Chapter 417 - 181: The Natives’ New Priest
With the management rights of two gigantic creatures in hand, Sunday was overjoyed.
However, figuring out how to take them away was quite a challenge.
Sunday had only heard from Chen Zhou about the benefits of the cattle but knew nothing about their temperament, diet, or the precautions during rearing. All he could do was stare blankly at the two cows through the unfinished wooden wall.
Helpless, he could only practice the spirit of "never be ashamed to ask," continuing to seek further knowledge from Chen Zhou.
...
With a ritual to be held on August 1st and preparations for the evening banquet starting in the afternoon, time was tight.
Chen Zhou estimated that moving the two cows to the sheep-grazing hillside would take at least half a day—
He would at least need to first put halters on the cows and then slowly drive them forward.
The cows, arriving in an unfamiliar environment, would feel uneasy and could act unruly when encountering unfamiliar people and walking unfamiliar long roads, surely throwing tantrums and running wild, ignoring discipline.
The indigenous people had never seen such creatures and were terrified of them. During the cattle herding, they would likely lose control, requiring Chen Zhou to personally step in.
If he were to open the cages now and focus all his attention on the cows, the entire day’s plans would fall through.
After some thought, Chen Zhou ultimately decided to leave the cows on the beach for now.
...
For the sake of the two cows’ health and mood, Chen Zhou ordered the indigenous people to speed up demolishing the wooden and stone walls while laying a few long planks on top of the iron cage.
The beach temperature was too high, and the sunlight was too harsh. This setup could block the sunlight and prevent the cows from suffering heatstroke.
Then, he had Sunday lead the indigenous people to fetch two buckets of water and cut several large bundles of fresh grass to fill the cage.
...
Since their arrival in the cage early in the morning, the two cows had been locked in, tired and hungry. Finally getting hold of food and water, they relished with delight.
The two indigenous people, who often herded sheep with Sunday and were used to seeing goats leisurely nibble at the grass tips, were witnessing a cow’s eating manner for the first time.
Particularly the Simmental bull, a full wooden bucket of water wasn’t enough for it to drink.
It barely squeezed its wide mouth into the wooden bucket, and with the sound of gulping, the bucket of water was drained in an instant.
The bundles of fresh grass were sucked into the cow’s mouth, and without even a visible chew, they were rolled and swallowed down to its stomach.
Enough water and grass for a dozen goats for a day were consumed in less than ten minutes by the cows, leaving the indigenous people dumbfounded.
Only Chen Zhou knew that placing these two buckets of water in front of the two cows was indeed "a drop in the bucket."
All the northern cattle ranchers knew how much water cattle consumed daily in the sweltering summer.
In such island temperatures, a bull needed to consume roughly 12% of its body weight in water daily.
This meant that just the big bull needed to drink nearly 200 kilograms of water every day.
As for the dairy cow, its water consumption was also considerable.
After all, the primary component of milk is water, and producing milk requires plenty of water intake as a precondition.
Generally speaking, to produce 10 kilograms of milk, a cow drinks about 30 kilograms of water, needing to consume even more as temperatures rise.
Ideally, releasing these two cows by the riverbank would be the best choice.
The river water was not only abundant but also cool and clean, perfect for livestock drinking.
However, with August already arrived and no signs from the Spaniards or the Great Tribe’s indigenous people, Chen Zhou was worried about the possibility of the cows being harmed if they landed on the island; hence, he planned to move the cows up the mountain to graze alongside the sheep.
Moreover, Chen Zhou intended to select an indigenous person with a talent for herding, allowing him to drive the herd and the two cows between the hillside and the mountain stream.
This way, both the cows and sheep could have ample exercise and ensure their daily grass intake remained fresh and tender, saving time and effort spent fetching water.
Previously, due to a lack of manpower and low water consumption by the herd, he had Sunday and Saturday jointly manage farming and livestock.
Now, as the herd grew to 19 with a new round of reproduction, and with the addition of two cows, relying on fetching water to sustain them was increasingly challenging, making it the perfect time to attempt a change in management strategies—
Fewer people have fewer plans; more people have more strategies.
Additionally, with the rainy season approaching, building shelters for the cattle and sheep was a pressing issue to be resolved.
If there were still no traces of the Spaniards by mid-August, Chen Zhou planned to halt the construction of defensive structures and refocus efforts on production matters.
...
After making several trips to fetch water front and back, they finally satisfied the two cows’ thirst and hunger.
With their thirst and hunger sated, these seemingly intelligent creatures ceased their mooing, contentedly standing in the cage, leisurely swishing their tails while gazing at the unfamiliar humans surrounding them.
The cows’ eyes were large and clear, with long eyelashes, resembling naive children unexposed to the world’s harshness, devoid of any hint of viciousness.
Sunday had long prepared for the long-term companionship with the cows; he had personally handed all the grass into the cage while feeding them.
Seeing the cows’ stable mood, he mustered the courage to reach out and touch one cow’s head.
Both the Simmental bull and the other cow were short-haired breeds, and when his hand landed on the cowhide, he could feel the roughness of the cow’s fur along with the vibrant life energy contained within these massive creatures.