Miniature Herefords and the Human Condition

There are many reasons people over the millenium have kept livestock. In biblical times and before, livestock was a sign of wealth. Wealth should be able to compound (thats how wealth accumulates....) so before there were banks and compounding interests, there were the original "stocks", who would produce little "dividends" yearly if all went well.

Sounds simple to me.

So for those of us who prefer to be out of doors (i.e. outside) instead of indoors (i.e. never ending work), and like working with "stocks", having a few head of cattle is a real and viable way to accumulate wealth. Ted Turner knows this, so does Ralph Lauren; they both live on large landholdings out west, raising, you guessed it, cattle! (and horses probably; I have seen both their ranches and livestock --just not in person)!

To me, being outdoors is truly connecting to life itself. The dirt under my feet, the smells of the earth, the sun, the rain, snow wind warmth,; the cycle of plowing, planting, birth and death...we are all a part of it, whether we like it, acknowledge it or disdain it......all of it. It is to truly engage with being, "living" alive.

Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the city and arts, culture (I grew up in suburban NJ, just 40 miles from New York City), great food and good music. Love it. The hustle and bustle and excitement.

But I cant live with concrete under my feet.

I don't "live" within four walls.

I don't follow the crowd.

Sure I can comply.

Sure I can "fit in" dress up, talk the talk, engage.

I like to think I am informed, concise, articulate.

I take my kids to the rodeo.

I take my kids to the Philharmonic.

I take my girls to NY City and Rockefeller Center

I take them to the Susquehanna State Forest 4wheeling.

We go to the Jersey Shore.

We watch Jersey Shore.

We watch PBR, NFL, NHL, Professional Boxing, Nova and Frontline. The American Experience.

We watch The Bachelor and Family Guy. (!)

Life is to be lived. Experienced. Hands on. In it. Sometimes life is clean, done up, dressed up New York Times; sometimes life is knee-deep in mud and manure helping a struggling new born calf to its feet.

That is one of the reasons I keep cattle. Because its all about life. And living. And watching my stock. And the "works of her hands". At least there is something to show for my time here on earth that is good, along with my home, my children; a garden....

"Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field." Ecc 5:9