Sheryl Crow- First Cut is the Deepest

This song makes me laugh every time I hear it because we call this our dad’s ‘cutting’ song. You see, we cut calves. To you that may sound horrible. To cattle farmers, it sounds about right. When a farmer says that they have to ‘cut’ a calf it means that they have to make a bull calf into a steer by castrating it. This prevents inbreeding, heifers getting pregnant, and fights. When a farmer cuts a bull he pulls the tail up all the way over it’s back. This pinches a nerve and causes the bull to feel no pain. He makes a small cut (hence were the word cutting calves comes from) and cuts the testicles out. He then sprays it with iodine to prevent infection. We then put the tail back down. The calf feels a little discomfort, but not enough to make them not walk, eat, or play with the other calves.