A old cowman once told me........

[Shortgrass]

I thought that might make an interesting thread so I pick up on it in another post and kicked it down the hill to see where it landed.

An old cattleman told us once, "a cow has to do THREE things".
She has to have a calf, raise it and breed back.

Nice heifers, Hanta Yo.

Might have been the same old cowman, but he told me "if you only got two cows, one of them ought to be a bull!" And then he said "d*# bull can tear up an anvil" I smile at both, but he is really quite accurate.

Soo, what did the old cowman tell you?

 

[jigs]

an old cowman told me "take care of my daughter"

 

[Texan]

"If you'll save some old grass, you'll have some new grass."

 

[per]

Look after your grass and it will look after you cattle.

 

[Larrry]

Anytime you go through a gate, SHUT IT

Buy low, sell high
There are a lot more horses a$$es in this old world than there are horses

 

[Mike]

He told me "you sell 'em by the pound".

 

[burnt]

. . .about standing through tough times - "you'll find it where you lost it"

 

[gcreekrch]

Grass is like an erection, if you don't use it while it's there the opportunity is lost.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Grass is like an erection, if you don't use it while it's there the opportunity is lost.

With some rest both will recover. :wink:

 

[Faster horses]

This was a great idea, Shortgrass.

Now here's a twist. A Basque woman who ranched through tough times and with her husband raised sheep and cattle in some tough country gave me some super advice.
(They were awesome people and awesome ranchers. The only sheep people I know that never overgrazed their land. We had BUKO respect for them for years. They lost 800 head of sheep once in a spring storm. It never broke them, but they would tell you that if they had lost the equivilant in cattle, it WOULD have broke them.)

When we were moving to W. Montana from Wyoming and were very nervous about whether we could make it work--becoming land owners for the first time and on a shoestring plus leaving our families and all our friends--she gave us some advice I never forgot:

"It's easy. When you make a little more, you can spend a little more. When you make a little less, you spend a little less."

 

[Shortgrass]

I remember the time an old rancher(uncle) asked me "what the h___ did you do that for?" I still haven't thought of and answer, and its been years!!!

 

[leanin' H]

When it comes to horses, dogs and kids, you'll get out of them exactly what ya put in.

My Uncle Bernell once told me a great bit of wisdom one day when we'd been hunting cows all day and were plumb tired out. As we crested a saddle on a high ridge we stopped to rest our horses and to look for cattle from our vantage point he said,"Only look as far as you want to ride"!!!!
He's been gone for almost ten years but I always grin when i top a ridge and start looking for cattle. My horse grins too!

 

[Shortgrass]

How about "remember, you are selling grass"

 

[Badlands]

"The cows don't read the same books you do."

"Thermometers have degrees too, and you know where they put them."

Told to me when I decided to go back for my MS and PhD.

Badlands

 

[HAY MAKER]

It costs no more to feed a good one,than a bad one.
good luck

 

[Shortgrass]

It costs no more to feed a good one,than a bad one.
good luck

I disagree with that one. The feed costs the same, but since the return is less, it costs more to feed a sorry one.

I really liked Badland's comments about thermometers. I also heard that if you are having a bad day, think of the fellow that works in a thermometor factory, and his duty is testing them!

I was talking to an old cowman that was a seedstock producer delux. At the time EPDs were new. I asked "George, what is your take on these EPDs?" His reply was "They are here to stay, but remember they were invented by some college professor. A college professor that was a rancher that had gone broke."

 

[gcreekrch]

Those who can, do

Those who can't, teach

Those who can't teach, administrate

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

"There is no such thing as Teaching. Only providing an environment that someone can learn in."

 

[Soapweed]

Cecil Dahlgren was an old-time cowboy from this area who died back in the '80's. He was a legendary roper and great story teller, as well as a walking encyclopedia of area history. I loved spending time listening to him.

Once he told me, "If you are having trouble moving cattle, sometimes it is best to just stop your horse, stick your leg up over the saddle horn, and roll a smoke. By the time the smoke is over, you will have cooled off and so will the cattle. Everything will just work a lot better after that." He was right. :wink:

My dad always proclaimed that "the only way to move cattle fast is to move them slow." Patience pays.

Another notable observation is that sometimes persistence gains more results than talent. This was pointed out to me when I was a young man. A ranching neighbor that was going broke was commenting on one of his boyhood classmates. The comment made to me was, " 'So-and-so' wasn't even smart enough to tie his own shoes in grade school, and look at him now." ('So-and-so' became a very successful rancher because he didn't necessarily try to set the world on fire, but he worked slow and steady, day after day.) His persistence paid off.

 

[Denny]

Never trust a guy without a phone.