The Cutest Cows in the World

I met what must be the absolutely cutest cows in the world last weekend. It was at my new site….where I will be living for the next two years. I went on a visit there to meet my new host family and my work counterparts, to explore the town a bit and find out what exactly my organization does in the community. The new site is a town called Tərtər (Tare-tare), one of the prettiest towns I think I’ve ever seen. Apparently, the town I visited is pretty new. Part of Azerbaijan,the light green shaded area on the map above, is currently being occupied by Armenia. The front lines of the conflict are about 10km outside of the town. (no worries, though; the Peace Corps won’t place volunteers at sites which are unsafe) The red portion of the Rayon (region) of Tərtər is still in "free" Azerbaijan, but the dark green is an area of conflict. The original townsite of Tərtər lies within the currently-occupied area, so they just kind of made a “new” town of Tərtər. I’m going to have to research this a bit further, because not all of the town looks brand-spankin’-new. But back to the cows.

During my site visit, the woman with whom I’ll be working at the IEPF’s Regional Vocational Training Center for Land Mine Victims took me and several other volunteers to see one of the projects the IEPF oversees. It’s a little farm not far from the office which offers opportunities for mine victims to learn new skills which help them continue to support their families. From what I saw, the farm has a honeybee operation in full swing, and a lovely barn. Inside the barn were about twenty of the cutest cows I’ve ever seen, all lined up wondering which of us was going to feed them.

Generally speaking, I’m a horse person. I am all about the horses. I love the way they move, the way they look, and mostly the way they smell. I connect with horses. Cows? Cows, in comparison, are angular. They’re clunky mooooovers (sorry…couldn’t resist). And their poop just doesn’t smell right, you know? But THESE cows….THESE cows (oh…that’s inəklər (ee-neck-lahr) to you), these cows were just so darned cute. Not just cute in the face; I’m not that shallow. No, these cows have personality cuteness. Cuteness on the inside. I say that because they didn’t shy away from me when I went to speak with them personally. (you cant speak to cows from afar; it just doesn’t have the same effect) No, these cows are curious cows, and curious cows are just too darned cute for their own good.

I’m going to try to ignore the fact that these cows are there as income-generating sources for the mine victims. They buy the calves and raise them for resale, keeping the profits. Which is really cool and extremely awesome, and I totally and completely support it. But I’m going to try to ignore these “facts” each time I visit The Farm of the World’s Cutest Cows. Because visit them I shall. They are that cute.