The Cattle Baron

My siblings and I were raised on a farm where we always had cattle.  Dad had been raised on a ranch and so it was natural for him to have cows and calves.  In fact, this was a labor of love for him.  After I left home, I never got involved with them again while I was working.

About two years ago, though, I decided that buying some calves in the spring and letting them eat grass all summer was preferable to mowing.  I bought four, kept them for the summer, and sold three of them for a considerable loss.  We had the other one processed and I must tell you that the meat from this calf was far better than you can buy in a store.

The deep freeze is almost empty now and the grass is growing so I, along with my friend Dave, went to the sale barn in Bristow today to buy some more calves.  I decided I was only going to get two this time.  However, there was a puny little calf which went through the sale and no one bid on her so I bought her as well.  I have decided to call her "Knothead", which I will explain in a minute.  At any rate, the going price for calves her size (270 pounds) was about $1.80 to $2.00 per pound.  I bought her for $.93 per pound!

We got the three calves home and had no problem unloading them into the little pasture I have.  After Dave left to go home, I was standing there admiring them when Knothead decided to go for a swim in the pond.  She bailed off into the water and swam to the other side which is completely inundated with cattails.  She fought her way up into the cattails to the point where I couldn't even see her.  I was dumbfounded and wasn't sure what to do!

I waited about thirty minutes and still no sign of Knothead.  I decided to go into town to run an errand, which I did, and when I returned, there was still no sign of her.  I finally decided that the only solution was to put on my swimming trunks and get in there and see if I could find her.  The thought of snakes and other critters in there didn't make the task seem very appealing but I was convinced there was no other way.

I started wading into the cattails with a pair of hedge trimmers, cutting a path as I went.  After a few feet, sure enough, there she was, totally trapped in all the growth.  I got around behind her and started to push her toward the bank.  After she made a few leaps, the cattails thinned out and she could see daylight.  She scrambled out onto the pond dam with me right behind her.

Here is the part that is hard to believe but I swear its true.  As I waded out from the pond behind her, she turned and tried to butt me back in to the pond!  I hope she fattens up good so I can extract my revenge!  By the way, she is the black calf, second from left, with her head down.  She didn't pose well but I've had all of her I can stand for today.