Heidi and Thors Story

I recently photographed a truly unbelivable bond between a human and a bull. The pictures turned out so well and the story was so nice that it hit all of the UK newspapers.

This is the story of Heidi & Thor told in her own words:

My name is Heidi. I live and work as a house keeper on a Highland Estate (Alvie) and Thor is a mixed breed, mostly Scottish Shorthorn, and is now two and a half years old.

I met Thor on his first day in this world. He was born nearly 1 month prematurely and his mother didn't have enough milk for him so his joints were really soft and he was unable to stand up by himself. Due to this he was taken away from his mum and had to be hand reared.

The next morning I woke up really early with a massive urge to go and see how he was doing. I couldn't see him at first and my heart sank as I thought he had not survived the night, but then I noticed a little fluffy heap in the corner. He had somehow managed to shuffle himself across the barn and face-planted in to a pile of manure which had gone up his nose and in his mouth. He was unable to breathe and was very near death when I found him. I managed to clear his airway, rubbed his little chest, blew air into his mouth and eventually he responded. It was a traumatic experience for both of us!

For the next few weeks I went to see him every day and started to become aware of the fact that I was getting more attached to him. I thought I had no way of changing the path of his life as he had been born into the meat industry. This broke my heart so I stopped going to see him but still thought about him a lot.

A couple of months later I couldn’t resist going to see him. I didn't think that he would remember me but as soon as I called out to him, his ears perked forward and he cautiously came towards me. He put his nose right up to my face and it felt like he was breathing in my breath and remembering what happened. He licked my face, wagged his tail, skipped around in his pen and i fell in love with him all over again!

I had some savings so I spoke to the Laird of the estate and the farm manager and asked if I could buy him. I’m sure they both thought I was crackers but they agreed to this and also let me use a field to keep him in which is close to the main house. With help from friends we built him a wee barn and I bought him everything he needs: ring feeder, water trough and back scratcher etc.

When the big day came, we took him from the bull shed to his field and from the moment he realised his halter was off and he had space to run around he got so excited and bucked about with his tail in the air looking as happy as a wee bull could be!

During the couple months I didn't visit him he was castrated so is actually referred to as a Steer or a Bullock. This means he is a lot more placid than a full bull and I would not have been able to keep him otherwise!

Taking him on has been a massive decision for me. Growing up i had never spent any time around large animals and i had never owned anything bigger than a guinea-pig, so finding myself with Thor as a giant puppy has been quite an experience!

I have had to work hard on my confidence around him. I know that he would never intentionally hurt me and he is not aggressive in the slightest, but he doesn't realise he is the size of a small vehicle and even getting an unintentional knock from his head can really hurt!

People often ask me - what are you going to do with him/use him for?. My answer is and always will be: nothing, I just want him to live a long and happy life and make people smile which he does every day. He is super friendly, loves human attention, very intelligent and is for sure a highly sentient being.

If i am ever having a bad day Thor never fails to make me feel calm and happy. I smile before I even reach the corner of his field and I love how when I call him he instantly looks for me and either comes straight over or moos to let me know he would rather I came to him!

He loves close contact and I can now even sit or lay on him which he seems to really love. I can scratch his belly and he almost rolls over just like a dog. I believe that any animal given the chance will prove that all creatures are sentient. They have feelings and emotions just like other animals which humans naturally befriend like dogs cats and horses!

Thor will never realise how lucky he is as he has only experienced the good stuff. He was born on a beautiful estate, well looked after by the lovely farmers and now is the most pampered guy in the Highlands!

I feel very lucky and privileged to have him in my life.

If someone had said to me 3 years ago that I would soon have a cow as a friend, not mind being covered in dirt, constantly have bits of straw in my hair and be spending my Sundays mucking out a barn and picking up gigantic poops from the field I would have laughed a lot and not believed a word of it. However, here we are and I wouldn't change it for the world. I love him to the MOOn and back!

I had to show Thor the photos and check that he was ok with everything. He was!