There’s nothing more Spud loves than playing with his balls. Jolly balls, stability balls, beach balls… Spud loves them all!
“He’s just a big dog,” says Spud’s mom Laura.
Except, Spud isn’t a dog at all. He’s a cow. A cow who likes to play ball.
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“He gets so much joy out of it. He loves pressure on his head. The ball will form to his head so he continues to push until the ball is now covering his head until it pops in his face,” Laura tells The Dodo. “And he hates when it does that. It breaks his heart, but he does it every time.”
The looks on Spud’s face when he pops his ball and slowly walks back over to it is simply heartbreaking and adorable at the same time.
“I probably have lost count by now. He’s had at least three jolly balls, four stability balls. There’s been those little kid balls you find like the big ball center at Walmart,” said Laura. “A friend of ours had a ball, they asked if they could give it to Spud. It is the only ball that has survived more than a week.”
According to Fauna Facts, cows need a lot of mental stimulation because of their social nature. Playing with toys like balls is a means of keeping them entertained so they don’t get bored or stressed.
So, Spud uses his balls to stay sharp and have fun.
Laura first met Spud when she was a senior in college and decided to take a course on raising an animal after being recruited to play soccer.
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Laura was absolutely heartbroken when she learned that Spud was scheduled for extermination.
“I was like no, there had to be another way,” said Laura.
So, she asked her parents if she could bring a cow home to Illinois, and she became Spud’s moo-m.
“I call my parents and I’m like, ‘Hey remember that little bull spud who I’ve been raising? Is it cool if he comes home with me?'” Laura recalled.
They agree and Laura’s teacher gave her one piece of advice: “get him to know you.”
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Laura does that by being the first thing Spud sees when he wakes up in the morning
“My favorite is when he’s not awake yet and I call out to him. He gets up and peeks his head out of his barn, like ‘Morning Mom.'”
Laura has had her curly-hair-faced cow for six years, and every year they take a special birthday photo to commemorate the year they spent together.
He got a huge grain ball for his birthday this year, which Laura put a candle in. Laura actually gets why humans like her have been put in charge of caring for animals like Spud.
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“Spud has taught me that there’s so much more to animals or even people. You don’t have to be what you’re expected to be in life,” she said. “He’s expected to be a bull, which is aggressive and standoffish. Instead, he’s only shown me love and fun, and adventure together. I still see that little 300-lb. bull who never was supposed to be mine. I want every day to be a good day for him.”
You can watch Laura and Spud’s beautiful relationship in the video below.
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