June 27, 2018
Chickadee joins the party at the Mississippi Valley Fair
By John & Joan Maxwell
Cinnamon Ridge Farms
She probably heard the party rolling in even before our well-worn, brown trailer came into view. Chickadee, our beloved bovine, was out on “recess” in the front pasture with the other milking cows when as we began loading calves to go to the Mississippi Valley Fair. Chickadee started bellowing loudly. Rusted in some spots, the trailer may have been nondescript to most, but to Chickadee, it was a party on wheels. Ever since her first ride to the fair as a spring calf, Chickadee had decided that if that beloved trailer was leaving the farm, she should not be left out of the fun.
Moo!! Moo!! Moo!! Minutes ticked by as my daughters opened the trailer gate and gently coerced one young haltered heifer, then two, onto the trailer. Chickadee’s continuous hollering did not get anyone’s attention. Clearly, those humans needed some help remembering her standing reservation on the party wagon. Chickadee started galloping her 1,200-pound body toward the trailer. The thin single wire of the electric fence around the cow pasture didn’t even break her stride. The wire snapped, and Chickadee charged up to the trailer, leaping right on board. Meanwhile, all her pasture mates looked up at the commotion and soon gleefully realized they were free. As Chickadee was happily oblivious to the chaos she had created, the other milk cows kicked up their heels and scattered over the farmyard, excited to be somewhere previously off-limits. It took us a long time to repair the electric fence and an even longer time to herd back the loose cattle, who were disinclined to give up their freedom and/or respect the wire fence. It took a still longer time to dislodge Chickadee from the trailer. She did get to ride into the fair on the next load later that afternoon, which made her very happy.
Once at the fair, for Chickadee, the party must have continued, based on how much she still had to say. Moo, moo, moo!!! She bellowed almost continuously—day and night, in the show ring and out—much to the chagrin of the exhibitors trying to sleep in the barns with their show cows. Having happily hopped back onto the trailer at the end of dairy exhibition, after days of near-continuous mooing, she came home hoarse and thirsty for the mineral-rich well water of our farm. Yet, after two trips on her beloved trailer and parading around the show ring, surprisingly, once she got home, she had no stories to tell. Chickadee settled back into her normal (mostly quiet) routine. Evidently, what happens at Mississippi Valley Fair stays at Mississippi Valley Fair.
We think our farm-made cheeses are worth shouting about, the perfect complement to any party. But you don’t have to jump on a cattle trailer to enjoy our Foods, Randy’s in DeWitt, Freight House Farmers Market and at our farm store at Cinnamon Ridge Farm, just north of Donahue.
