I
chose the conservative, low risk venture of making a home video! After
considering several subjects, "Documentary of the Brucellosis
Eradication Program 1936-92", "The Hatch Act; a Review" and "Fasciola
Hepatica; Peril of Fluke?" I decided to use some of my poems and invent
Cowboy Poetry MTV! I would invite my cowboy friends and we would act out
each poem.
Included in the video was
"THE CULL", a poem in which a young vet and an experienced cowman argue
the merits of keeping or culling a cow. The cow described in the poem
was definitely beyond "one more year"!
I
sent a copy to Hank at the sale barn in Willcox and asked him to find
me this cow. I called three days before I had the big shooting
scheduled. He said he had the cow. I reminded him that I'd encouraged
him to buy two or three so I could cast just the right cow for the
starring role. He said, "Don't worry, I've got the cow!"
He was right…she cost sixty bucks!
I
got her home and ran her in the chute to examine her. I was lucky to
have my old pardner, Jake, who had a supporting role, to help me. She
was in fair condition and had only the lower corner incisors left. There
was a healed lump at the angle of her jaw, her left horn curled back
into the side of her head and the right horn swooped out gracefully to
the northeast. She looked like she was directing traffic! But the reason
she was at the sale barn, headed to the rendering plant, was her right
eye. Cancer had enucleated it and the orbital area was the size of a
small cantaloupe!
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