January 1980 is a month I’ll
never forget. It all started out about January the 7th. The previous
spring I had a big hand in selecting the bulls we were gonna use on
Albert and Louie’s heifers. Albert had 400 head and we decided to
artificially inseminate (A.I.) them one cycle, then use clean-up bulls.
After much discussion with the local A.I. man I chose a Brangus bull;
any easy calver, the book said. For Louie’s 125 heifers I bought him six
brown swiss bulls.
That fateful morning I called Albert on the phone:
“Mornin’, Albert! How’s it going?”
“(silence)”
“Albert? Are you there?”
“Ten calved so far.... Three live calves... had to pull all ten...”
“Oh.”
“Maybe you better come out to the ranch.”
“Sure, sure, I’ll be right out.”
“Uh, maybe you better bring a bedroll.”
I called Louie before I left for Albert’s:
“Louie, how’s the calving going?”
“What are you doing for the next six weeks?”
“What do you mean?”
“Four have calved. We pulled
‘em all. One’s still alive. Oh, by the way, three of the heifers are
down. On second thought, the way the boys are cussin’ you, you better
wait a day or two...’till they’ve cooled off. You’d stand a better
chance of leavin’ in one piece!”
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