I dreaded getting that old sore-footed cow cut out and up again this morning. She has a dang good calf by her side and I like for the belly to stay full so the udder can stay full for the babies, but we had to do something for the pain and misery of her sore foot. I saw she was not moving around much last week, but she didn't show me limping when she did move. The drive through the herd after church yesterday made me wish we had penned her last week.
I am trying to become acclimated to the time change again. I want to eat at the wrong times, sleep at the wrong time and get up way too early. That makes me sleepy when I sit in my chair and sip coffee, and when it is time to rise and shine, I don't! I do rise but shining is just too difficult!
I did rise and the offspring showed up about the time I closed the gate behind Lucy, the cow. She is named after the actress because the red genes in her blood allow her head to look red in the sunshine. Her calf went to the west end of the pasture, so I left him out, he was thinking this was a day for play and made a beeline away from his mammy.
We walked the cow into the catch pen but she just bulled up and stood solid as a rock. I twisted her tail, threatened her, gouged her with a punching stick, begged her to load and she just stood there. The older finally put a rope around her and we gently plopped her down. She was then filled with fire, angry and ready to do us harm but we held our position -- on top of her!
The object in her hoof was a piece of tin that had been cut from a sheet and was embedded in the soft tissue. We were fortunate to be able to find it in the swollen area, I was about to give up when I touched it. Got the piece out and the hoof cleaned and filled with medicine and injected her with a dose of antibiotic IM and gave the word to turn her loose.
I amble, just walk a slow pace, and I was ambling when the rope was released and Lucy scrambled to her feet. Amble and scramble are not compatible. I was hit behind with a blow that lifted me a ways into the air and deposited me at the door to the medicine shed. And I landed on my feet instead of my head this time.
The offspring were there in an instant and Lucy blew snot and headed to the gate. I stood still and checked my parts, everything was still useable and I was upright. The younger one had the gate open in a flash and Lucy was gone west!
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, I have found that mine is worth absolutely nothing. I have tried to sell my opinions and notions many times, giving my opinion plenty of space to be seen and understood and bought. I have repaired parts of my opinion since becoming an adult, the faulty parts, and I still can't even give it away most of the time! Relax, even our president is having a rough time, with his opinion being counted worthless by many!
Bill is the pen name used by the Gravette-area author of this weekly column. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 11/13/2019