To say that Baby Kozmo has been the center of our summer would be a pretty accurate statement. We spend 2-3 hours a day down at his stall doing our cow chores and playing with him. Each morning he gets a bath and some evenings when things have been especially moving in the bowel department, he gets another one. It's been so hot here that I like to think he enjoys getting a refreshing cool down every day.
Kozmo has been such a great experience for G1. Quite honestly, getting her to get excited about the cow barns in the mornings towards the end of the summer has been a bit more difficult. It's hot there and the sun is blaring down on us relentlessly. The heat makes the cows a bit unagreeable and the flies can get a bit thick. But at night, she loves going down to the stall. The mountain air is always cooler and our East facing stall is much more comfortable. The kids are more relaxed and not rushed to get to their daily activities and the pace of the stalls is just a lot more fun.
G1 has met some pretty cool kids from this 4-H cow experience. One thing I really like about our group is that it is mixed ages, from 8 years old to 17 years old. The older kids are always so willing to help out the younger kids with walking their cows or giving them advice on how to do something in a way that might make things easier. G1 loves walking Kozmo around when there is a group of kids down at the stalls. They run their cows, lead them around the show arena, and practice lining up their calves feet the way they will for their 4-H show during the fair.
And the other families are really nice too. I enjoy talking to the other parents. It seems like we get to do a majority of the stall beautification while the kids are out having fun with their cows, but no one seems to mind that much. It's really not as horrible as it sounds having to clean out a stall. And G1's stall partner's family and us have been pretty diligent about cleaning the stall every day so ours does not really have a stench that some of the others are starting to develop.
W LOVES to go down to the cows each night. He loves the animals, the people, the whole atmosphere down at the stalls. I think he would love living on a farm. G2 was having a VERY bad attitude about the whole cow thing for awhile but now he is loving it too. After I do the major stall cleaning, I let them use the pitchforks to clean up any of the tiny dry manure chunks that may have been missed. They LOVE this job. Who could've guessed! W loves to drive the wheel barrow over to where we dump it after we are done cleaning.
Even the hubby loves coming to visit Baby Kozmo! I'm not really sure if I have said this before or not, but raising Baby Kozmo has been such a confidence builder for G1. She was pretty timid about her calf at the beginning of the summer. And although she has been much slower to come around than the other kids, she is now not as jumpy around her cow. When he bucks around, she doesn't freak out. There are still aspects of the experience she does not enjoy at all (anything that may get her gross or dirty!!!) but she can lead around an almost 200lb cow and not be nervous like she was just 2 months ago. I'm so glad we were able to experience this Urban Cow project this summer. It has been a TON of time but truly an awesome experience!
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