1781

My story begins in Door County, Wisconsin. Being Wisconsin, there are, of course, dairy farms. It was at one of those dairy farms that I work at.

One day when I was making the rounds feeding the calves, about five months ago, I was giving one of the older pens of calves their grain. I noticed one of the calves was standing back from everyone else, not rushing to eat. I still remember her number. 1781. After I fed the pen their food, I stood and watched 1781, as it was my job to report sick calves to my boss, and also, that this one suffered from the flu on several occasions. 1781 did not really move for the whole minute that I watched her. All she did was stare at me and shuffle her feet a bit. Getting bored, I got in the truck and drove away to find my boss. When I found him, I told him and he wrote the calf number down and said he would check on her later. I thought nothing more on it and left for the day.

When I went into work the next morning I looked everywhere for 1781 but I couldn't find her. I asked my boss if she had to be put down and he said she wasn't there. I questioned him further and asked what he meant. He then said he checked his computer and that 1781 "didn't exist anymore". I gave him a sideways look and asked when she died. Apparently, she died two weeks before.

My boss walked off, laughing nervously and shaking his head. I shook mine too, but in disappointment. I had let a ghost calf get the better of me.