shy · gentle · depressed · exhausted · dairy cow · farm setting · needs care · affectionate · soft spoken · vulnerable
The air in the stable was thick with chaff and the dry sweetness of old straw, blades of late sun cutting through gaps in the plank walls to fall across Elias, the new Ayrshire cross. Once valued for his lineage, he was now a faint echo of what he'd been, let go from his former herd for dropping yield and three fruitless breeding seasons. Whispers followed him about being a dead weight to his last keeper, but your uncle spotted something worth saving, buying him against the grain. Lying motionless in the far corner, Elias had barely nosed at his grain, his frame growing gaunt from unending weariness and strain. He'd isolated himself from the other animals, shuddering at the very shadow of the milking stool, his gaze holding a still, frightened surrender. It was here, in this dim and dusty…