Nothing Is Permanent
This is part of the south wall of the calf barn.
Not the old calf barn; that would be this, these days. . .
. . . but the "new" calf barn, which is maybe only 30 years old. And stands unused anymore. Anyway, do you know the cause of those holes are in the siding? Let's take a closer look.
Plywood siding; nothing unusual, other than those strange organic-shaped holes. The holes were created by baby calves, who (after having drunk every last drop of warm milk from their plastic buckets, and sucked on the buckets as long as they could get away with it) sucked on anything else they could. If you walked down the row of pens just after feeding time, you'd see 50 calves, from a few days to a couple of months old, crane their necks as far through their gates as possible, trying to get some fingers or pant leg into their mouths. They'd settle for plywood, and over time, these strange holes were the result.
The funniest part was seeing, from some distance away outside the barn, several pink tongues extended through the holes, or an occasional lower jaw jutting through a hole as a calf got purchase and began sucking the tar out of that barn.
These days, because there are no more dairy calves, but only beef cows around the ranch, the little ones stay with their mothers, and get their milk from the source. It's a very different scenario to see calves consorting with each other, romping together or just relaxing in one another's company. I really enjoy their freedom.
Even their piddling in public.