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The mind...

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Hereford76

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Must run about a million rpm.

Just love this time of year so much action so much to do so much life. Start calving for April first and around 5% left on the white faced mamas.

Spent all morn on the big tractor prepping ground for oats and quit about 2 so I could get a load of oats cleaned for seed. Last night my kindergarten daughter and I went out around 7 to tag the calves born the day before. We found a fresh one and went to check it out. It had nursed and mama was laying down relaxed. About 15 yards away one of the reg angus girls was eating this cows afterbirth. Didn't think anything of it. Anyhow about 8:30 decided to road tractor to next field for the am and drove right by where this newborn calf was earlier. See that black cow latex over on her side and thought that don't look right- ran over there dead with afterbirth in her throat. So today after kids get home off the bus the oldest boy grabs the dead cow while I haul the oats to town to clean. Get home he and I go to find her calf and wife brings home some milk replacer. While my oldest boy and I Are bringing in the calf I see another cow prolapsed about like a volleyball so we bring her up too. Get the cow and the numb calf up to the yard and we get some stuff to try and fix up the piss poor prolapsed mama cow (yes she is a Hereford). Oldest boy on the heAd catch, wife with a stopper bar and me behind the cow bringing her up the alley into the tub. Oh yah younger boy and little girl bottle feeding the bumb calf. So I'm bringing the cow thru the tub and in with her in the tub snaking her up the little alley between the tub and chute- round that corner and right dead center thru the chute the cow is planted on all four staring at the two bottle feeding the calf in a little pen in front of the chute. The cow gets scared and puts it in reverse faster than I realize. She was a little spunky coming in so I figured I'd back peddle and jump over the swinging tub gate (with no backstopping mechanism - haven't fab'd that quite yet). Anyhow i get half way over the gate straddling it and can see her coming out the corner my eye and realize she's gonna hit the gate pretty hard which she does and I don't got a good leg hold straddling the tub gate so I did a nice ass over teakettle flip and laned in a position like I had just been souffléd for any wrestlers out there or been pinned in a double arm bar... Which I never had, rather pinned lots of kids that way with their head figure foured with my legs at the same time... Anyhow if not it was kinda a reverse scorpion position. My body hurts and I got nutted by the gate but what I can't quit thinking about is how fast my mind turned in the time she hit the gate and me the ground. I felt like I had a full blown dream in that split second. I found her with my eyes before I hit the ground cause after tagging angus cows out in the prairie with a mile in each direction to a fence I just have become a little more ancy around cows. But I had this vision that felt like a dream of that cow doing a number on me before I could get to my feet. Thankfully the adrenaline was flowing and I beat her out of the tub. Anyhow fixed her up, now just get to babysit her til she calves. Decided we'd call it a day and not push luck. On the way to the house my oldest boy says he kinda laughed cause he seen my boots up over the top of the tub while I was being flipped. That's it. Can't stop typing without saying that the rip we fixed up was 1 of 100 that I bought as yrlngs one year to breed and sell as breds. Markets played against me and I ended up terming them out with banker to own them. So glad the markets did what they did cause had they been good I would have sold them and done nothing but soured some buyer on Herefords. Long story short she wasn't one I raised.
 
:D my favorite part:
I felt like I had a full blown dream in that split second. I found her with my eyes before I hit the ground
 
All is well that ends well, Hereford76. At least your mind and your feet work fast together. Earlier this spring I found myself inadvertently between a cow and her newborn calf. She was coming back after her calf, and my mind was hurrying to get out of the way. Unfortunately my legs don't work as fast as my mind, and in that dreamlike moment, I found myself laying on the ground brandishing my cane in the cow's face. By me tipping over, it baffled the cow enough that she went around me back to her calf.

Another reason your deal worked out well is that by keeping the hundred heifers, you have been able to take advantage of a rising cattle market. The one percent that prolapsed is a small price to pay for the money you've made by keeping them over.

At least your Hereford cow that prolapsed is still a living and saleable commodity. Your black cow that choked to death no longer has value. Several years ago, we lost two nice young cows in the same week from them choking to death on afterbirth. We did have their calves as souvenirs from the experience.

Remember, Hereford76, if everything goes too smoothly, there aren't any good stories to tell. :)
 
Great story. I bet your son will be telling it for a while! It's hard not to laugh when something like that happens to someone else as long as the outcome isn't to bad. Last fall there was a pretty bad storm coming in (turned out to miss us completely). Anyway moved to this field of milo dad thought it might be to wet according to his moisture sensor. I was getting a sample to check from the combine. In a hurry went running down the combine steps instead of backing down. My foot slipped on about the third step from the bottom. Ended up landing flat on my back in the sticker patch on the side of the county road. I looked up and dad was laughing his rear off and I was pi$$ed. Luckily just knocked the wind out of me and my wife was digging stickers out of my back for a week. I remember on the way down thinking this was maybe the dumbest thing I've done and how in the heck are we going to finish harvest if I break a leg or something. Crazy how fast your mind can go.
 
I had one of those days. Keeping it short, I got to watch my 64 year old mother get bucked off to start the day off right. I spent the rest of the day being cranky. I couldn't figure out if I was pissed off at the horse that put her to the dirt (actually water) or the dry irrigated ground that I saw before and after the rodeo. OOOhhhh I am still laughing because she popped right up, but man was she ever pissed at that horse.
We did get the 60 heifers worked.
 
3 M L & C said:
Great story. I bet your son will be telling it for a while! It's hard not to laugh when something like that happens to someone else as long as the outcome isn't to bad. Last fall there was a pretty bad storm coming in (turned out to miss us completely). Anyway moved to this field of milo dad thought it might be to wet according to his moisture sensor. I was getting a sample to check from the combine. In a hurry went running down the combine steps instead of backing down. My foot slipped on about the third step from the bottom. Ended up landing flat on my back in the sticker patch on the side of the county road. I looked up and dad was laughing his rear off and I was pi$$ed. Luckily just knocked the wind out of me and my wife was digging stickers out of my back for a week. I remember on the way down thinking this was maybe the dumbest thing I've done and how in the heck are we going to finish harvest if I break a leg or something. Crazy how fast your mind can go.

No matter how big a hurry we are in it's always best to take the steps backwards. I've learned that from years of experience and mishaps. Good stories guys.

That reminds me of the two alumni football games I played in when I was in my late 30's. I broke my thumb in one game and pulled a groin muscle in the other that made it nearly impossible to crawl into the combine the rest of the fall. But we won both games so it was all worth it! :roll: :lol:
 
Hopeful Rancher said:
I had one of those days. Keeping it short, I got to watch my 64 year old mother get bucked off to start the day off right. I spent the rest of the day being cranky. I couldn't figure out if I was p****d off at the horse that put her to the dirt (actually water) or the dry irrigated ground that I saw before and after the rodeo. OOOhhhh I am still laughing because she popped right up, but man was she ever p****d at that horse.
We did get the 60 heifers worked.

I hope your mother is okay.

Your story reminds me of one that happened when we lived on the Powder River in Wyoming.
The 72-year old owner of the ranch was a very salty lady.
She got bucked off in the Powder River. Everything went under, even the
top tassel on top of her scotch cap. She came up and her son-in-law threw her a rope and she pulled herself out.

Another time, a horse fell down, throwing her off while gathering cows.
She walked and let the horse the rest of the way. One of the guys offered to trade her horses,
but she declined saying there was no sense
more than one getting thrown off the stumbling, clumsy son-of-a-gun.
When they got to the corral, she went to the house and fixed lunch. After
lunch she sat down and said she didn't feel so good. They took her to town
and the dr. x-rayed her...........finding she had broken her sternum in the fall.
As I say, she was a salty lady. Not sure they make many like that anymore.

:D
 

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