What do cows get when they're sick?

Hay fever!

Or so the joke goes.

Phil called me over to the cows a bit ago. Little Denise was resting, eyes swollen shut, dry, mucus-y nose, breathing through the mouth. Haven't seen that before.

She isn't breathing heavily; she doesn't look like she has the angry red eyes of pinkeye (and I don't think pinkeye causes the lids to swell a half inch). Sinusitis could be an option, but she doesn't really look like she has a headache.

Really, looking at her, she looks like she has allergies. She looks the way Phil and I have felt the last few days (yesterday afternoon, my nose opened up like a drippy faucet). There are, apparently, cows who get hay fever.

Though I'm open to other ideas.

How horrible to be a cow with hay fever!