Spring Itch

The frogs have been getting noisier as the weather begins to warm a bit. I don’t always notice just how loud it is until a movement, or sound quiets the cacophony coming from the swamp, the slow ratcheting down of individual frogs until only one or two croaks are emitted before complete silence can take me by surprise. The silence makes a distance bird chirp, the hillside coyotes start up or the sound of a far off truck on the highway seem like they are trying to fill the void. But before long the frog sounds start up  again and everything else is drowned out by the swinging/swooning amphibians.

The cows have their own spring rituals, they itch. The warm layer of thick hair begins to feel cumbersome and they long to find a good spot to scratch off the dying winter coat so they can grow the slick summer hair that is their warm weather attire. Many of the cows try to coat themselves with mud before scratching, it seems to help dry out the matted hair so it can be rubbed off their hide easier.

I noticed one of the cows from the main herd (one that has not yet had her calf for this year) using a prune tree to do her itching. This tree is one that is on ‘the fruit circuit’ (the trees the herd visit each day during apple, prune and pear season) to see if any of the sweets have dropped since their previous trip.

Last year, this prune tree had three main trunks all about the same size, one broke off and I wasn’t sure why except for that it had been leaning away from the other two trunks a little bit every year. I think I found the reason today as I watched that one cow standing in the very spot that would have broken the far leaning trunk over since she was using the other two for some very vigorous scratching.

Hopefully the spring itch will end before the prune tree gives up completely.

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