Growing up on a cattle farm in southeast Illinois, Will Gillespie often found himself telling stories about his family’s cows. As he continued to share them at a party one New Year’s Eve, he found some of the necessary detail slipping away. So, he spent the next five years writing them down, utilizing a group of people to refine each and filling nearly 400 pages of a published book.

“It’s been a little bit of an adventure putting this out in the world,” said Gillespie on a recent fall morning while home on his family’s Jasper County farm. “I had some stories about raising cattle I felt needed to be shared – and a lot more.”

Titled “Cows I Have Known,” Gillespie has woven together an entertaining 45 chapters about growing up among more cows than people.

 

“It’s nothing for a brood cow to be on a farm 10, 15, maybe a real healthy one, 20 years,” said Gillespie. “There’s going to be some around that you just really appreciate their personalities, or you really, really despise them. We had our share of both here.”

In the book, Gillespie shares favorite and not-so-favorite tales of cows, including the names he and his family created for some of them: “Corn-Eating Machine,” “Fibbing Face” and “Slimer.” In between, there are stories about on-the-farm challenges, such as dealing with foundered calves, loose cattle, wildlife in barns and blinding snow.

 

“I thought it was important to A, write about cows, and B, put out a real account of what life is like caring for cattle for those who really don’t understand it,” he explained.

Gillespie, who grew up on a farm near Newton, found his eyes wide open when listening to some of his peers at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale talk about farming and other food-related topics and issues.

“They would say strange things like, ‘Did you know they feed corn to cows?’ I just felt like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of misinformation out there about different aspects of cattle farming,’ he said. So, why not write a book to help explain a little bit.”

Gillespie, now 37, spends most working hours these days as a civil engineer for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The brood cow herd with which he grew up once totaled more than 80 animals. It’s a bit smaller today, but the pull to return to the farm remains strong. He recently took vacation days to help his family with harvest.

“When I’m here, I try to remember how much we have to be thankful for,” said Gillespie. “The other day, I just saw the most beautiful sunset while combining corn. I thought, ‘How many people get to enjoy that?’ Not enough, I’ll tell you that. Not enough.”

“Cows I Have Known” is available on paperback at Amazon.com.