Mass was 600 pounds or so.?ÿ Acceleration was all that mad bull could muster.?ÿ Force was what pinned me up against one gate as he succeeded in getting past me by forcing open another gate that REALLY did not want to move.?ÿ A blivet was created.?ÿ That's 800 plus pounds of crap stuffed into a 400 pound bag.?ÿ This was only a couple minutes after a slightly bigger heifer had tried a similar maneuver in a different crowding alley.?ÿ Thought I might get cracked ribs out of that ordeal as she hit me higher up, but I got lucky.
Both eventually went in the stock trailer.?ÿ Today, each is on someone else's property and I have a check headed my way from the livestock sale barn owners.?ÿ There were more than two that went to sale yesterday, but, these were the only ones determined to stay where they were born.
This photo is not of oil on blue jeans.?ÿ It's human blood that had been flowing through my left arm prior to the above occurrences.
This photo shows the medical necessity required to hold an oversized band-aid in place while preventing me from bending my left elbow.
At least I had the added comfort of making the 40-mile one way trip to the sale barn in my 1997 GMC instead of my 1985 Chevy.?ÿ If pulled over by an officer of the law, the list of offenses would have been only five or six violations.?ÿ Had I been driving the Chevy, the list would have been far longer.?ÿ Here are a couple visual clues as to the start of the no-no list.
Last week we started to replace the unit that sends fuel tank level to the gauge on the dashboard.?ÿ This led to completely removing the dashboard and three pack rat nests.?ÿ It's no wonder the right turn signals did not work, along with numerous other electrical issues.?ÿ We simply didn't have time to fix everything before spending all day Friday moving cattle between pastures six mile apart, sorting off heifers to be held in another pasture away from male companionship and, then, loading several to make a one-way trip to town.
Oh my. That sounds like you had an interesting day. Mine was less expensive as I just stacked hay in barn and fixed a fence that a dead pine fell on. Then the wife and girls had to wash the dog as he decided to grind some left over dead critter into his fur. I will have to send pics of my old ford it is almost the twinky to your Chevy lol.?ÿ
Ya gotta be careful around them stubborn cattle. With having small kids as soon as one gets aggressive Its off to the sale barn. No money but I do keep somewhat of a piece of mind that kids are not endanger. I am down to all Red Poll now as commercial angus crosses are all gone. Maybe when youngest gets older I will get some more. But last ones at vaccination time gave me fits tore through wood fence. I said thats it. My red poll cattle are glorified pets. Kids feed them bread and they follow you around like a puppy.?ÿ
I have been told I have a large bruise on the side of my left hip.?ÿ Not somewhere I normally can see without a mirror.?ÿ Oh, well.?ÿ My planned photosession for Playgirl Magazine isn't scheduled until next month.
Wow! after reading the above, that bull must have really smacked you upside da head good. ?????ÿ
????
Ya see my bull. I just go out rubbing his neck and whisper in his ear that I am taking him to see the ladies down the road and he will load up in the trailer for me right out in the pasture. ?ÿI leased him out last year and they came by the house trying to emulate some darn cowboy movie they had watched and had him all riled up. They said we tried but you have no loading chute near by. ?ÿI said I told you I worked bring him over this weekend. Anyway I told them to leave him alone and I went out with truck and trailer opened the trailer up. Walked away. Came out after lunch and he was grazing near by. I walked out and coached him up. Delivered him. ?ÿYa gotta let the boy be a boy and relieve the stress or all that built up tension will come out somehow. Hopefully you heal up quickly because we both know that could have ended very badly.
?ÿTake care. Heal and watch your 6. ?ÿ
I've been kicked, stomped, butted, and just generally mistreated by cattle.?ÿ I told a fellow one time that the food that we'd just eaten tasted like cow manure.?ÿ He asked me how I knew.?ÿ While trimming a show calf's hoof (full of manure) he kicked me right in the mouth, so I DO know.
Get well soon.
Andy
@andy-bruner I was leaned up next to fence talking to my daughter once and her eyes got really big. Well the heifer was in heat and had raised up to let me know. Hoofs came down on my shoulder as I grabbed my daughter and moved out of the way. The hard part was trying to explain to my daughter why the heifer wanted to marry me lol. She was younger then and didn??t truly know about the birds and bees. So my wife would say thats how animals marry. ?ÿ Lol.
@andy-bruner I was leaned up next to fence talking to my daughter once and her eyes got really big. Well the heifer was in heat and had raised up to let me know. Hoofs came down on my shoulder as I grabbed my daughter and moved out of the way. The hard part was trying to explain to my daughter why the heifer wanted to marry me lol. She was younger then and didn??t truly know about the birds and bees. So my wife would say thats how animals marry. ?ÿ Lol.
Growing up on a farm you learn about the birds and bees at a young age.
@andy-bruner yes sir for sure. An probably a lot healthier way. Life death and everything in between happens. ?ÿMy 11 year old started back to school and her home room teacher or whatever they call it now brought up farm life and she said many of her friends had no clue about how animals are raised and cared for. The disconnect from the death and processing part of getting our food has caused us as a society more harm than good.
Working with livestock is something I have enjoyed since I was a youngster.?ÿ You discover they are individuals, just like people.?ÿ Learning to read them is important when running a herd or two of mama cows.?ÿ Their disposition is very important in determining their worth and the worth of their offspring through the years.?ÿ Anyone with a bad attitude needs to leave the herd.?ÿ One bad apple can ruin the rest of the basket.?ÿ The same applies to livestock.?ÿ That is why the two critters mentioned above needed to be loaded up and removed from my herd.?ÿ Each will probably end up in a large group of similar-size animals spending the rest of their days living an easy life in a feed yard until they have grown to the proper size for slaughter.
I keep the best potential heifers back to eventually become mama cows.?ÿ I may save a specific bull back once every couple of years to start a new herd with unrelated females.?ÿ The remainder of the males and females will pass through a sale barn to provide the money to cover expenses to keep the busy going.
As olemanriver mentioned, one observes the full life cycle regularly when handling livestock.?ÿ This is something that far more young people should experience early in their own lives.?ÿ Especially in a natural setting.
To quote Little Jimmy Dickens:?ÿ It may be silly, but ain't it fun!
You discover they are individuals, just like people.?ÿ
When I was in high school, Dad had about 40 cattle. He knew each one of the cows (maybe not all the steers). No numbers. "The bigger mottled face one" "The one that lost her calf last year" etc. And if he counted 39, he knew which one wasn't there.
None of that clicked in my feeble brain. I inherited some of his looks, but very little of his aptitudes.
There's a story in my family about grandpa wanting to get the sow impregnated, so he put her in the wheelbarrow and took her to the neighboring farm to mate with their male since he didn't have one.
The next morning he thought he'd take her to the other neighbor's farm and use their male to be sure.
When he couldn't find the sow in her pen he asked if anyone had seen her.
Grandma said, "She's waiting in the wheelbarrow."
