If you have animals you can count on lots of byproducts: POOP being the main byproduct, it seemed to me. How we disposed of the poop caused me quite a bit of embarrassment as I grew older and faced the teasings of friends and classmates. The cow pasture was pretty small for the number of animals my dad stuffed into it. He raised beef cattle and they don't need much room because all they do is eat, sleep and poop, and believe me, they pooped alot. In the summer it wasn't so much an issue with the hot dry weather but winter was a different story.
Every couple of months my dad would hook the manure spreader up to the tractor and pull into the pasture. He and Grandpa along with Uncle Thurm would grab the shovels and pitchforks and start loading that old manure spreader. When it was full, they would pull it out onto the field and start the flippers and spread the manure all over the field. The bouquet was--ah--delightful. If the day was breezy it was even better. They would work all day, putting load after load out into the field. By the end of the day-- whew--dad's boots and coats were ripe with the pungent odor. I always hoped against hope that no one I knew would drive up our street on the day of 'manure spreading' but I wasn't usually that lucky. Since the guys usually did the chore on Saturday I would get ribbed by everyone in Sunday School class the next day.
Chicken poop was even worse than our horse and cow poop. (Take my word for it.) Just about a half mile away was the chicken farm. The name of the farm was "Cackling Acres" and there were thousands of chickens on the farm. Everyone within 2 miles of Cackling Acres knew when they were cleaning their coops because THE SMELL WAS NAUSEATING! They filled their trailer with manure and trucked it to who-knows-where, and they had a small leak in their trailer which dribbled all the way down 4700 South. The smell usually lasted several days--ugh.
Funny thing though, now when I pass a farm and catch a whiff of cow manure it doesn't disturb me at all. I just take a sentimental journey back to the days when it was all in a day's work on the farm.
5 comments:
Manure stirs some memories for me too!
Me too! It reminds me of driving down tickle belly hill to Grandma Turners and smelling the cows and pigs. Ew.
HAHAHAHAHA! Ah, yes, there was a distinctive aura, to be certain. Did you know that brother Dennis wanted to take our manure spreader down the corridor of Valley Fair Mall (these days it may be considered an improvment)? Another thing about the (good ole) POOP days, as acreage around our farm was transformed into housing developments, we got a phone call one day from a new neighbor, who said, "Your pigs stink!" I wanted so badly to answer, "Ya shoulda built up-wind!" But I didn't.
Ah...it all comes down to poop, doesn't it?
Connie,
You have been tagged (unless Brandy has already tagged you on this). Go to my blog to see the rules!!
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