Is That a Real Cash Cow?

Just what does a cow, cash, and internet marketing have in common? Maybe there are a lot more similarities to raising and caring for a cow to your internet marketing business than you thought. Read on to find out . . .

I'll admit it, I was a farm boy, born and raised. Got a lot out of it and got out of it a lot. One thing I learned a lot about was milking. Real milking.

Good milking is a skill, and a service. The cow needs the milk to be removed to relieve the pressure. The milk is abundant because of the care that is given to the cow. The cow gladly gives up the milk she made in return for the care and life you give her.

There's a technique in milking called stripping. It's the process necessary to get those last drops of milk from the udder. It's not a greed thing; it makes the cow produce more milk. If you don't empty the udder completely, the cow will produce less milk the next time. If the process continues, she will go dry, as in 'no more milk from Honey.'

My first was Jerse, original eh? I inherited her and the job from my older brother. She was sweet, but she wasn't mine, even after being under my care and supervision for a couple of years. She was still a hand-me-down. I think she knew that, too.

Next up was Honey, Jerse's daughter, born while I was taking care of the chores. Yep, they were chores.

I loved her from the moment she hit the ground. I spent time with her, played with her, and eventually taught her to be a milk cow, though I never really knew what she really wanted I was fairly sure she would prefer that to the alternatives.

I knew I was helping her.

She was like a pet, an extended-family member. She grew to be a well-tempered and good milk-producing cow. I was proud of that.

She came when I called her. She followed me like a dog, ran ahead of me at times and looked back as if asking, "Aren't you coming?"

I could even ride her. No rope, no halter, nothing. Just climb on her back and ask her to go, using pressure from my knees to guide her and just asking her to stop. People were always amazed when they saw this and wanted to try it for themselves. It never worked. Even for my brothers, and well, frankly, I wasn't always so easily enticed to letting others have access to my cow. She was special, and valuable, because of our relationship.

In fact, she finally grew accustomed enough to my dad's voice to come when he called her, expecially when she was in bad need of being milked. She never gave as much milk for him as she did for me even when she did give in to him. Strange, isn't it?

I took care of her, and she provided me with milk. I fed her, helped her when she was hurt, even found her a boyfriend about once a year when she was old enough. A couple of times she went out and found one on her own, but the results weren't often what either of us desired. It did work out okay once when she met up with the wayward Jersey bull of our neighbor, but mostly the result was less than satisfactory: a calf that was only good for selling as soon as possible.

She also provided me with companionship and a sense of caring, teaching, and sometimes even learning.

I later decided upon the urging of my father, that I would raise extra calves on her milk. Calves I could buy cheaply from the local dairy since they don't want the calves, especially the males, only the milk.

A cash cow was created, literally.

It was sweet. I didn't get as attached to the calves I bought just for making money. But I did with the calves that were hers or the heifer calves I managed to buy occassionally that I knew would someday, with the proper nurturing, become good milk cows and maybe even cash cows themselves.

I would buy the calves for as little as $15 (er, I did say this was when I was a boy, didn't I? It was some time ago.) The profits were high. I could raise the calf almost for free on the excess milk Honey produced and then sell it at weaning age for anywhere from $75 and up. Just a matter of a few short months. I could even rotate them, start the next one when the current one was getting close to weaning.

Younger calves didn't need as much milk, just more attention.

Almost no down time, and a calf to sell almost every month. Big money for a boy of 15, and it was work I was having to do anyway, milking and caring for the cow.

I eventually built a small herd of these cows. Not all of which I was so closely attached to, but they were more to me than just a means to making more milk, er, money. Milk money had a completely different meaning for me in those days.

Those guys at the dairy farm, they were a big operation. Lots of employees, hundreds of milk-producing cows. But they only cared about the milk. They used machines for doing everything, even opening the gate to let the cows into the dairy barn for the milkings.

The calves were sorted from 3 days after birth, males sold as quickly as possible to guys like me or even worse to the butchers for veal. The same fate was in store for the females who didn't fit the ideal size, weight, height, shape standards of what was known to grow into a good milk cow.

The other female calves, heifers for us farm boys and girls, were given special treatment, allowed to nurse from their mothers for a little bit longer, and then given to the care of another step in the system.

I always felt a little sorry for that herd of cows. They were nothing to that dairy farm but more money. Sure, I wanted, intended to profit from my cows, but I also knew I would give them a home and care for them. I even named them, all of them, and they knew their names and most would grow to be as pet-like as Honey. Though not quite.

My father ended up selling her one day while I was away. We were not doing so well financially, and though it hurt me, I tried to understand. I never really got over that. I still miss those days, the crisp smell of the hay, the sweet scent of her breath after she'd eaten corn and oats flavored with molasis, and the bonds that we formed.

But I learned a lot from the experience. I still use those principles today, or at least I am trying to.

So, what does my story have to do with marketing or growing your business? I hope some of you are already seeing that.

Re-read the story. Replace "cow" with "customer" or "client," "calves" with "product/service," "dairy farm" with your favorite term for "big operation," and "milk" of course with "money" or "income" or "profit." Choose the term that fits your situation best.

Then, ask yourself, "Am I raising a cash cow or a cow for cash?"

Be well,

Allen Williams

The author is a professional educator, speaker, and writer. You can find out more of what he is up to by visiting:
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