Well, I’ve been here for almost two months now and I have to say, I think I’ve learned more than I thought I didn’t know.

Besides the room addition that turned out to be ten times as much work as I thought it would be, there has been hay mowing and baling, calf and cow tending, and machine maintenance to deal with.  All this had to be accomplished while learning a whole new language during the process.  If you’re getting ready to do something, you’re “fixin” to do it and that fence wire with the barbs on it is not called Barbed Wire, its called “Bob War.”  Also, the past tense for blow is blowed, not blown like I always thought.  A friend of ours has a truck with the engine blowed out of it.  There are many more words like these, but I think you get the idea.

We had a calf “down” a couple of weeks ago and I had to take food and water to it every day out in the woods where it had fallen.  Nobody is sure what happened to it except to speculate that one of the bulls had tried to mount it and broke its back.  The poor thing could not use its back legs.  I took care of it for a week but we eventually had to shoot it to end its misery.  Cousin Richard did the actual deed with a Winchester 30-30, but I went with him for moral support.  It was a sad affair.  We used a front loader on the tractor to haul the carcass to the bone yard.  All these ranches have a bone yard.

Last week I got my first chance to drive the tractor and mow the hayfield and promptly broke the mower.  The mower connects to the rear of the tractor and projects about 12 feet out to one side.  The maintenance shop couldn’t get to the repairs for over a week so, with the assurance of the mechanic on duty at the shop that it was not a complicated task, I offered to effect the repairs myself.  The mower has seven spinning heads and since only the first three were turning, he speculated that the drive shaft between the third and fourth head had twisted off.  “All you have to do,” he said, “is separate the connection between heads 3 and 4 and replace the drive shaft.  Oh” he added “don’t forget to synchronize all the heads so they are not interfering with each other.”  I feel proud that, with those instructions and some very large tools, I was able to repair a rather complicated machine in a couple of hours!

One of the daily tasks I have to do is something they call “creep feeding.”  I don’t know why they call it that but they do.  Apparently, when it comes time to catch all the calves for worming, shots, etc. or for hauling them to the auction barn, it would be a lot of work and is not cost effective to chase them around the pasture trying to rope them.  They get all excited and can run off a few pounds of weight during the process and at sale time, pounds are dollars.  Furthermore, if they get scared they pee and crap another few pounds away so it is more prudent to capture them quietly.  To do this, you place a feeder in a fenced off area and lure the calves inside with a daily supply of tasty morsels.  This gets them used to entering a confined area and also gets them used to seeing me.  To keep the big cows out of the feeding area (it would be too expensive to feed the big mommas) the opening in the gate is reduced so only the calves will fit through.  Once the calves are in the feeding area it is easy to close the gate on them and guide them into a chute for shots or into a trailer to take them to the auction.

I have met many interesting people since our arrival.  Just like in our court system where you are innocent until proven otherwise, here you are a friend until you prove yourself otherwise.  Everyone is helpful and wise with experience.  This is a small town and it sometimes seems like everyone is related or at least close friends with everyone else.  The people are very political, very very patriotic, and strongly religious.  I have coffee in the mornings with some people whose families have been in this area for over a hundred years and they have large ranches with thousands of cattle.  Some even have oil and gas wells that have been handed down through generations, but they all love working with the animals.  I have to admit that it is intoxicating and I already have grown very fond of a few of mine.