todays good deed OR how I wasted the whole morning on the neighbors bull

[Kali]

I got a call this morning about a bull out on the railroad tracks. It turns out he wasn't ours (always a thrill because usually they are) but I had to go see him in order to figure out the actual owner. I get down there and the thing is standing right in the county road crossing between two sets of tracks trying to lick a tiny bit of water out of a hole about 2 inches by 4 inches. I try to shoo him off the tracks but he is in really bad shape, weak and freaking thirsty. All drawn up and looks like he is 20 years old - eyes sunken in and won't move. I had to use the truck to kind of shove him out of the way. I'm not sure why he was in such bad shape - it finally rained yesterday and there should have been lots of puddles along there just a ways east (where he came from) I don't actually know that because I didn't have time to go check. (rain can be oddly isolated and spotty here in the summer)

Saw a guy up the tracks a little way greasing the switches (or something?), and went to ask if I could borrow an empty bucket so I could go get the bull some water to lure him off the tracks. (this is all about 10 driving miles from the house) He gave me one and I went about 3 miles to one of our ponds, came back and gave him the water - he had moved a little ways away by a cell tower into some shade. He chugged it and started pushing the bucket around looking for more. Meanwhile the guy working had emptied a couple more buckets so he brought them over and I made two more trips - that bull drank 30 gallons and was looking for more. (10 to 20 is normal) He looked a LOT better - still kind of thin and eyes still sunken, but not like walking death anymore.

While I was driving back and forth I had called all the nearby ranches but one to see if he belonged to anybody that I had a number for. He seemed to have two different brands on his right hip - one looked like the one belonging to the previous owner of that ranch, who had died and the family sold out a couple years ago, but I didn't think the new owners were still using the brand so I wasn't sure what was going on. I called the local sale barn and they confirmed the brand but didn't have a phone number. I called the track supervisor thinking he might have it since that ranch has about 6 miles of RR frontage. Nope. I called the State livestock inspector for my area and left a message but she didn't get back to me. I called the sheriff's office and they didn't have a number either. GEEZ.

I said fuck it and decided to drive to the headquarters which was 10 paved and probably another 5 dirt miles away (the bull had to have walked at least 4 miles down the railroad) I get to the electric gate near the main house (the place has almost always been owned by wealthy absentee types - except back when it was homesteaded by my g-g-grandfather, hee hee) and honk the horn. Nobody comes out. I'm sitting there kind of fuming, and decide to write a note when a small pack of dogs comes up to investigate. I'm petting them and notice one has tags so I thing *hmm* yes! phone number! I call and say "Is this Navajo's owner?" I explain the deal and kind of hint around that not having contact info with anybody is a real PITA for folks trying to be neighborly. The dickhead never even said thanks! And I bet he takes the tag off his dog next time he comes out for a weekend visit.

Anyway, the "help" called a few minutes later - he was just a regular guy and we got the mess straightened out - he went and got the bull - he was gentle enough to follow hay (or a bucket of water!) right into a trailer.

You know this is just the kind of thing one does out here - no big deal. You see a problem, you deal with it no matter who owns the animal or the fence or whatever. But to not even say thanks on the phone. What a jerk. (And this was a confirmation of my first impression of the guy when he first bought the place. Now I know I was right with that.)

Wasn't that an interesting story?:P

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Kali!

That was an interesting story, and I thank you for telling it!

Poor bull.

Glad he wasn't hit by a train or some such.

And I 'm even gladder I'm a city girl, lol!

:P

[Kali]

2. oh thankyou Peggy

It wasn't interesting, I just needed to rant about the rich jerk. I have a chip on my shoulder about them.}(

[coconuted]

3. That was

A great story! I like stories with pictures!

[Kali]

4. well thanks

and welcome to DU ;-) :D

[LeftyFingerPop]

5. Wonderful story!

You done good!

30 gallons? Holy shit.

:hug:

[Kali]

7. big critters

"they" ("experts") say 10 to 15 gallons a day when "they" are "helping" you calculate storage needs and so forth. In a hot dry place like this it is more like 15 to 20, but he acted like he hadn't seen any in 3 or 4 days (which they can do easy in cooler weather, but when it's hot they like to drink every day if they can)

Oh and if for some idiotic reason you decide you are going to haul water to livestock, among MANY other things that WILL go wrong, is the fact that they will suddenly drink 35 gallons a day. Even the baby calves.:rofl:

[hedgehog]

6. Just when you think the US is one big mall, you hear a story

of people living an entirely different life than yours!

[Kali]

14. good observation!

thanks - really. One of the reasons I am on DU.

[dropkickpa]

8. Holy crap is he skinny!

Poor guy! Thanks for good neighbors!

[Kali]

13. yeah, he is pretty thin

of course it is August and he has probably been working all summer:o

you should have seen him before he filled up with water - I'm talking death - really skeletal. He looks a LOT better in that pic. I suspect when his body actually rehydrates he will be close to normal (for here, this time of year) and if we get a little more rain he will probably fatten up by October.

[dropkickpa]

19. Ahh, you're in AZ I see!

And I'm sure he has been workin' all summer :evilgrin: I have this thing about bulls, I just love them. When I did my large animal rotation in school, I loved working with the bulls we encountered, the vet I went on farm call with thought I was certifiable, but I got along with the big lugs :crazy:

[Kali]

20. well, as with all intact males,

you can't trust them too much, :rofl: but I like them too.



oops forgot the smiley

[petronius]

9. That was a very interesting story, even if it was a disguised rant

It may be old hat to you, but hauling water to a bull would count as an adventure to me. (But no, I won't come down and haul water to your livestock... :))

[Kali]

16. it was odd enough to me even -

when mine get out on the railroad I pretty much just have to show up and they head for the hole in the fence or wherever they came from at good trot

[Ptah]

10. That story made me remember how glad I am not to have neighbors with livestock.

:hi:

[Kali]

15. aww I bet you'd like a place backed up to a field.

Don't you live kind of close to the U of A farm?

[Ptah]

28. Yea, about a quater mile south of the UA farm.

Your story reminded me of how much work ranching is.
If I had to watch for neighbors livestock, I'd figure
I might as well have some of my own. Too tempting.

:hi:

[Kali]

32. At least we don't hay in the summer and feed in the winter

now THAT is a lot of work.

[Ptah]

34. Or worse - like a couple of uncles - milking

That's brutal work

[Kali]

35. oh absolutely

I couldn't imagine. Even with all the modern machines and stuff, that seems like such an intensly hard life.

[Minimus]

11. That was an interesting story!

Poor thirsty bull.

[Kali]

17. I think he's going to be ok

getting hit by a train doesn't usually work out to well for them although I have seen a few survive and indirect bump. They are tough.

[Suich]

12. You done good, Kali!

I'm sure the bull appreciates what you did!!!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

:yourock:

[Kali]

18. he just about climbed into the back of the truck when I put the empy buckets back in there

he should be ok.

[amerikat]

21. Cool story. You did the right thing.

Those mountains look familiar. Are you near Flagstaff?:hi:

[Kali]

23. no not at all

way down almost on the border in SE AZ - Cochise county. That is actually looking WNW at the Rincons and Catalinas (Tucson is on the other side)

[amerikat]

27. I've never been that far south in AZ.

Worked on the Navajo Res for a while, lots of livestock wandering
around there.

[Kali]

31. oh yeah

what did you do up there? I spent a couple summers at Hopi (Polacca, Keams Canyon) when I was a kid.

[amerikat]

33. Installing solar power.

The Hopi Res is amazing too. I spent every spare hour
seeing everything I could see. I always scheduled a few days vacation
at the end of the work time to travel around. Beautiful Country.

[madeline_con]

22. That's a beautiful animal.

Pretty fucked up to treat him badly. :(

[Kali]

24. nobody treated him badly

He got out and wandered down the railroad. It is possible a fence washed out or somebody left a gate open. This is big country - you don't see all your animals everyday - hell, sometimes you don't see them for weeks. Sometimes they get down on the river and you may not find them for a year! Talking 80 acres for one animal. A "pasture" may be 4 square miles of rough, brushy country.

[madeline_con]

25. I thought he'd been without water for some time. Sounded like mistreatment. n/t

[Kali]

29. only accidentally - and he is the one that wondered off

I'm not really sure what happened - if it doesn't rain tonight I will go back down there in the morning and track him back to where ever he got out, if I can. We had a storm yesterday - they will drift for miles with those sometimes, but then there should have been puddles. So until I get back down there to see, its just speculation why he was out and why he was so dry.

I was going to go back down this afternoon but my kids needed the truck and I needed them to run some town errands for me. My other vehicle is kind of a POS (ahem) and about out of gas so I didn't want to go driving around in it just to track the neighbor's bull.

[ThomCat]

26. I'm glad he found water, and you.

I hope he's taken care of better in the future.

It's disturbing that the owner is such an absentee asshole. :(

I hope you got a number for the guy who maintains the place, just in case you need to contact a real person over there again in the future. Either that, or I hope you wrote down the number off of that dog's tag. :P

[Kali]

30. Oh I got them both!

Probably since the owner is such an ass, it is a GOOD thing he is absentee:rofl: