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Farm & Ranch Happenings

published: February 19th 2010
by: Harvey Buehring

“Speak Softly and Carry A Big Thunder-Stick”
    Mr. Skaggs and Mr. Vernie were like a lot of the old-time farmers and ranchers who grew up during the depression years of the 1930's.  They survived those difficult years because of hard work, determination and a “no-frills waste not-want not” life style. These values carried over into their adult years when they purchased their own land and ran their own operations.   Although Skaggs was about a decade older than Vernie, they were raised as neighbors in the same rural area of South Texas.
     The Skaggs family had a small dairy and poultry operation.  They also had a few sows and fed-out butcher hogs on skimmed milk, curds and cracked eggs.  This diversity pulled the Skaggs family through the difficult times.
     Vernie came from a ranching family.  When times got hard the boys cut mesquite posts, did fence building jobs, and hauled livestock in an old two-ton bobtail truck to earn extra income.  They usually ran steers, but after the drought of the 50's, Vernie’s  operation was more cow-calf based, in part, because of his skills as a cattle trader.
    As was common in those days, neighbors did a lot of  bartering of services in order to help each other out.   One day, Mr. Skaggs flagged down Mr. Vernie to ask if he would haul a few calves to market.  He also ask if Vernie might have a beefy bull he could use to freshen up his milk cows for the upcoming breeding season.  They worked out the details and Venie was given a dozen eggs and a couple of rings of dry sausage as a token of appreciation. Skaggs also promised a turkey for Thanksgiving and a ham for  Christmas.
    After he made the agreement,  Vernie realized that he didn’t really have a spare  bull to loan.  But after some thought, he devised a plan that solved the problem.   He decided that when he hauled Mr. Skaggs’ calves to market, he would cut out a couple of his oldest cows that had calves about weaning age and haul them to market as well.  
    Then he would buy a bull with proceeds from his sale of his old cows and have a nice young bull that Mr. Skaggs could grow out before Vernie needed another mature bull for his operation.  A great win-win plan!
    On sale day they didn’t have many shiny young herd sire prospects in the offering.  The two young Herefords that Vernie really liked brought more money than he wanted to pay.   As the number of bulls dwindled to fewer  than a half dozen, he realized that he had better buy something, and soon.  Then into the ring came a long bodied, high-horned brindle colored Braford-type bull that Vernie had briefly admired back in the pens.  In the ring, the bull seemed a bit high strung, but did reassure Vernie that he had a good set of back legs as he tried to leap over the seven rails of pipe fencing that enclosed the sale ring.
    Mr. Vernie became the proud owner of the bull after only two bumps up from the opening bid.  He got the big high-horned brindle bull at a very reasonable price, thanks to one of the packer buyers stepping out for a restroom break.   After the sale, the alley hands had no trouble keeping the bull on a fast trot up the loading ramp and into Mr. Vernie’s old cattle truck. 
    On the way home, Vernie had to keep a tight grip on the steering wheel as the bull kept moving from side to side. He never really settled down during the ride to his new home.   As he got closer to Mr. Skaggs place, Vernie started praying that the bull would  calm down once he joined up with the gentle milk cows and got a taste of the ground corn and cotton seed meal mixture that Skaggs put out for his cows every evening as he penned them before milking time.
    As Vernie, backed his truck up to chute, old man Skaggs came out with his hickory walking stick to inspect the bull.   Skaggs who had a soft spoken demeanor, commented,  “Looks like he’s got a spirited attitude!” 
     Vernie quickly replied, “He’s just showing off for the ladies. He will settle down in  a hurry once he gets acquainted with the new surroundings.”
    Just about supper time the next evening, Mr. Skaggs called Vernie.  He told him to come pick-up that bull before he busted any more  gates. “That bull would have butted me over the feed trough if I hadn’t busted him across his nose with my walking stick.”, he huffed.  
    Vernie  promised he would be over in a few days. He ask Skaggs to be patient, give the bull plenty of room and time to settle down.   A couple of days had passed and Skaggs called again.  This time, in no uncertain terms, he told Vernie that if that bull tried to charge him again he would shoot him dead with his 30-30 rifle, so Vernie had better bring some cowboy to help get that crazy bull loaded and off his place.
     Vernie explained that his truck was loaded down with fence posts and it would take a few days to finish the on-going fencing job. Then he could get his hand to help load the bull.  Again, he pleaded with the old man to be calm and give the bull plenty of room.    
    From that point on Mr. Vernie was operating under the “no news is good news” theory.  A couple of weeks had gone by without any calls from Skaggs.    He was hoping that his prayers had been answered and the bull finally calmed down, but he couldn’t help  wonder if the old man had killed the bull and dressed him out for hamburger meat.          Vernie decided to stop by the Skaggs place late one afternoon to check out the situation.  He found the old man headed to the cow pens with his walking stick in one hand and a five gallon bucket of feed in the other.   Vernie caught up with Mr. Skaggs and began apologizing for the bull’s behavior and asked if it had caused any more problems?   Skaggs replied as he stopped to opened the gate to the feed pen, “Not since the attitude adjustment”.   Vernie was relieved when he saw the bull about a 100 yards back in the pasture gently following behind the line of milk cows that were heading into the pen for their evening snack.
     Vernie turned to Skaggs and assured him he could bring his truck to load the bull  out in the morning.    Skaggs replied, “No need to do that now.  He has been real gentle since the day after we tried to kill each other!”
    “ What do you mean?”, Vernie asked.  “ Well, after ruffing me up and chasing me out of the pen, I pick up my 30-30 rifle to shoot him between the eyes.  He moved his head as I pulled the trigger and the bullet blew off one of his horns. Since then he keeps his distance and I can walk him anywhere I want to.  I just hold my walking sick up to my shoulder and pointing it in his direction, and he moves the other way.   Vernie, I think he’s going to be the very best one-horned bull you have ever owned.”   
    That anecdote took place almost 50 years ago.  Today, some neighboring cattle producers still swap or share bulls in order to diversify their gene pool when saving replacement heifers. It also helps reduce their production expenses.  But recent changes in Texas animal heath regulations now require testing of bulls involved in this type of arrangement.
    Here is a brief summary of the changes. The requirements for testing breeding bulls that are changing possession in Texas after January 1, 2010 is being implemented in an effort to eliminate cattle trichomoniasis.  This is a new animal health regulation that many cattle producers may not be aware of as the spring breeding season approaches.  Basically, Texas Animal Heath Commission Regulations require that: “breeding bulls offered for sale, lease, exchange or otherwise changing possession for breeding within the state be certified as a virgin bull or be tested with negative results for trichomoniasis before selling, loaning, exchanging, given or otherwise changing possession of a breeding bull.   Older breeding bulls or non-certified virgin bulls that are untested may be sold only to slaughter.” 
    Contact your local veterinarian or the Texas Animal Health Commis-sion for more details on these new regulations.