Jinglebob
Well-known member
Soap's story reminded me of this incident, that I put in my book.
Dad and the footsore cow
Once Dad and I were makin' a quick trip thru' the cattle, checkin' on them and scattering some salt. Our country is not all that rough and you can drive a pickup 'purt 'neer anywheres! At least if you drive like the 'ol man! Anyways, we found a cow down in the summer pasture that was awful lame. She had a big clump of mud on the lame foot, like she'd been soaking it in mud to try and make it feel better. I told Dad that if he'd take me back to the house, I'd get my horse and either bring her home so we could doctor on her or I'd rope her and give her a shot. He decided that it would be a lot quicker just to get a couple of ropes and some vaccine and we'd rope her from the pickup and tie her on to it and then doctor her. We were in the middle of haying and he wanted to do it the fastest way possible. Dad always was kind of a farmer type and never seemed to want to do much ropin' off from a horse. He'd rope a cow in a shed afoot, to tie her up and pull a calf, but that was about all of his ropin' skills. Maybe he'd never had a horse who worked a rope real good. I don't know and still don't! 'Course he'd a been in his mid sixties to maybe seventy years old at the time this took place.
I gather'd up a couple of ropes and he got the vaccine gun and the vaccine. We drove down to the pasture and I got in the back end so he could put me up along side of her. I'd asked him earlier what we were going to tie on to, to hold her and he'd said that after I'd roped her to just let go of the rope and he'd drive up on it with the front tire and that'd hold her. I was skeptical, but knew better than trying to argue with him. I wasn't old enough to stand a chance arguin' with him and I wasn't too sure I could out run him, if he wanted to win the argument by force, anyways. So I did as I was told. As soon as we take in after her, why you'd be surprised how fast that poor, ol' crippled up cow could run! But Dad must of had some cowhorse blood in his family tree, cuz' he puts me up along side of her all right and I gets a rope onto her and let go and be damned if he doesn't drive up onto the rope the first try and low and behold, it does hold her!
We get out to doctor her and she makes a run around behind the pickup and catches the rope on the back bumper and bing! Cuts the rope just like a knife. Well, we had another rope so we have another go at it and it works just like before. Maybe we had to drive a little faster and farther, but we get her roped again. Dad drives right up onto the rope on the next try, just like before. She takes a run behind the pickup again and cuts that rope in two!
In the process of all this chasin and rope cuttin', we notice that she's knocked the mud off from her foot and that she has a piece of plastic, well casing, stuck on her foot and that's why she's so lame. We seem to be out of rope anyways, so we go home and get a hacksaw and several other tools we think might help to try and remove this piece of casing. And scrounged around and found us another rope!
We go back and after a little longer chase and a few spilled loops by me, we get her caught again. Have you ever tried to rope and stay inside of a half ton Ford, goin' across a rough pasture, bein' driven by a mad, half-crazy old man before? This time we decide that if we'd get her on a shorter rope, she won't be able to get to the back bumper to cut the rope, so somehow, we tie her on to the grill guard. We get her snubbed up fairly short and go to tryin' to get this thing off from her foot.
While we are fightin' with her to get the job done, she runs into the pickup on the passenger side several times and about halfways crawls up onto the hood. This didn't make the 'ol man too happy! I was smart enough to refrain from mentioning that she probably wouldn't have done that to my horse!
We finally get the job done and turned her loose. The pickup has a broken mirror on the passenger side, the hood is mashed down pretty bad and the window is cracked and the passenger door has a big ol' dent in it! We'd ruined two ropes and got all this done in about 3 or 3 and 1/2 hours. Faster hell! Maybe thats one of the reasons I like to check cattle a horseback and still figure it's faster and handier to use a horse when ropin' livestock!
Dad and the footsore cow
Once Dad and I were makin' a quick trip thru' the cattle, checkin' on them and scattering some salt. Our country is not all that rough and you can drive a pickup 'purt 'neer anywheres! At least if you drive like the 'ol man! Anyways, we found a cow down in the summer pasture that was awful lame. She had a big clump of mud on the lame foot, like she'd been soaking it in mud to try and make it feel better. I told Dad that if he'd take me back to the house, I'd get my horse and either bring her home so we could doctor on her or I'd rope her and give her a shot. He decided that it would be a lot quicker just to get a couple of ropes and some vaccine and we'd rope her from the pickup and tie her on to it and then doctor her. We were in the middle of haying and he wanted to do it the fastest way possible. Dad always was kind of a farmer type and never seemed to want to do much ropin' off from a horse. He'd rope a cow in a shed afoot, to tie her up and pull a calf, but that was about all of his ropin' skills. Maybe he'd never had a horse who worked a rope real good. I don't know and still don't! 'Course he'd a been in his mid sixties to maybe seventy years old at the time this took place.
I gather'd up a couple of ropes and he got the vaccine gun and the vaccine. We drove down to the pasture and I got in the back end so he could put me up along side of her. I'd asked him earlier what we were going to tie on to, to hold her and he'd said that after I'd roped her to just let go of the rope and he'd drive up on it with the front tire and that'd hold her. I was skeptical, but knew better than trying to argue with him. I wasn't old enough to stand a chance arguin' with him and I wasn't too sure I could out run him, if he wanted to win the argument by force, anyways. So I did as I was told. As soon as we take in after her, why you'd be surprised how fast that poor, ol' crippled up cow could run! But Dad must of had some cowhorse blood in his family tree, cuz' he puts me up along side of her all right and I gets a rope onto her and let go and be damned if he doesn't drive up onto the rope the first try and low and behold, it does hold her!
We get out to doctor her and she makes a run around behind the pickup and catches the rope on the back bumper and bing! Cuts the rope just like a knife. Well, we had another rope so we have another go at it and it works just like before. Maybe we had to drive a little faster and farther, but we get her roped again. Dad drives right up onto the rope on the next try, just like before. She takes a run behind the pickup again and cuts that rope in two!
In the process of all this chasin and rope cuttin', we notice that she's knocked the mud off from her foot and that she has a piece of plastic, well casing, stuck on her foot and that's why she's so lame. We seem to be out of rope anyways, so we go home and get a hacksaw and several other tools we think might help to try and remove this piece of casing. And scrounged around and found us another rope!
We go back and after a little longer chase and a few spilled loops by me, we get her caught again. Have you ever tried to rope and stay inside of a half ton Ford, goin' across a rough pasture, bein' driven by a mad, half-crazy old man before? This time we decide that if we'd get her on a shorter rope, she won't be able to get to the back bumper to cut the rope, so somehow, we tie her on to the grill guard. We get her snubbed up fairly short and go to tryin' to get this thing off from her foot.
While we are fightin' with her to get the job done, she runs into the pickup on the passenger side several times and about halfways crawls up onto the hood. This didn't make the 'ol man too happy! I was smart enough to refrain from mentioning that she probably wouldn't have done that to my horse!
We finally get the job done and turned her loose. The pickup has a broken mirror on the passenger side, the hood is mashed down pretty bad and the window is cracked and the passenger door has a big ol' dent in it! We'd ruined two ropes and got all this done in about 3 or 3 and 1/2 hours. Faster hell! Maybe thats one of the reasons I like to check cattle a horseback and still figure it's faster and handier to use a horse when ropin' livestock!
