Anna, 43, from St Kilda, SA shares her true life story:
My heart fluttered as I stared into two big brown eyes.
The muscular legs, glossy hair… I just wanted to run my fingers through it.
I hadn’t been keen when my daughter, Kerrie, 17, pushed me into online dating.
I’d raised Kerrie and her siblings, Joseph, 13, and Jessica, 11, by myself for 10 years and I was quite happy.
But I’d got talking to a nice, friendly farm manager called Darren, 34, and agreed to meet him at his farm in Padthaway, SA.
I took Kerrie with me for moral support. But so far the date had not gone as expected.
You see, the brown eyes that melted my heaty weren’t Darren’s – they belonged to his gorgeous calf!
She’d been born in front of me.
This was meant to be, I thought as I watched her emerge from her poor, panting mum and clamber to her feet.
I loved the caring way that Darren handled the animals.
But I was far more interested in the calf.
Sadly, her mum didn’t make it.
“What will happen to her?” I asked, tears willing up for the young orphan.
She had a brown hide with a splash of white on her chest – she was the cutest thing that I’d ever seen.
“Without her mum, she won’t feed,” Darren sighed.
“I’ll take care of her,” I said immediately.
Kerrie stared at me in disbelief.
“I’ve seen it on TV,” I insisted. “I’ll bottle-feed her.”
Moo Moo nuzzled my hand for milk.
“Mum, are you sure?” Kerrie asked.
She looked concerned.
But I felt certain.
Through the night, I’d get up every four hours to feed her.
I didn’t mind – I was in love.
I called her Moo Moo and barely left her side that first weekend.
Darren was around all the time, and despite his mucky overalls and my true love for Moo Moo, there was a spark.
He was the one who introduced me to her, after all.
“How would you feel about me moving here?” I asked.
He burst out laughing.
I guess it was too soon.
“Would it be for me or the calf?” he teased, grinning.
“Both,” I replied truthfully.
Amazingly, Darren was happy for me to move my kids in.
I just had to tell them.
Leaving Moo Moo was hard.
“I’ll be back soon,” I said, cuddling her.
When I told the kids, they were so excited about moving to life on a farm.
Only Kerrie was worried. “Mum, you’re crazy. It’s so quick,” she said.
“But I’m in love. That’s my home now,” I told her.
A week later, the kids and returned to the farm.
Moo Moo remembered me and nuzzled my hand for milk.
Darren told me she was a Shorthorn beef cow.
“Good steaks, you know,” he said.
I was horrified.
“That’s not funny, Darren,” I replied.
From then on, I banned steak from the house.
“It would be like watching you eat Moo Moo,” I said.
Luckily, Darren agreed.
I started to collect trinkets.
Moo Moo became my constant companion following me everywhere.
She got on great with the kids too.
She even played footy with them!
Later, I saw her outside my kitchen window looking glum.
“Come on then, baby,” I said, letting her inside.
She was getting big, so I had to move things out of her way.
She settled down in front of the telly with me and the kids.
“What the hell is she doing in here?” Darren yelled when he got home.
But I talked him around.
“Thank you, sweetie,” I said giving him a kiss before cuddling up to Moo Moo.
One day, while I was out shopping, I spotted a statue of a cow that looked just like Moo Moo, so I bought it.
Then I bought cow-printed fabric to make bed linen.
“You can’t be serious?” Darren asked.
Dawn was serious. Check out Take 5 Podcast below to hear how obsessed Anna became!
