Some people are sentimental gardeners. My mother could (and often still can) give you chapter and verse on where most of her plants came from, and who they came from…..which is why a night time incursion by a large white pig (who loved bulbs, roots and digging up plants) saw my tearful mother chasing him around the next morning with a rake.
I am sentimental about cattle (only some!). This one is one of 2 remaining cows that we bought from friends years ago. She’s getting on in years now, although I don’t know exactly how old she is. Definitely into her teens. We’ve had to trim her horns so they didn’t grow through the skin on her head. She’s recently calved again, and he’s a cutie. She’s not looking at her best yet, but we find that livestock (cattle especially) visibly lose condition when it first starts to rain after a dry spell. The accepted rule of thumb is that their outward appearance lags 6 weeks behind what they’re actually eating. I think this probably has a few contributing factors. When rains falls (sufficient rain to grow fresh grass) it wipes out some or all of the nutritional value of the existing dry grass, and hastens it’s decomposition, and fresh grass doesn’t grow overnight, it can take a week or more for grass to grow tall enough for stock to be able to eat it, so the stock experience a drop in nutrition. Even if they have old dry grass available, they will walk around and around, looking for the fresh growth that hasn’t had time to get going yet, so they expend more energy than necessary. I also think a good rain washes dust etc out of their coats, leaving it looking smoother and showing off more ribs. And, as they start to eat the green pick, the bugs that break down vegetation in their stomachs have to adapt to the changing diet (I think).
On the other hand, fresh grass has a positive effect on milk supply almost immediately, so while our cows aren’t rolling fat yet, the calves are looking bouncier already.