Willie is a great example of the compassionate cowman. He should be a poster boy for St. Francis of Assisi, except St. Francis is in Kansas and Willie lives in Colorado. During calving season he observes certain procedures that he has perfected when a heifer needs help. The calving lot is near the house. He makes regular checks out the window using a spotting scope and binoculars.

Rick and I were discussing the uproar about “pink slime.” He said, “Well, I don’t know much, but I’m sure not gonna buy any of their CDs!” It’s all in a name – Pink Floyd, Pink Panther, Pink, Pinko Commie, pink in the center (medium rare), pink eye, Pinky Lee and/or pinkie finger. Pink slime, as you have heard, is a predominately lean beef that has been separated from fat and is added back to hamburger to make it leaner. It is puffed with ammonia gas to eliminate bacteria.

I was visiting with Bill in Alabama. He’s a cattleman, a bit of a philosopher and a constant worrier. I mentioned that one of my friends had sold a set of 520-pound feeder cattle for $1.99 a pound! That’s more than $1,000 a head! “I know,” said Bill, “I’ve sold some myself but … ” then he paused and added, “I’m wondering if the price is getting too high?” I cast a skeptical eye but he was serious. “Whattaya mean?” I asked.

Many country veterinary practitioners have invested money in their clinics for facilities to handle cattle and horses. It is for the convenience of the vet but also for the restraint and treatment of the patient. However, there were those clients that assumed it was so the vet could charge them for an office call. Dr. Blaine took an after-hours call from a third-generation cattlewoman in the rolling foothills of western Alberta. “We’ve got a prolapse and need you to come to the ranch straight away,” she said.

Triangles have a unique place in our world. Engineers use them to build bridges; romance writers use them to manufacture chaos, Pythagoras used it to create his theorem and the shortstop uses it to make a double play! Triangles strengthen structures. They take three straight lines going nowhere and form a bond that can withstand great pressure. I see this cohesive combination in another triangle: Woman-horse-child. It is particularly evident when the child has Down’s syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis or any other disability which restricts their possibilities.

Can you imagine a world without cows? In 1535, Francisco Coronado brought cows into what is now the U.S. He crossed the border 40 miles south of Benson, Arizona, with horses and cows. They say he went as far as Kansas – looking for a good veterinarian, I guess.

I was asked by the author of Confessions of a Horseshoer* if he could use one of my quotes in his book. I agreed. He sent me a copy. The quote he used was: “It’s not that horseshoeing is so hard, it’s just the dread of doing it.”

Normally when I get a letter or email from someone who has “seen themselves” in my column, I write back, apologize, swear I’ll try to do better and promise, as a penance, to bathe their Pekingese. This does not include animal rights loonies, the Association for Political Correctness or the ACLU drum bangers.

A father has a responsibility to pass along to his male offspring those mechanical, philosophical and verbal skills to attract and select a suitable mate and mother for his future children. But where can a busy young cowboy begin his search? Craigslist? Ponying horses at the race track? Want ads in the Mounted Shooter magazine? My friend, I’ll call him Bob, has a busy teenage cowboy growing up in his house. Bob is pondering his son’s future and proposed designing a “Girlfriend Training Enterprise.” It is based on his own horse training and trading business. A typical ad might read:

Whenever we introduce a new horse to the ranch, it often takes a while for them to adjust. The country where I live is pretty brushy, meaning cat claw, mesquite and cactus of all kinds. It is also riven with steep sides, arroyos, canyons and jagged rocks.