Wilbur

Hellooooo Santa Claus!

I’m Wilbur.  I’m a cow.  Well, actually I’m a steer to be totally correct about it. I’m 6 months old and I seem to have turned into a woolly mammoth.  I don’t mind – people see me and start saying “ooh, soooo cute” and then want to pet and hug me.  Do you know how wonderful it is to be hugged and petted and fussed over?  Only thing is, it’s hard to keep the straw and hay out of my hair, and I’m not sure what that might do to my reputation.

Santa, I came here and was in Big Big Trouble. My mama died just after I was born and then a dog attacked me and hurt my leg so badly.  I heard the vet saying, “poor prognosis”.  I had to look up what that meant, but in case you wondered, cows have pretty good access to the Internet now.  Well anyhow, it made me very sad.  I was in a lot of pain and then I had to be sad on top of that. But the people at this farm are very optimistic (I looked that word up, too – what a great word! I’m going to use it a lot from now on). They took me to the hospital and the surgeon, who was very beautiful and had a French accent, coo cooed over me and lickety split, she operated on my leg. She said it was yucky and infected, but she was going to fix me right up.

And now I’m back and I can run like a real calf. I’m pretty bummed that I don’t get a bottle anymore, but I still really like to suck on people’s elbows. Would you loan me your elbow when you come, Mr. Santa?  If you feel funny about that, maybe Mrs. Claus would like a nice Wilbur elbow kiss.  Is she pretty like my surgeon?

You know, I have found it’s really hard to get off the Internet once you are on there.  Do you have this problem, Santa? You are probably much too busy but us cows sometimes have a lot of time on our hands.  Well anyhow, I was browsing through instagram and I found this scratchy post thing. Other cows are saying good things about the product.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to get itchy with all the hair and fuzz I’m growing, and this big brush would feel sooooo good.  https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/livestock-scratching-brush/

Now, I have to tell you something just between you and me. It’s a little embarrassing, but cows kind of poop a lot.  Really a lot.  Sometimes we poop in the field.  Sometimes we poop in the barn.  When we do that, I hear the volunteers groaning and saying, “no, why in the barn!?” I can understand, but seriously, would YOU go out into the field at night to poop when you can do it quite comfortably in a warm barn?  No, I didn’t think so.  But someone has to clean up that mess, don’t they?  And sorry to say, it’s not going to be me (I have the greatest excuse of a lack of opposable thumbs — I looked that word up too!!).  So I thought I’d better ask for a shovel or three to help them out.  https://tinyurl.com/shovel-for-wilbur

Sometimes the volunteers use the tractor, but sometimes they prefer to use wheelbarrows.  Petey and I checked out the wheelbarrow collection recently, and wow, they sure get a lot of use!  The volunteers have fixed up as many as we can with new wheels, but we sure could use another one to help collect all that poop! https://tinyurl.com/wheelbarrow-for-wilbur

Santa Claus, I haven’t been on this farm for very long, but I’ve made some beautiful friends. I have found that I like friends. Would you please send me more? Someone who sponsors me helps with the cost of feeding and caring for me, and to be honest, so far I’ve been a little bit of an expensive project what with the surgeon and all. But I’m worth it!  So please send me a sponsor who will come and visit me or at least send me Valentine’s day cards, ok? https://shop.stargazingfarm.org/product/sponsor-wilbur/

Love,

Wilbur
Star Gazing Farm
16760 Whites Store Road
Boyds, MD 20841