HAT TIPS
Hello,
I’m here to announce that winter is upon us! The wonderful October we had gave us a chance to get our fall work done and prepare for the onslaught of winter. I didn’t get done. We still have calves on cows on the reservation. We still have hay in the field. The garden hose and many tools are covered with snow this morning. The sprayer is not winterized and I can’t find my winter cap. History repeats itself.
But one chore we did get done was sorting the cows up and getting some to a cow sale this week. From now until the end of the year, you will find several stock cow sales. Now fall sales are kind of like buying lottery tickets. You never know for sure what you will get.
Sometimes there is a dispersion of cows. These are usually your best bet to get some good cows. You will get a few bad ones because everyone has a few. But the majority would be good honest cows.
Or you may be able to find some short-term cows that will be all right for a year or two. A short-term cow is missing a tooth or two and may need a little extra care, but by and large she has been a good producer in someone’s herd for a number of years.
Or you may be in the market for some bred heifers. Especially if you have a wife that doesn’t mind getting up a few times during the night and checking heifers in the spring. It keeps her young and gives her skin that wonderful glow that makes a woman beautiful. At least that’s my story.
But some cows are just not nice. The ones I am selling are not nice. I bought them a year ago. They appeared to be a bit flighty when they came into the ring. But I was younger then and didn’t mind. There were 22 head of nice big cows. The owner forgot to mention that they couldn’t be chased, hauled, sorted, or corralled. They had never seen a saddle horse and knew that this four-legged animal was evil.
If you rode near them after they had calved, you were taking your life in your hands. One would let out a beller and come out of the middle of the herd and try to knock your horse down. I lost my hat and glasses, but did manage to stay atop one scared horse.
But with three grandkids that help ride, I swore these cows were going to the sale. And by the time you read this, they will be in someone else’s herd. But trust me, I will warn the buyer that these cows carry a warning label, “Not safe for children, or old men!”
So to whoever buys them, like Red Skeleton used to say, “Good night, and God bless!”
And with that I am leaving for the cow sale in Belle Fourche to see if I can get a deal.
Later,
Dean