More Bull

Times were changing in our lives after the death of Fred. The Aldinger Family was adjusting and making decisions and changes in their lives and Judy and I were making changes as well. My relationship with Ed Davidson had strengthened and so had Jody’s with Edie Aldinger.. They had decided they could only afford one farm hand and I gave the job over to Jude as she was going with Edie. I got a job in town at the Hotel but stayed on in the cabin and helped on the farm on weekends.  Irma moved to the coast for a time and Ed Davidson went down there to see his daughter as well and worked there for six months. Then Edie decided to take Jude to Mexico and off they went. I was alone with all the chores plus my job in town. It worked out okay except I remember driving the one ton truck down the back road and right by the mill site the gear shift came off in my hand!  I had been instructed to go to the bush foreman that lived in town if I had problems so I walked into town to talk to him. He must have thought I was insane. I proceeded to rant and rave how the truck had a hole in the floor and one in the door and now the damn gear shift was laying on the seat and he could fix it up or feed the cattle himself. I don't know where I went for the remainder of the day but when I got to the farm the truck was there and in better working order. Judy had had her fun with that truck as well and once was driving through the mill-yard when everyone started waving at her. She had lost a wheel!  I remember asking her if the truck had not been on a tilt and she replied “Not that I noticed”. We had christened the red one-ton the “Red Pig” and it was certainly difficult to get around in at times.

  In the spring, I noticed Ludwigs hooves needed to be trimmed.
The front toes were nearly crossing over each other. So I got out the
cow hoof trimmers and a rope and was trying to talk Jude into getting Ludwigs attention so I could drop a loop on his horns and hold him long enough to do the trimming. Otherwise he simply walked away. Jude was still most untrusting of this bull and I lost my cool and trying to shame her into doing the job(after all she was head farm hand now) I told her if she couldn't do it to go and get Irma! Well she wasted no time in doing just that!  Out came Irma in her gumboots with a broom in hand. I imagine we got the job done.  Next, we had

to castrate a four year old bull.  This was a big job and he was strong!  I remember he was so strong he
could pull the testicles right out of my hand but we got him done in the end. Things had certainly been easier when Fred had been there. When it came time to butcher this young bull , I remember Edie shot him several times before the job was done. Never a dull moment on a farm!

   We also had an incident where a cow had a horn growing around and back into her head. It essentially made the cow crazy and when we tried to corral her she went right through the fence. The same thing happened when we got her in the chute. Eventually we caught her after many a wild chase and had to saw the horn off as it was impossible to use the dehorner clippers.