Tangled up & Blue
I was in the feedlot, bedding down the steers and bulls. I had a bale of straw in the bucket and a bale on the spear. I dumped the bucket, to distract the boys from what I was doing at the rear of the tractor. Cattle get excited when you bring them straw, they start jumping and leaping, slamming their heads into the dry bedding. While they concentrated on the bale I had dropped, I worked on the speared bale. A large part of the bale was frozen solid, so I was having quite a time cutting and pulling the twine off. I knew that some of the cattle were banging into the other side of the bale as I worked, so I paid attention to that, too. From around the back of the bale came Bull #508. The photo below was taken eight months ago, he’s quite a bit larger and heavier now.
Uh-oh. . . He looked like he had on a halter. Except it was made out of orange baling twine. He must have buried his head in the bale that I had dropped, and got caught in it. It was wrapped around his muzzle and ears. It was tightly wrapped around his foreleg which he held off the ground up to his head. He had probably twenty pieces of uncut twine wrapped around him - taut. He had twine between his back toes, and around his legs. He was starting to freak out, and some of the other boys were taking an interest in his dilemma. They were playing - yes, heavy cattle do frolic - which can be fun to watch. But he was panicking. I was getting close to panic myself. Straw is not something you want to have to run on - it’s slick. I called Lynn on my cell, “You’re not going to believe this one, I’ve got a bull who is completely wrapped in twine. I’m in the bull pen. This is bad“. 508 ran as well as he could on three legs, with two bulls following and a bunch of steers. I watched and followed them. He went by the self-waterer, and then behind the bale. I half hid on the side of the bale and reached out with my knife. The twine was so tight it cut easily. As soon as he got his right leg back on the ground the rest loosened. I called Lynn, “I got him out.” Lynn came down to check on me anyway. By then I had all the straw spread and the twine picked up. Too much excitement to attempt any photos.
February 11th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
yo! a big panicky bull is not my idea of fun. It must have been a heart pounder! Gee, I can’t understand why getting a picture wasn’t foremost on your mind…LOL. Your never ending world of excitement..good job!
February 12th, 2007 at 5:46 am
hmmmm… Pamplona in karbon county. Wonder if it will draw crowds!
February 12th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Way to go! Glad you safely got him undone.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:32 am
You amaze me, girl! Glad that it turned out so well. Don’t know about you but we are having more snow today so all the pens will need straw again. Ever notice that SNOW is a 4 letter word??
February 12th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Whew! Glad you’re alright. Sounds scary.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Wow, sounds like something that would have happened to me! Glad it worked out
February 13th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Glad it wasn’t me, I have lousy luck with bulls.
Back in high school, I bought a pickup from a friend of mine’s dad for parts. Since I didn’t have anywhere to put it he told me to just leave it in their junk pile, rob parts off it when I needed them since it wasn’t going anywhere. He also told me to be sure that the bulls weren’t in the junk pile when I went to rob parts, but of course I forgot that part.
One day the next summer, I needed some doodad or another, so I drove out to their place during the day, no one around, grabbed my toolbox, hopped the fence, and started toward the junk pile. About halfway across the 100 yard stretch between the fence and the junk pile, I heard a snort . . . . . he was about 20 yards away, big as a friggin house, and did not look happy to see me. I was then faced with a decision. The fence was behind me, there was most of an old truck in front of me that looked reasonably bull proof, but both looked like a long damn ways away with that big ol’ bull breathing fire and looking at me with pure, unadulterated hatred in his eyes. I decided to back slowly toward the fence and take my chances rather than face being trapped in an old truck all day only to catch a healthy dose of shit for it when I was finally rescued. I made it, but that damn bull followed me the whole way, just far enough away so that I couldn’t forget who’s field I was trespassing in. I didn’t get my parts that day.
I think that’s why I like Rocky Mountain Oysters, every pair that I eat is one less bull that’s going to sneak up and scare the hell out of me someday.
February 13th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I read this the other day, and it sounded scary enough then. But then today I read that someone here in Minnesota was killed by a bull this week. So I’m sure happy your story had a happy ending!!
February 20th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I sure am glad you were able to get that done safely. I hate it when something happens with a bull or ornery steer and the girls and I have to deal with it.
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I’m always careful when I’m dealing with the boys. They can be so unpredictable. I remember once (when I was very young and very foolish) a couple of the herd bulls got out and were having a tussle and I jumped on my gelding bareback with only a halter and thought I’d break it up. One of the bulls neatly flipped my horse over (and me) but I held on tothe halter shank and he (my horse) pulled me out of harms way. Since then I have nothing but respect.