April 03, 2025

What colours your day in South Grey: Dixie Seatle on the privilege of observing cows

As an ongoing series in South Grey News, we have asked prominent local folks to share stories of the moments, places and/or people in South Grey that have brightened their lives. What we got is a definitive guide to happiness in our communities. Love of place — our place, South Grey — deserves love songs of its own.

This week, South Grey News is delighted to publish a recollection by two-time Gemini award winning actress Dixie Seatle, who lives in rural Grey Highlands near Markdale. Dixie was a season regular in numerous television series, four films, and played leads in five seasons at the Stratford Festival. She retired to paint, and this year will show in the Autumn Leaves Studio Tour, and the Walters Falls Art Show. Website: www.dixieseatle.ca Instagram: dixie.seatle

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BY DIXIE SEATLE — Our land outside Markdale, at one time, our city-slicker-get-away-from-it-all-land, is now our permanent home. A few years ago, a neighbouring farmer asked to run his cattle here, and that has been an unexpected joy. Getting to know “the girls” has been an education in cattle behaviour, their individuality, their relationships, and yes, the cliché; their contentment. I have come to see them as so perfectly in the moment, I believe they are even more present than dogs and cats, if that is possible. And their rhythmic chewing of cud, their measured breathing, is surely as calming as a Buddhist chant.

I had been keeping an eye on one cow (number Twelve, though she had ditched her numbered ear tag somehow) because she was due to give birth. Our farmer friend asked me to periodically count the herd and make sure she was around, as they might go off by themselves to birth and it can be problematic finding them. She wasn’t a large pregnancy, but was immediately identifiable because her udder was so engorged, or “bagged out” as the farmer called it. Also, she was always visible when the herd was on the move, always at the rear, gamely keeping up when they’d decide to head for water, or suddenly, inexplicably, rush across the field for reasons only known to the cow who starts the trend. I have been rooting for her, she aborted her first two efforts at pregnancy, and I knew if this one didn't take she was no longer viable, no longer useful or wanted. The cattle on our property are breeders, they are not destined for the slaughterhouse, but if they don't produce... their fate is sealed.

In the morning, there was anguished mooing, and I went outside to see the whole herd gathered around her, agitated. The vocal distress was of some concern, as my farmer friend had explained, they generally birth in silence, don’t alert the predators, but may vocalize when the calf stands up (often within thirty minutes!). In an effort to see what was going on, I offered the others some grass to get them away from her. Fortunately they were more interested in grass than her distress and came right over, giving me a full view.

The tiny calf was on the ground, dead.

I informed the farmer, who came right away. You could see in his face the duality of his job; deep caring and resolute practicality.

For the two hours until he returned to remove the calf, she licked it gently, drying it, encouraging it to move, moo-ing softly, low soft moos. She’d periodically raise her head in the air and bellow loudly in distress. Then back to her efforts, with a gentle moo-ing lullaby, willing her baby to live. She would take her head and butt the limp body, moving limbs, giving the calf a momentary illusion of life. It was heart stopping to watch. Two hours.

After it was taken away, she stood bellowing her pain.

Later in the afternoon, the farmer brought a bale of hay down to the lower field, and she slowly headed over. Distraught, caught between the instinctive response to fresh hay arriving and her own distress, she kept stopping, looking over her shoulder. One cow came up and smelt her, but otherwise nobody gave a damn. Their total indifference juxtaposed with her anxiety was stunning. Didn’t they often demonstrate affection for one another? Wasn’t their very act of sticking together all day, every day, that 'herd mentality,' wasn’t that some indication of unity? Group empathy? But she stood back from the hay bale, alone, calling, while the others ate.

I had been talking to her, letting her know I understood, in some desperate attempt to bridge the human/cow gap, and I confess, some crazy, misguided need to compensate for her detached cow friends. Also, I think I needed to share with her that I, too, had lost a baby. When I walked down to the fence with the binoculars, to watch her interaction with the other cattle at the hay bale, she turned and saw me. And then, as though pulled by some weird connection, she walked the entire field and stood in front of me, just looking at me as I talked to her. We stood together for maybe three minutes. Like she knew I knew.

Twice that afternoon she made an effort to rejoin the herd but always would stop, look back, and return to the birthplace. As the day waned, the herd, in single file on their well-worn path, walked past her on their way to the water. There had only been that initial flurry of curiosity and excitement, and then a general decision; Who cares? So what? It reminded me of another species.

But then suddenly two cows broke from the line. They walked up to her, and both put their heads close to her head and the three of them stood like that, silently, with their heads together, for a long time. When they left to join the others, she didn’t follow. But I was elated by their connection.

Anyhow, she will be shipped off to put steaks on our tables. My farmer friend didn’t actually see me sobbing in the field, but I knew he knew. He said with understanding, "if you're dealing with livestock you're dealing with 'deadstock' and you have to develop a thick skin." It occurred to me the irony that the definition of “thick skin” might be leather.

Everybody should have the privilege of observing cows.

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We're more than a little curious about what "colours your day" in South Grey. Write your own story and send it to us via our contact form, selecting "submit story or news tip" in the "I want to" dropdown field. Let's fill our website with positive vibes and escape those late winter doldrums!

 

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