pound Angus Steer, Andy, photographing him and Angela, for his amazing 1,000-mile rescue story.
Now, here I was with even greater trepidation, stroking the two-foot-long ear that graced the gentle face of
Moses, a 4,000 pound, 6' 11" steer--all the while, cautiously staring at his massively curved horns.
I took his photograph with Nancy, and a week later, Moses, at the age of 18, left this earth.
Nancy described her beloved Brazilian Brahma Moses, saying, "He was like a puppy dog, sweet and gentle. I treated him like a horse, and he responded like one. I hand fed him alfalfa twice a day and we always looked forward to our time together. He talked with
his beautiful eyes, that were three inches high and four inches across."
Last summer, six small children arrived to visit Moses. He loved how they rubbed his nose, so he lowered his head, so they could rub between his horns.
Moses' eyes sparkled; it was evident how much he was enjoying watching the children running around his seven acres of pasture. Two weeks later, they came back and the three-year-old was all but swinging on Moses' head. Nancy said,
"He was so gentle with the children."
Most people think cattle are for eating, but Nancy learned they make great pets. She first saw Moses, his mother and sister starving in a pasture. They had no grain, no salt blocks or clean drinking water. Moses had developed a sway back from malnutrition.
Their drinking water trough was full of algae. Their owner had put goldfish in it. So, they were accidently swallowing fish while trying to
drink!
Nancy, an animal advocate, approached their guardian. She made a deal not to report them to animal control, and bought all three on the spot for $2,300, and moved them to her ranch. She had never had a cow in her life, now she had three the size of small elephants! Can you imagine your pets eating 3-4 bales of hay a day? Nancy and her husband, Bill, grew their own hay, just to feed their Brahma steer and cows, and with the proper nutrition, Moses' body
healed.
I stood beside the two of them watching. Moses was lying in his field; it was evident that he was not feeling well. Nancy called him, he knew his name and responded. Nancy gently asked Moses to stand for the photo, and like a car lifting off the ground, he heaved his 4,000 pounds onto his aging legs at her request. Their bond was obvious. Throughout seventeen years together, Moses carefully looked out for Nancy, and never once stepped on her feet.
A
week later, Moses lost weight. All of Nancy's bag of tricks to stop a hoof abscess and repair his popped knee that developed an infection, had not worked. Sweet Pea, his 15-year-old Brahma cow companion, knew something was very wrong. When Moses tried to stand, Sweet Pea maneuvered herself under him, and helped to lift him, so he could stand and straighten out. She helped him take the weight off his painful legs.
Moses never liked snow. When Nancy heard that it was going to snow and saw that there was no hope of saving him, she phoned the veterinarian.
Moses knew his time was up. He quietly lay down when the vet approached him. Sweet Pea walked over to them and lay beside Moses. They were so bonded.
Nancy knew that each of their loving hearts would be broken without the other. The vet released both Brahmas into Heaven's pastures, and with tears streaming down her face, Nancy had them buried side by side in their field. They had a wonderful life, and it snowed the next day.
Nancy's ranch hand saw her, and her husband crying and said, "I never saw cattle affect anyone like this!" And then the ranch hand turned and began crying for the loss of the two
gentle giants.
Brahma was known as the Hindu God of Creation. As with Nancy and Moses, all of God's creatures are created one in Spirit just as are we humans. In India cows are sacred. Moses and Sweet Pea showed us why.
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"The way that we treat animals measures our greatness.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
- Mahatma
Gandhi
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