Many of you already know that Otis is my pride and joy. He’s more than just a bull to me. He’s more than just an animal. Otis is my best friend, best listener, and some days, the only male I like. Let me explain why he means so much to me.

Otis was born my Senior year at Iowa State University. I had finally talked dad into AIing (artificially inseminating) some of our heifers (female cows that haven’t had calves yet) with Miniature Hereford semen. This would allow for better calving ease (meaning the calves would be smaller and easier for the heifer to give birth to) and they would be adorable. How could it go wrong? Well not all of the AI’s stuck (the egg didn’t get fertilized) and dad let the clean-up bull (a bull that goes in and breeds the cows that didn’t get bred in their first cycle) finish up what the AI didn’t. Well lucky enough my cow Ruby was one of the cows that had her AI stick. I couldn’t believe it! (We do pregnancy checks with heifers to make sure they have a baby in them–if they don’t it’s more than likely that they can’t conceive.) So in March of 2012, Otis was born! You could say that I was instantly in love.

I spent my free time loving him and brushing him. He couldn’t have possibly been any more cute. He grew to love me and accept me as his 2nd mother. You see, Otis was kind of my new dog. I could call him by name and he would come. He would come put his head on my shoulder in the yards or hit me in the butt with his head. I loved being surrounded by him. When he was able to go in the pasture during the summer he would come up to me and just lay his head on my lap. I could naps out in the pasture and had no sense of time. Oh it was such a magical feeling!

Well Otis grew up and got to spend time with the ‘ladiessss’. Boy he loves his ladies. Otis is still my baby and still loves to be surrounded by me, but when someone is in heat (let’s just say this means they’re in the mood to, um, play) and that means his mom can’t be around. He will chase me off and make sure I’m not blocking his ladies. But, when they aren’t in heat, he’s back to being my soft little teddy bear who loves attention and getting his back scratched. I can still call him by name, lay on him out in the pasture, and tell him all my problems.

Otis will always be my first child. And as a cow freak, I wouldn’t have it any other way.