Cow Chips: Fence Jumping

In early January of 2010 we decided to work some calves. By work I mean ear mark, brand, vaccinate and a couple of other things that I will not mention. There were five calves that had been gathered in after we worked the majority of the calves, so on a Saturday dad, Allen and I decided to take care of these five. This turned into a bigger project than we bargained for.

We cut the calves out of the corral that they were in away from the mother cows and loaded them into our stock trailer. We then drove them across the feed lot and unloaded them into the pen where we have the branding chutes. After getting everything ready, I chased the first calf, a big bull calf, into the chute. This particular calf had been giving me some trouble over the past couple of weeks, he seemed to find a way out of the corral every night and I had to put him back into the corral every morning. I finally figured out to lock the gate to the hay stack so that I could at least contain him there instead of having to chase him all over the whole feed yard every morning. During this process I learned something about this particular calf that I should have remembered on this morning. He could jump. I watched him jump over the manger from the hay stack side one morning, something that I previously did not think possible. The reason I should have remembered this is because when I chased this calf into the chute, as he reached the squeeze chute he stuck his head out the top and then jumped over it.

It is not unusual to have one or two get away while working the calves, and normally it is a matter of running them back into the pen and starting over. This time however things were different. This calf after jumping over the chute proceeded to jump over a fence into the horse pen. Again, this was not too big of a deal although it did cause a lot of swearing. We simply opened the gate between the pen we were working in and the horse corral and went to bring the calf back up and start over. This calf is a descendant of Houdini because he proceeded to find a hole in the fence and got into the hay stack. I went and headed him back around the hay stack toward the horse corral and he found another hole to get back into the corral where we wanted him. I went to grab a panel to plug up the first hole that he went out and Allen and dad started driving the calf and the three horses toward the pen where we need the calf to go. The horses were in front and the calf was starting to get a little bit crazy from being chased around so much; he ran up behind the horses, this is a big mistake. Never get behind a horse. Dad’s horse Clyde sensing something behind him kicked out and drilled the calf right between the eyes with a metal horse shoe. There was a resounding “crack” that sounded like a .22 caliber gun going off and the calf dropped in its tracks.

Dad, Allen and I had never seen anything like it, at first we thought that the calf had been killed. Dad and Allen proceeded to push on the calf’s ribs and abdomen to try and get it to breathe again. It took several minutes before the calf stopped twitching all over and started to breath. It was several more minutes before it tried to stand up, which it could not do at first. Finally we got it to its feet and got it to take a couple of shaky steps. We then proceeded to walk it up to the gate and put it back into the pen. We decided to let it stay there while we worked the other calves.

We proceeded to work the other four calves while the one that got kicked got its senses back. The next one went like it was supposed to. The one after that got through the squeeze chute and, you guessed it, jumped over a gate and got out. The one that we just worked followed the jumper over the gate. In late November we worked twenty-five or thirty calves without one jumping out, on this day three out of the five we were working jumped out. That is the way it goes sometimes. After working the two calves that did not jump the fence we decided to try and work the one that got kicked. The calf that got kicked had a cut and lump on its head and blood running out of both nostrils. As I looked at the calf I had a thought occur to me. If this calf had stayed where it was supposed to have been it would not be in the condition that it was in at this time. It is very easy to get into a bad situation, there are a lot of situations that do not seem bad at first, but can turn bad very quickly. For this calf, the situation turned bad in an instant.

We to can find ourselves in a situation that turns bad quickly. Many times we will get involved in something that seems innocent enough only to find ourselves some place we do not want to be. The lesson to learn is when to stop, take a look around and change course if need be. The calf did not change course, it did not know what would happen if it ran up behind a horse. It almost paid for the mistake with its life. The interesting thing is, he never jumped another fence after that. When a mistake is made the most important thing to do is, like the calf, learn from the mistake and never do it again.

7.16.13

I was thinking about this incident last week before I went to girls camp. I knew that I would have to talk to the girls after their testimony meeting and was thinking of stories that I could used to illustrate a point. This story came to mind; I was thinking about how the fences that this calf was jumping were placed there as a protection and not for the purpose of being a restriction. Many times I hear young people complain about the commandments restricting what they "can do". Many look at the commandments of God the way that a cow looks at a fence. As an obstacle keeping them from where they want to be. Fences are placed not only for the purpose of protecting areas from the cattle, but more importantly, for protecting the cattle. The fences in our feed lot protect the cattle from the busy road that runs by, all of the cars and trucks that are a danger to stray cattle. They protect them from hay stacks, that if they get into can cause them harm, a cow can and will eat to a point where they bloat, a condition that will kill them. The fences separate the cows from the horses, and sometimes from each other. A horse can cause sever injury and possibly death with a blow from a steel shod hove. Cows, and especially bulls can injure each other fighting over food water and territory (Bulls fight for mating rights) These fences are protection to the cattle and if respected will keep them safe from outside danger. The commandments are the same for us. If we heed the commandments we will be kept safe from the adversary, who has no power over us if we but simply obey the commandments. Oh how I would like to be able to make everyone understand this principle of the gospel. However, like Nephi, I sin in my wish. Forcing anyone to do or understand anything is Satan's plan. I hope to be able to use this story sometime to possibly help someone understand that the commandments are a protection and not a restriction. 

I read a talk by President Henry B. Eyring last night where he talks about his impression that these experiences are given to us by the Lord and that he expects us to learn from them, write them down, and share them. I hope that by writing about this and other experiences that I have had and will have that my posterity and others will be blessed.