he castrated the calves with a razor blade,
sliced open their scrotums, pulled and 
tossed the testicles into an empty feed bucket 
for the dogs to eat 

now he has separated the cows from their calves,
a sudden weaning,
so the milk dries up, forcing the cows into fertility

at night, I shut the windows to their lowing
mothers calling to calves calling to mothers

the house grows stifling