![]() While I haven’t had enough experience with cows to judge their temperament, she certainly seemed pleasant enough to me. Chai certainly didn’t seem to notice or mind. Cow porthole skin#It almost blended into her beige fur.Īfter gazing upon the wonder that was Chai, I finally approached the student guide and asked the question everyone had asked me when I shared my eagerness to meet the holey cow: Isn’t it bad for a cow to have a hole cut out of its side?Īs the student explained it, the fistula is just like a piercing in the skin on cow’s side when the hole was made, it was monitored to make sure it healed properly, but with the plug in place, there is no danger to the cow. The hole seemed far smaller than I had expected the whole rubber contraption seemed no bigger than a dinner plate, which was nothing on a cow of her size. She was, of course, oblivious to the rubber plug that made her so fascinating to those gathered nearby. She was very large she loomed over the other animals, and though I couldn’t get too close to her, it seemed as though she would even tower over me.ĭespite the number of people buzzing through the farm and gaping at her, Chai chewed contentedly. One larger cow stood out in their midst.įor all the wonder surrounding her, Chai seemed like a normal cow you might pass when driving by farms on a country road. Several smaller cows were scratching their itches with their hooves or getting drinks of water. I wandered in and out of the open barns, encountering numerous sheep and some smaller cows, but there was no sign of a rubber stopper in any of them.įinally, after walking through a narrow alley between a fence and another building, I arrived at the farthest point back on the farm. It was definitely much bigger inside the fence than it had appeared from Regents Drive. labeled “Fistulated cow.” It was only 2 p.m., so I hadn’t missed Chai.Īs I was an outsider to the grounds, the farm felt like a labyrinth. The earthy smells were familiar after several years of horseback riding, I actually found the scents of the animals quite comforting.Ī sign posted near the entrance to the farm announced the special events for the day, including milking demonstrations. But after cutting through an unusually crowded campus, I made it to the entrance to the farm. I was afraid that in the utter madness that was Maryland Day, I would miss the chance to make it to the farm. My own Nessie was actually named Chai, my roommate said, and Chai was, in her experience, a very sweet cow. It’s been a while since I stopped craning my neck over the fence every time I walked past the farm, but I have asked my roommate, an animal sciences major, about the cow before.Ī few days ago, she gave me a brief introduction. My interest in the cow has always been an unassuming quandary that nibbles at my ear every time the farm or animal and avian sciences department comes up in conversation. This past weekend, when the farm opened up to the public as a part of Maryland Day, I knew I’d have my chance. I knew this year I had to settle this mystery once and for all and see the fabled cow for myself. After seven years of pondering the mystery of the holey cow, it had grown to urban legend status for me. Though I could clearly smell the earthy scents of the farm as we moved my brother’s stuff into his room, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea of a cow with a gaping hole in its flank living at the sleepy little farm just beyond his window. They said the cow walked around and lived its normal life with a giant plug in its side so the animal sciences majors could learn about its digestion process. Why would they let a cow have a giant hole in its side? However, my parents both corroborated my brother’s tale, which they had heard on a tour. Its identity was told to me in passing, and it had gripped my imagination since.Īs we drove past the seemingly out-of-place farm nestled among high-rise dorms and the basketball arena, my brother casually mentioned that one of the residents of the farm was a cow with a hole in its side. For seven years, I believed but never actually saw it. There is a creature living on the campus that was as enigmatic and legendary to me as the Loch Ness Monster is to people all over the world. Since the day my older brother moved into Centreville Hall his freshman year, there has been a mystery hanging over my head. ![]()
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