Me and Alonzo, the Registered Herford Bull
Alonzo was gentle as a kitten-and a perfect pest! He just loved to have someone scratch between his horns– and never wanted you to stop.
Notice in the picture the hair between his horns is roughed up where I had been scratching it for him. I had to hold his horn to turn his head to face the camera.
He would lower his head and press it against you and close his eyes and fairly purr when his head was being scratched. He had great dark eyes, and long, thick white eyelashes.
He was kept in the “trap,” and when we were working in that area, we often had to tie him up– notice the rope in the picture– because he wanted us to scratch his head all the time, and we couldn’t get any work done.
On Sundays we often had friends visit us. No one was a stranger to Alonzo—to him they were all prospective head-scratchers.
Under the live oak trees was deep, soft leaf humus, so people didn’t hear him walk up behind them—he was so lazy he walked slowly and softly. He would lower his head—the better position for head scratching—press it against the person and shake his head gently—to get their attention—when the person– those who didn’t’ know him—looked around and say that big bull with lowered head—they were sure they wore in imminent danger of being gored to death, and scream so they could be heard a mile.
This didn’t deter Alonzo, he just headed for the next closest person, in hopes of better luck. He was so gentle and such a pet he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
But he certainly got their attention when he pushed his head against them, and shook his head –he didn’t seem to know he was scaring the daylights out of them!
-Nona
Linden Tree Leaves 