Fire Sweep Ranch
Well-known member
Had someone drive into our place today, they were concerned that there were two dead cows on the road (we live off a state highway, two lanes and people drive pretty fast). He wondered if they were ours... so I hopped in the truck to check things out (pretty sure they were not ours, we have good fences and gates).
Driving south, I see the first cow on the east side of the road about 1/8 of a mile from our place. Her head is towards the fence and her butt is out toward the road. There was anal tissue protruding out, like she had either been dead awhile or the impact cause her anus to prolapse. I kept driving,and another 150 feet down the road a cow was lying on the west side of the road, in the ditch, with her legs underneath her and her eyes open. I did not want to stop on a highway, but I slowed down to make sure she was dead... she was. She looked like she landed in the ditch and someone shot her.
So I pulled west on the next road, and pulled up the neighbors place. I have never met these neighbors in person, but have seen the cattle from the road. Often see severe cases of pink eye (like, the eye is popping out of the head type of severe cases), and their place was hit by a tornado in 2001 with no repairs ever done to the structures. Anyway, I pull up... and worry about the safety of my life in my truck with all the metal junk and poor roads (and wonder how people live like this). I pull up and park, not sure which structure is the house, but guess at the least run down one and knock on the door (not even sure if it is the right door!). A man yells from behind the door that he is not interested. I tell him I am his neighbor and there are dead cows on the road that I think are his. He does not answer, so I decide to leave. When I get back to my truck, he opens the door and hollers at me. After introductions and he finds out I am his "neighbor", he and his mother come out. So here is the short of it:
They knew about the dead cows. They knew they were theirs. They were waiting to hear from the sheriff. Seems the cows were hit at DIFFERENT times! One around 3 am, and the other about daylight. They moved the cows from the property across the two lane highway, and a few calves would not come. So what did they do??? They left them! The cows tried to get back to their calves during the night.... is that NOT CRAZY???? And the brother called to say the cow with her rump to the road had a calf foot sticking out of her... so she might have been calving. I can assure you, it was NOT A CALF LEG.... IT WAS ANAL TISSUE, like a prolapse. How could he not tell the difference???
I will say that they seemed to have a very low IQ, like 5th grade mentality. The son, in his late 40's, runs the farm alone since his 80 year old father had a heat stroke over the summer, but never went to the doctor for it!
They go on to tell me their place was quarantined over the summer because they had a disease pop up after they cleaned out the pond, and they could not sell any cattle. I asked them what disease it was, they said blackleg! They did not vaccinate for it...
I guess my point is... I did not realize people like this existed in the world. Simple. Living in such poor conditions. Sadly, before I left, he was crying asking if we would pray for them. They did not have insurance that he knew of. He was afraid someone was hurt. And getting sued.
They finally moved the cattle off the highway after 3PM. These girls were killed before dark in the morning.... how long does it take to remove a dead animal? I would have those things off the road before daylight hit!
I did hear a funny.... most people remove the tag from an animal before anyone sees it once it has been hit.That way, they can not prove who owns it and not have to pay for damages nor dispose of it. We have no dead animal disposal out here... not a good thing!
Driving south, I see the first cow on the east side of the road about 1/8 of a mile from our place. Her head is towards the fence and her butt is out toward the road. There was anal tissue protruding out, like she had either been dead awhile or the impact cause her anus to prolapse. I kept driving,and another 150 feet down the road a cow was lying on the west side of the road, in the ditch, with her legs underneath her and her eyes open. I did not want to stop on a highway, but I slowed down to make sure she was dead... she was. She looked like she landed in the ditch and someone shot her.
So I pulled west on the next road, and pulled up the neighbors place. I have never met these neighbors in person, but have seen the cattle from the road. Often see severe cases of pink eye (like, the eye is popping out of the head type of severe cases), and their place was hit by a tornado in 2001 with no repairs ever done to the structures. Anyway, I pull up... and worry about the safety of my life in my truck with all the metal junk and poor roads (and wonder how people live like this). I pull up and park, not sure which structure is the house, but guess at the least run down one and knock on the door (not even sure if it is the right door!). A man yells from behind the door that he is not interested. I tell him I am his neighbor and there are dead cows on the road that I think are his. He does not answer, so I decide to leave. When I get back to my truck, he opens the door and hollers at me. After introductions and he finds out I am his "neighbor", he and his mother come out. So here is the short of it:
They knew about the dead cows. They knew they were theirs. They were waiting to hear from the sheriff. Seems the cows were hit at DIFFERENT times! One around 3 am, and the other about daylight. They moved the cows from the property across the two lane highway, and a few calves would not come. So what did they do??? They left them! The cows tried to get back to their calves during the night.... is that NOT CRAZY???? And the brother called to say the cow with her rump to the road had a calf foot sticking out of her... so she might have been calving. I can assure you, it was NOT A CALF LEG.... IT WAS ANAL TISSUE, like a prolapse. How could he not tell the difference???
I will say that they seemed to have a very low IQ, like 5th grade mentality. The son, in his late 40's, runs the farm alone since his 80 year old father had a heat stroke over the summer, but never went to the doctor for it!
They go on to tell me their place was quarantined over the summer because they had a disease pop up after they cleaned out the pond, and they could not sell any cattle. I asked them what disease it was, they said blackleg! They did not vaccinate for it...
I guess my point is... I did not realize people like this existed in the world. Simple. Living in such poor conditions. Sadly, before I left, he was crying asking if we would pray for them. They did not have insurance that he knew of. He was afraid someone was hurt. And getting sued.
They finally moved the cattle off the highway after 3PM. These girls were killed before dark in the morning.... how long does it take to remove a dead animal? I would have those things off the road before daylight hit!
I did hear a funny.... most people remove the tag from an animal before anyone sees it once it has been hit.That way, they can not prove who owns it and not have to pay for damages nor dispose of it. We have no dead animal disposal out here... not a good thing!