no cows in the house!

Hi! My name is Willy Ann, I am 8 years old, and I live on a dairy farm in Colleyville, Texas.

Living on a dairy farm can be fun, but it can be stinky, itchy and scary too.

I love living on the dairy with all the cows and my family. We also have 6 horses, 3 pigs, a lot of chickens, and a huge garden of vegetables and fruit, I don't I don't like the vegetables, Yuck!

Oh, and we have a bunch of barn cats too. Barn cats are just wild cats that you can't pet or cuddle, but they love any milk that's spilt on the floor. Sometimes, my dad will squeeze a teat and shoot milk at them, and they try to catch it. It is so funny!

My dad is Bobby Lee and my mom is Minnie. My dad milks the cows 2 times a day, and my mom works at home, making sure we are kept clean and fed.

When I'm not in school, I am at the barn with my dad. We have a barn, that milks 20 cows at one time with milkers. You have to wash the teats and put the milkers on.

The milkers suck all the milk out of the udders, and pipes take it to a big tank in another room. When the tank is full, a big tanker truck comes, and sucks all the milk out of the tank, then it takes it away.

We have a calf barn. A calf barn is where we keep the poor calves that the mama cows won't feed, it's sad, but we take care of them when that happens.

We have a giant baby bottle, I have to use 2 hands to hold it it's so big! We put milk in the bottles and feed the calves, just like feeding a baby. They butt and pull on the bottle just like they would the mama's teat. And those calves are really strong!

We had one calf that was so beautiful, I named her Pretty Face. I fed her with the bottle 3 times a day to make sure she grew up big and strong. She was my responsibility.

She would follow me around everywhere I went, like a big dog. I would sit and scratch behind her ears and hug her tightly, telling her how much I loved her.

She got big really fast. Cows grow really fast. One day she was following me around and we were playing a game. If I stopped, she would bump my butt with her nose, and I would start walking again. I would stop and she would bump me again.

I had to take my mama some milk one day, and Pretty Face was right there with me. But I forgot to shut the door when I went in, and gave my mother the milk.

"Oh no!" Mama cried out.

"What's wrong mama?" I asked.

"Look, Pretty Face is in the house! No cows in the house!" I turn around, and sure enough, there stands Pretty Face in the middle of my mama's kitchen!

Then my Dad walks in.

"What is this? Willy Ann, no cows in the house!"

"Yes sir." I say.

I take Pretty Face back outside and close the door behind me. She looks so sad and I feel so sad.

I sit on the step and scratch behind her ears.

"I'm sorry Pretty Face, but they say no cows in the house." I kiss her nose and go back inside for supper.

The next morning, I woke up and opened the door. I'm going down to the barn to help my dad, and you won't believe the surprise I got!

There, standing on the front porch, is my beautiful friend, Pretty Face. I smile and scratch behind her ears. My mama comes out, shaking her head and smiling.

"Willy Ann, please, no cows on the porch!"