By Julie Carter
The mindset of never turning down a rain when you ranch in the southwest has been pushed to the limits this year as ranchers saw almost double their annual average rainfall arrive all at once in a month's time.
Slow, if never, to grumble, ranchers have fixed water gaps that have been solidly in place since the last millennium, repaired washed-out roads repeatedly, and found leaks in the roofs of homes, barns and outbuildings that didn't exist until of course, it rained.
And still the rains came. Most recently, the moisture that was so welcome this year was falling on the backs of newly-weaned calves with the threat of bringing on job security to the guy in charge of doctoring sick ones and hauling off dead ones.
The tens of hundreds of cattle trucks scheduled for dirt road destinations will be standing by waiting to see if it is really going to happen the morning after Mother Nature has again dumped inches of rain on ranches that now have more grass than anyone has seen in their lifetime.
Making fall gathering and other assorted seasonal cattle work cold, miserable and hard to plan, the misery is simply accepted as part of the business. No one in the business dares wish it would stop raining. Who would accept the responsibility for such a bold statement if indeed it did stop raining for too long, again.
You can count on a few things as a cowboy and usually they have to do with those types of off-the-cuff statements followed by results that become legendary.
"Weatherman says there is a storm coming today but we'll be finished long before it gets here." Result: The hundred year blizzard hits just as the cowboy crew arrives at the backside of the ranch and 20 miles from headquarters.
"Send the city kid that came to help to the north end. No cattle ever go up there." Result: One pilgrim struggling with the entire bunch of cows and calves while the real hands hunt for cattle.
“It'll be a good day to ride the colt. We don't have any serious cowboying to do." Result: Hunters left the gates open on four pastures and 600 head of cattle are mixed or missing.
"Don't worry, they can't get plumb away. There's an ocean on both sides." Result: Four hard days of looking for wild cattle in heavy brush-covered country.
"Don't worry, they won't get away. They're afoot and we're horseback." Result: A corral of ridden-down horses, tired riders and cattle still running wild and free.
"The break-even on these cattle won't pencil out right now, but the market is bound to improve before shipping time." Result: The bank says they will extend the operating note one more time.
"That colt never saw a day he could buck me off." Result: The wife getting quite handy at doing all the riding, doctoring and feeding while he heals-up.
Another list for another day is the really incredibly "un-wise" things a cowboy will say, without thinking of course, that will land him in the dog-house and eating bologna sandwiches for an undetermined amount of time.
That list belongs in the "last cowboy words" category and usually starts with some brilliance like "What that woman doesn't know won't hurt her..."
© Julie Carter 2006
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