alacattleman":coqfmg6j said:
Bez+":coqfmg6j said:
Ryder":coqfmg6j said:
LOL. Nobody is making you feel dumb. That old bunch would chew you up and squirt you out between their teeth.
There are still a few of us who drop in once in a while
- but the board has changed - perhaps for the better and perhaps not - but people come and go. I sit in the back of the room most of the time now.
Bez+
you'r right, alot of cattle savvy folks have left
Cattle savvy?
It is not rocket science and there's lots here who know plenty.
And there is lots here that know nothing but tell a good story. Now those of us from the old days that do drop in, we seldom do much more than read. I still jump in the most of all of them but even that is slowing down.
I am just no longer interested in:
Keeping a deaf and blind calf alive - there are consequences to that that are far reaching - other than the cost - how long you plan to keep it alive?
Or keeping that old cow that goes lame every few months.
Or wondering why my cow did not calve out on the exact due date.
Or trying to save a buck by asking 25 people what to do with a cow that has cancer eye.
Or wondering why my cow runs away.
Or wondering how to catch my cow that runs away.
Or wondering what to feed my cow.
Or wondering if that bottle of meds that is three years old and has been frozen a time or two is still good.
Or wondering how many people I should ask - "Should I call the vet about that cow that has been down for three weeks?"
We mostly got tired of being told that when we talked straight we were cynical.
Or being called down when we suggested that shooting would be the kind thing to do.
Or being called a hard person for "not caring".
I am sure I missed many more.
Some of those folks here now are not only a hazard to themselves they are hard on the cow business reputation.
You look, you can see where all the advice given from Cattle Annie and her kids fighting the weather in north BC trying to keep from going broke when BSE hit, la4angus bless his departed soul, Caustic now a rarity, Vicky the (real) Vet long gone and never to return, Cherokeeruby, D.R Cattle, Jake, Ellie May, Txag, Cattle Rack Rancher in the northern muskeg fighting weather most south of 49 could never even imagine, certherfbeef running a ranch and raising kids pretty much on her own (still keep in touch the odd time), frenchie in real bad muskeg and wolf and bear country, ollie and his incredibly beautiful wife and daughters - or even me before I started to put a letter or some type of sign after my name - was pretty dammed good. Plus a whole bunch more folks that do not come right to mind.
All raised the hard way and all with the broken bones and blisters and calluses and heartbreaks and heartaches to prove they been there. Leather skin and wrinkles - one of the most beautiful women in the world is about 20 years older than me - lives down the road a few miles and has skin that is forever wrinkled and sun and rain and cold beaten and widowed about ten years now - but that leather skin turns to gold when her smile lights up the local cattlemans meetings - and let me tell you she would put all of us to shame if she started handing out advice here - but most would not like how she did it.
So as time rolled along we saw more and more the folks that did not like it straight up - and yes sometimes we were hard on others - but in real life - when you do it for real rather than sit in front of a computer screen for 12 plus hours a day like a lot of folks here do - you realize you are a dinosaur and need to move on.
You can stay there and tell long tales and pass on advice no one wants to believe or will listen to anyways - or advice they cry about or...... well, then you know it is time to go - before you become part of the new world and the new cattle folks with the touchy feely names and the belief that you need to tell it in a politically correct way and that every calf needs to be saved - no matter the consequences - not only to it, but to the person doing the raising. And the belief that Guru means Cattle Guru - when in fact it is a pile of posts with smilies and dancing bananas.
"It takes a village" has come to Cattle Today and calf raising.
And no it is not a pity party - although some will say this is so - and they can be dammed for they have missed the point completely and will simply want to make hay out of this short writing.
Helping someone is one thing - and I got a pretty good record in that department - so did most of the old hands.
But we were mostly raised in an era that you worked and ate or did not and went hungry.
Not like that now-a-days where you can go to the food bank and get food - or go to the welfare folks and get money for a house to live in.
But the fact is - the above is why some of us just wander by once in a while now rather than write.
Times have changed and mostly we decided not to change.
Most of us are still very successful at what we do - in fact very successful despite some very real trials and tribulations with family breakups, family deaths, disease, weather, finances, government interference, and such that have been well documented on this site should someone ever want take the time to research it. Some do not have any income other than cows - so they do it the hard way and know what they talk about. Some took two (and more) additional jobs to save the farm / ranch - so they understand the value of time and money and what lives and what dies.
We mostly still do it our way. We will always give that advice if asked - but we will not pretend to be experts and we do not wave our flags anymore.
There are a few others here - talking - that might not have been all lilly white in the past either - but memories can be short in some instances. Long in others.
New folks will come and old folks will go - circle of life works the same on a chat board as in real life.
Apologies for the hijack and congrats BB338.
You folks have a good evening - or perhaps it is afternoon or morning there.
I will go back to the back of the room now.
Regards
Bez+