This past week Oklahoma had some really cold weather. Most normal people that live in the city stayed warm inside their houses during the cold snap. Farmers and ranchers don’t get that luxury. My daughter has been staying with my in laws while she is working in Tulsa. She sent a message Wednesday morning that said, “Mimi and Papa have dumb cows, I’ve had to rope two calves and pull them off of the pond. The rope they have is like a noodle too.”
My in laws live up near Stroud and it seems their pond froze over and several smaller calves walked out on the ice. So like any good grandkid my daughter tried to help her grandparents. Pawpaw has just had knee replacement, so he’s kind of unable to do much.
My daughter and mother in law were tasked with feeding, haying and breaking ice for the cows. Each morning they had a routine of start the tractor and while it was warming up they would drive the UTV down to the pond and break ice. It was there each morning that a “dumb” calf or two would wonder out onto the ice not knowing they could fall through. The first day the ladies hollered and tried shoo the calves off the ice. Finally, my daughter found an old rope and she roped each calf and drug it to safety.
As with any good grand parent they paid my daughter with eggs from the chicken coop and a good hot breakfast, once the chores were done. There were a lot of laughs told over that breakfast too.
Hospitals never close, they are staffed 24/7. Likewise farms and ranches never close either. I guess it’s a calling for each profession.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
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