Do cows wear watches?

As another Daylight Savings Time looms in the near future (why 2 A.M.?  Does anyone actually get up and set their alarm for 2:00 to “spring” ahead?  Does anyone feel like “springing ahead” at 2 A.M.?), I thought you might wonder about bovine and other animals whose routines revolve around a specific time of day.

Well, here is the evidence on our little farm: At 7:45 A.M.,  when I arrive in the barn, both Mocha and Jersey are standing in their stalls looking at me, almost as if to say, “Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?” (I can almost visualize them impatiently tapping their right front hoof on their left front leg as if their were wearing a watch!) So, I go about the business of milking Mocha, same as every morning, as I finish, I head over to Jersey’s stall and she is standing in the milking position as if she were already tied up again, as if she knew “it was time.”

After milking Jersey, I ready the wagon for the trip back to the house with buckets of liquid white gold…and the calves begin mooing. Now it’s their turn for some loving and, they hope, a trip to the pasture.  Do they know what time it is?

During the summer, when the girls are in the pasture all the time, as milking time draws near, they stand at the gate, staring at the house, and if they do not see me coming toward the barn, they begin calling to me…LOUDLY!  Again, how do they know what time it is?  You might think it is because their udders are full and they want to be milked. Well, no!  The last couple of days they have been in the pasture in the afternoon and around 5:00 they are standing and staring at the house, mooing for me to come out.  The difference here is that they are not being milked at 5:00 or 6:00 anymore since I have been working for weeks to transition them to one morning milking. So, that is not why they are mooing.  Can they tell time?  Where are they hiding their watches?

So maybe it’s just the cows, you say?  Well, no.  Yesterday afternoon, I was heading to the barn and the calves saw or heard me and ran all the way from the front pasture to the gate where they expected me to meet them to bring them into the barn for the evening.  Maybe they wear watches?

And our golden retrievers…do they wear watches?  Well, today they went outside for their morning romp at 7:45 A.M. Tomorrow, it will be 8:45 A.M. Do you think they will think “Oh, OK!  The clocks have changed so we have to wait another hour!” Or, will they be fidgeting and whining because they think we forgot them?  And, when we take them outside last thing this evening before bed, will they understand that today it’s 10:00 P.M. but tomorrow it will be 11:00 P.M.  I think not!

Tomorrow, when the people of our state (wish we lived in a state that doesn’t observe the ridiculous practice of Daylight Savings Time) turn our clocks ahead and struggle to adjust once again to getting up in the dark when our bodies know it is really 4:45 A.M. but the clocks says 5:45 A.M.; eat when the clock says its 6:00 P.M. but we aren’t hungry yet because yesterday this was only 5:00 P.M.; and when we attempt to go to bed at 10:30 P.M. when yesterday it was only 9:30 P.M., we can tell ourselves all the reasons that we must adjust and all the benefits of Daylight Savings Time.

But, what about the cows?   When I do not show up to milk until a whole hour later…will they know why and understand? When they come into the barn a whole hour later, will they understand? Nope!  I do not think so!  Whether they wear it on their leg or it is hidden deep inside of their bodies somewhere, I am convinced that my bovines have a watch whereby they can keep tabs on me and know whether I am adhering to our unspoken agreement to milk and feed on a specific schedule!

I am contemplating rebelling and NOT adhering to this ridiculous practice this year, but instead attempting to continue on the same standard time so that the cows and dogs do not have to endure this adjustment.  However, how do I live on Eastern Standard Time with the animals and live on Daylight Savings Time with my family so that my husband and son aren’t an hour late for work and ball practice? What a dilemma!