OPINION? EVERYBODY HAS ONE: Having a good vet is such a blessing

My Pappy was known far and wide for his observations of the weather indicators and prophesies. He was also familiar with the Montgomery Ward catalog, and I could just imagine him speaking of yesterday. He would have stated a day so beautiful could not have been ordered even out of the Montgomery Ward catalog!

I am beside myself with this weather, warm and breezy, plenty of water to drink and plenty of rain for the land! We sure need to be on our knees with praise and thanksgiving to our Lord for all He has given us. I guess I should be thankful for the bad things, too, so my character could grow a better man, but that is just dang hard to do! I don’t act as rotten when these good things are in play, but I still hate cattle problems and I still have them!

I have been watching a particular cow because, since she calved, she has had a strange profile. She is beginning to resemble a buffalo, humped up when getting a side view. She is getting to the prime of her life and a good milk producer that has weighed off a 605 pound bull calf last year. I have pings in my stomach when I begin to notice things and hope I am not seeing what I know I am seeing.

I saddled Snip and rode pastures this morning. It is good to see cattle from a different viewpoint and these are used to horses. I can ride into the middle, and the cows pay no attention. I let Snip graze alongside of the cow in question and watched her as she grazed. She would stop ever so often and emit a low moan, stretching her neck out and low to the ground. Don’t you just hate it when you are hoping you didn’t see it and then see proof?

Her calf was a big spry bull again this year, and he bounced up to nurse. Her udder was full and you could tell she was taking good care of him, licking curls all over his sides. But I had to do something.

Moved the herd up to the catch pens in the corner of the pasture and shook an empty feed sack for them to come on in. They did and I closed the gate. This is one of the times a beef producer dreads. I sorta figured hardware or, even worse, a twisted gut. Whichever it was, it was gonna be costly. Costly in two ways, cash and maybe the loss of a good cow.

Got the truck and trailer, to Snip’s relief, and got the cow loaded. I was thankful for the time spent feeding and coddling this herd. They all handle easy. I fed the rest of them a couple sacks of cake as a reward and went on to the vet.

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, some veterinarians are deserving of all praise and payment. Mine is a working wonder, worked a mighty miracle on the cow; her almost twisted gut was undone after about thirty minutes of hard labor, and I hauled a good cow back home, humming and whistling all the way.

I’d hope for all us poor old cattlemen a vet like mine!

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

Opinion, Pages 6 on 05/22/2013