OPINION: It bothers me when one of our hands gets hurt

It was another warm day, just right for working cattle and having fun! The boys did not agree to that, but I thought it was time to trim some sore feet on limping cattle. Some of the older cows have crossed toes and passed that characteristic to daughters for years and years. Dry weather is a good time to see it since some get by without a limp you notice right away. Therefore, we set the trimming chute up in the shade of the barn and saddled horses.

I rode Snip due to his smarty attitude lately and because I missed him. He is a good horse, the best I ever had until Jack and, besides that, I have a special place for him in my heart! The offspring would rather use their machines, but we sure don't need to roust the cattle around on a really miserable hot day.

We had to grease the chute to get any action at all out of it, and that took time and no one was moving very fast. Days like this wear on my nerves but I know why it is so slow today! We started greasing it and discovered the mice had chewed a very important rope into pieces and that also had to be replaced while cattle stood in the corral in the heat. Thank goodness we had sent the herd to the small pasture and it has a tree line with a little shade.

Then, of course, it was noon and my close relative was ringing the dinner bell for her children to come in! She thought it was rather inhumane to expect them to do hard labor on a triple-digit day! We shut down for lunch, and I put Snip back in the barn.

Cool and full, the team hated to go back out but we did! The chute was in good shape and the cattle were penned. We put the worst on the table and ground her down to a fair-to-good hoof and I was glad to get her done. We worked steady and the cows were gentle, so things went smooth for a couple of hours.

The older of the two boys decided he would run the last two in because they were averse to finding the hole. The cows left were just barely lame and would become worse if left alone, plus they were young, had their first calf, and were unfamiliar with this entire goings-on! They were snorting snot before they were going in that hole and the boy leaned over to pick up a rock with which to throw at them. The cow kicked and turned at the same time and blood squirted all over the dirt! I know head or scalp injuries bleed profusely, but he was losing about a pint a minute!

We got him to the house, and his mother took him to the emergency room with a towel holding the split. We finally got the hooves ground down and turned the last ones out. Then we moved the herd back to the pasture they came from. Took us a couple of hours to finish up and then we followed to the ER, mud, blood and shrinkage on us!

The split was stitched up and the kid had a big swollen knot but was not bleeding anymore. My close relative took him back home to his wife and delivered the pills the doctor had sent home with him. We turned the other kid out at his house and headed for the house and the wonderful air conditioner!

I guess this day turned out much different than I had planned. I am pretty close to the hired hands around here and it more than bothers me for one to be hurt. I would never have guessed he would put his head that far down behind a cow but he did! We had a nice car to drive him to town and it wasn't far -- a good hospital and a competent doctor on duty.

My lesson for the day was simple but dramatic. Thank the Lord for all he provided in his love for humans that are so slow to recognize him! We can't make it without the Lord, but we seem to thank him less every week. I am back to doing what I should, and I would like to think you guys will too!

As I have said, everybody has an opinion, but this is one for all!

Bill is the pen name used by the Gravette-area author of this weekly column. Opinions expressed are those of the author.