My First Cattle Deal

Way back, maybe in my early twenties I always had a pull for raising some cattle. Back then hogs were the bread and butter around here, cause at least a person could get a somewhat steady income if you done it right back then. I was over visiting some friends one evening, and that really consisted of having a bull session in their dairy barn while they were doing their evening milking. Back at the time I didn't even have a job, (which never bothered me much, I was a country boy and we could always survive on little). And we were just visiting that evening and my one friend said he had four Holstein heifers for sale. They were open, that means not pregnant. Back in them days there wasn't much for beef breeds in the area, pert near everyone had a dairy herd and that's all you seen was black and white Holsteins everywhere. He told me he'd sell em for $250 a piece. Now I didn't hardly have a plug nickel to my name back then but also I didn't have any debt either. So I tossed it around in my mind and said I would pretty much take em but give me a couple days.

Like I said, I wasn't exactly rolling in money then, (ain't now either), but I knew a decent deal when I seen it. So I went to town and had a talk with the banker and he agreed to lend me a thousand dollars on a note, which means no payments, just a due date, and I got it for a year just to play it safe. Later that day I went back to say I'd take the four heifers and my friend told me he changed his mind and wasn't selling them anymore. OK, I told him but I had the money in the checkbook that I borrowed from the bank and now I'd have to pay the note back with a little extra and nothing to show for it. Well, he thought about it and changed his mind and said write out the check. And that I did and was the proud owner of four open Holstein heifers.

These heifers were between 600 and 700 pounds and I needed them moved the four miles home. Called the local livestock trucker, because back then pert near nobody had their own livestock trailers or a truck with enough snort to pull one. The trucker went over and they loaded them up and he brought them home to me. Then I got a surprise, I asked the trucker how much I owed him and he said forget it. He said he was glad to give me a little start. I thanked him and will never forget it.

Now they were home, and they needed a bull to get them pregnant and it didn't pay to buy a bull just for those four heifers and I went over and talked to a fella that I had heard had a few to rent out. Yep, he sure did have a few and I picked one out and we made a deal for $25 a heifer so I would end up owing him $100 when all was said and done. Back home in the river bottom pasture those heifers did great on the grass and a little mineral. That was all, nothing fancy. The bull did fine too, and after a couple months I was pretty sure he done what he was brought there to do. Now I just had to catch him and truck him back to his home and pay the fella for the service. But before I got to that point the bull had different ideas and he jumped the fence and got into a neighbor's Holstein herd. I though I had a problem then. So as I prepared to extract the bull for all them pretty cows, (in his opinion), I knew I'd have a job of it. Went over there expecting a mad neighbor but was pleasantly surprised by a happy one. He told me if I was done with the bull he would buy it and keep it. Said he already talked to the owner and I was one happy fella then, cause you see that bull wasn't exactly small and Holsteins have put more than one person in the hospital or grave for that matter. Good enough for me! I went over to the bull's owner to pay him the $100 and he told me to forget it. Said that was my commission for getting it sold to my neighbor.

Well, the months went by and later I could see all four were pregnant which was great! In that time milk prices really went up and so did demand for milk cows and pregnant heifers. I put the four heifers for sale on a little noon marketing show on a local radio station, (it was free to do that), and it got broadcast around the area. The calls were hot and when it was all said and done, I sold them all for a $1000 a piece. I went and paid the bank note off and still had almost $3000 to boot and in those days that was almost a half a year's wages. Since then I have done many deals and raised a lot of cattle but I will never forget that first cattle deal.

The Beginning Of The Stories

Over the last few years I have gotten away from blogging and have gotten mired down in the mud of social media, that is except for the times I go months without it. It can kinda wear a fella out, all that political arguing and everything. Not that I do much of that but its in your face constantly from folks that live rather meaningless lives by the look of it. Years ago I blogged and it actually took off bigtime and I pretty much dove for cover, not wanting to be in the limelight and also to avoid conflict there also. There's always those internet folks that get pretty brave when they are behind a computer screen and out of arms length. But its been on my mind to put together stories, stories of different things in my life. Folks have told me over and over to write them down. Now, there ain't any big adventures, or anything like that, although there have been many near death experiences, comes with the turf. Hopefully I can jot a few down, and keep jotting for a long time. We will see.