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Published: June 23rd 2022
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Emma, Issy and the Cheetah Van
If the length of the grass is anything to go by I’m Not sure the “Cheetah Van’s” been anywhere recently, but Emma says her and Michael occasionally take it camping. Issy’s feeling marginally better, so she slowly emerges from the confines of her COVID isolation ward. LeeAnne introduces us to one of her other cats, who they call COVID because he never goes away. I hope Issy’s version of COVID does eventually decide to leave her alone, but we’re clearly not quite there yet.
It’s Fathers Day here in Canada and, as he should, Michael showers Steve with love and affection… and a large table grinder. I’d have to admit that I’m not exactly sure what a table grinder is, but if there are tables to be ground I’m sure this monster will do the trick. Any attempts to get Emma to do likewise are however decidedly unsuccessful. I’m told that I’m Australian, and therefore I’ll have to wait until September. Hmmm. I’d better get something good then. Daughters…..
LeeAnne and I get talking about bulls over morning coffee. She works part time at the Hanna vet clinic, and managed to get kicked by one a few months back. She says that the pain was beyond excruciating and no one could quite believe that it hadn’t broken her leg. She’s still got the scars as souvenirs of the whole
experience. It seems that she and Steve are way ahead of me and my concerns about the possibility of getting a dud bull. They get their bull’s semen tested at the vet clinic before they let them loose on the ladies. I don’t particularly want to think too hard about exactly how you go about extracting semen from a bull. Bulls are clearly not to be messed with, and even Emma seems to know what seems to be just about the number one rule out here - never turn your back on a bull.
Steve noticed when we were out in the paddocks yesterday that one of his cows had a decided limp in one of its back legs, which he suspects is probably due to some sort of bacterial infection in its foot. It seems that the solution to this is to inject it with a combination of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and painkillers. I’m sure most cows are friendly enough, but they’re still big units, and I’m not at all sure I’d want to be the one sneaking up behind one with a giant syringe and hoping it didn’t notice. But of course Steve’s way ahead of me again.
He pulls out his trusty bow, and loads the medication into a syringe which he attaches to the end of an arrow. He says the stuff’s expensive, so he’ll need to make sure he doesn’t miss. He says an even worse outcome would be to hit it in the wrong place; cows might seem stupid, but they’re apparently smart enough to know that that first shot didn’t exactly tickle, so good luck catching up with one to have another go. Anyway, Steve’s clearly done this before, and comes back with mission accomplished.
Michael’s got to head back to Lethbridge so he can go to work tomorrow. It’s nearly the end of the school year so he’s taking his first graders out on a field trip later in the week. He says that one of the places they often go to is called “Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump”. Hmmm. It seems that maybe buffalo aren’t overly smart either. “Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump” is apparently a large cliff next to a river. In days gone by, the local Indians used to stampede the buffalo towards the top of the cliff. They we’re apparently pretty quick when they got going, so
by the time they realised they were about to go over the edge it was a bit too late to change direction, and hey presto, enough buffalo steaks to keep the whole tribe going for several months.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
I loveeading about...
your time on the ranch. Have you bought a cowboy hat and boots yet? I hope that Issy gets over covid soon. I found it to be miserable...