Neighboring bulls fighting tore my fence down and stomped the wire into the ground.

No, it was not my bulls fighting their bulls; it was about six miles from my bull pasture. Rented that place years ago and still use it for a heifer pasture because it is six miles from the bulls! Good thought, isn’t it?

Well, nothing to do but repair the fence and hope nothing else happened. Tom’s bulls had escaped their home and attacked the bulls nextdoor to them. They all left home and, finding an open gate, deposited themselves in the pasture adjoining mine. That was better than on the highway to cause fatalities to themselves or drivers.

The offspring and I helped to round up the rogues. The damage looked like it was a dozen or more bulls on the loose, but it was only seven of them. Theywere still mad, blowing and pawing the ground, threatening all of us with early burials. The temporary corrals usually work good for penning loose cattle, but the bulls lifted the panels a foot off the ground without any trouble. I was sure we would lose them several times, but they stayed.

If you have ever loaded bulls, you know what came next. It was a fiasco, an earth-rattling experience that shook the windows in the coffee emporium, I am sure! What in the world would cause a man, a sensible man, to climb in between bovine that each weigh a ton?

Tom was about as mad as the bulls, and the bulls and he did not hesitate to leap into the flying dirt - and other stuff - to whip those beeves apart and put one in the trailer!

I didn’t want to watch but you know what happens when you are seeing a tragedy occur; you cannot stop looking. I was glued to the event and hoping and praying that the fool was not going to be hamburger when we could get to him.

My stomach churned and it seemed to go suddenly silent. I could not hear the bulls, or Tom shouting, and things sorta slowed down.

Tom has a big trailer, and he put it in place as I relearned to breathe and wiped the sweat from my face. I do not know how he got out of that mess and I don’t think he really knows either!

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, lots of good men have met their end because of a little too much temper during a crisis. I know we cattlemen are prone to think of ourselves as invincible, but we aren’t. Our bones break and our blood spills just like anyone else. Pay attention to the dangers and stay alive. Bulls can finally be loaded without too much damage, and it is just another day if all the fellers are still living.

Keep cool and pray for rain!

Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 09/07/2011