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This deserves to be reposted--poem my cousin wrote

S

Soapweed

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
16,264
Location
northern Nebraska Sandhills
Here is a poem that my cousin wrote a few years ago. It seems
to be more pertinent now than it was when it was first posted. :wink:

The Rookie's First Calving Season

by Ken Moreland

Week One:

It's a cool winter evening
With a breeze out of the west.
I just love this ranching life
And I love calving time the best.

I see the little calves,
As they wildly romp and run,
Then lie down on a grassy hill
For a short nap in the sun.

Every hour, on the hour,
I jump lightly on my feet,
And hustle to the calving lot,
Another baby sure to greet.

I rub him down with a sack
And put him in a stall.
I wait to make sure he sucks
For I'm a rancher, after all.

Week two:

The weather, which was balmy,
Has now turned bitter cold.
I know it's only been two weeks
But this calving's getting old.

There's a calf out in the barn,
That simply will not suck,
While another's in the calving lot,
At the hips he's fastly stuck.

The vet is on his way again.
He knows the way by heart,
But they always said the first two weeks
Would be the hardest part.

Week three:

I've got another prolapse
And I tried to get it back.
Try to push ten pounds of Jello
Into a five-pound sack.

The vet had to come out again,
It went back, just like he said.
Everything was looking good,
But by now the cow was dead.

Week four:

It's snowing hard again tonight,
The wind chill's ten below.
I'm going to need a wrecking bar
To pry that calf up from the snow.

I pulled four calves today,
Since breakfast, which I never had.
I got knocked down by a cow.
She hurt me pretty bad.

Week five:

I over-slept again last night
And missed my shift by hours.
I guess there'll be two less calves
That won't up and die from scours!

I've got another head cold.
My knee is swelling bad.
This month of March has got to be
The worst month I've ever had.

Week six:

I'm so sick of calving;
I've never been so tired.
No sleep and too much coffee,
I've never been so wired.

I've been sleeping in my clothes
For over four days now.
My banker never mentioned this
When I bought this bunch of cows.

Don't know how real ranchers do it,
This calving has got me down.
Call the sale barn, woman;
These cows are going to town!
 
I promised I wouldn't rub it in when you winter calvers started so I won't, but that May calving is looking better every day. Good luck, hope it warms up soon.
 
Big Swede said:
I promised I wouldn't rub it in when you winter calvers started so I won't, but that May calving is looking better every day. Good luck, hope it warms up soon.
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Don't worry Big Swede, they'll all be sitting back being smug when the late storms hit us. :D :wink:
 
Big Swede said:
Soapweed, I was going to ask how it was going but reposting the poem might be my answer? Hang in there, spring is coming.
Click to expand...

Thanks for not gloating and saying, "I told you so." :wink: :-) :-)

I feel a little like my oldest son did one time. He was about five or six and had a nice little pony named Joker. On a beautiful 40 degree January Sunday, he and I took a ride north to LaCreek about six miles from home. I was riding a colt and leading a pack mule with our dinner tied on. The mule needed a workout, too. We got to Elm Creek, which flows into LaCreek, and decided to cross it to eat our dinner on the other side. My horse and the mule forded the creek in good shape, but when Joker got his feet in the water, the pony promptly laid down. Will got all wet as he clamored to shore. His comment that seems to pertain was, "If I would have known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have come." :wink:

We ate our dinner fast and rode on to visit Ray and Virginia Gardiner. Virginia is about the kindest lady you'll ever meet, and it wasn't long before she gave Will a blanket to wrap himself in while she ran his damp duds through her clothes dryer. The ride back home was enhanced because Will was warm and dry, and we found an arrowhead in a blowout on the way. :-)
 
fulton said:
Is this the same Ken Moreland that just had a story in Today's Horse? All Night Ride Out of Pass Creek. Either was it was a really good read.
Click to expand...

Yes it was. He worked up in the Yellowstone country in 1975 and 1976, for the same hunting outfitter who I worked for in 1971. That was a good story he wrote about the All Night Ride Out of Pass Creek. I can identify quite well, having worked on those same camps at the same time of year, where fall turns into winter pretty fast.
 
About 10 years ago it was 25 below on the 25th of March and we were getting about 25 calves a day with snow up to our arse. At that point I said something like "As God as my witness, I shall never do this again" and then I added "Lord if you see me doing something stupid like putting my bulls out before the middle of July, please give me a sign that will help me recognize the wickedness of my ways."

Well maybe I didn't quite say it that way but you get the idea.
 
Hanta Yo said:
Big Swede said:
I promised I wouldn't rub it in when you winter calvers started so I won't, but that May calving is looking better every day. Good luck, hope it warms up soon.
Click to expand...

For here, calving in the fall is even better :)
Click to expand...
We had that early storm this year. Cattle drifted, mixed up with neighbors, lots of snow, wind, power poles down....and cold. I'm afraid it wouldn't have been good for us to have young calves during that. It was hard enough feeding the ones that had already been weaned.
 
Soapweed, Hanta Yo, did you look at those soft tops for Rangers, as well as the heater/blower unit that plumbs into the cooling system? Looked like a good deal for the cold.
 

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