Most of us who has chosen the occupation of farming know how much we often get attached to our livestock. We not only care for them, but there is always one who has a special character that seems to us to be a little more human. We tend to give them a name. We like choosing it with as much thought as if we were naming one of our own children.
When I was growing up on the Home Place most every farm along our road had cows, hogs, chickens and sheep. I remember many cold mornings when the folks would bring frozen little new born lambs or calves in and let them warm up on a rug on the kitchen floor. Orphan lambs were always taking up residence in a large cardboard box in the corner until they got older and started jumping out and running around the house.
I remember my Uncle Harold telling me about an older bachelor gentleman he knew who farmed in his area. My Uncle sold real estate and had his farm listed for sale. One day Uncle Harold was passing by his farm and decided to just stop in to say hello. After the initial greeting my uncle asked him how he was doing and he said he had a rough night as he lost one of his calves. He asked “Do you want to see it?” He then led Uncle Harold to a back bedroom where the calf was laying in the bed with its head on a pillow and the covers pulled up and tucked in around it.
I never went to that extreme, however, one cold December I came close to matching it in loyalty to animal husbandry. It was always my job to haul the cattle to the market. This one particular Tuesday morning was bitterly raw with a cold wind out of the northwest. We had a cull cow to sell as well as a week old calf. The cow we put in the trailer but I felt it was just a little too cold for the calf. So, I decided to put it in the cab of the truck with me, where it would be warm for the twenty mile ride to the sale barn. I laid it on the floor board. It seemed satisfied and just laid there quietly. So off we went.
About two miles up the road, the calf decided to go for a walk in the cab. After a few minutes of swerving around the road, driving with my left hand, and wrestling the calf with my right, I finally pulled over. Still not wanting to put the calf in the trailer, I got some twine and tied its feet together. It kicked and thrashed for a while but then it settled down. So, off I went again. All was well for the next ten miles and I was thinking I had it made with the little bovine until I started to smell a very nasty order. Sure enough baby bovine wasn’t going to let me get away with tying him up. He was bent on revenge! He did a number one and two. Then he started to kick and thrash again with his heels commencing to smear the dash and door with yellowish gooey people repellent. Fortunately his bonds held. I proceeded to step on the accelerator roll the window down and drive the rest of the way with the heater on full blast!
When I got to the barn I backed the trailer in and went back and let the cow out and the guy consigning her said one cow and one calf. I was a little surprised and ask him how he knew that? He said the calf is looking out the back window. I turned around and sure enough, there was poopy toes standing on the seat.
Big Valley Longhorn Ranch 