By Jade Meinzer
Newton had his laws of physics, the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, congress makes more laws every day, and cops do their best to enforce the law. There is a set of unwritten laws, however. These are the laws of ranching. Nobody wrote them down, they aren’t chiseled in stone anywhere, but if you run cows for a living, you will find that many of these laws are true. There’s no punishment for breaking these laws, most of them are flexible, but without a doubt they have proven to be true time and again.
Without fail, you will have some kind of water trouble on the coldest day of the year. I thawed out windmills, had to fix floats that had come loose, fix broken pipes and melt snow to flush a toilet. It never fails, when the temperature drops water becomes a problem. That is unfortunate considering that it is necessary for compatibility with life! I don’t think there is a much more miserable job than laying in the mud and frozen slush and ice trying to fix a broken fitting or hose underneath a water trough surrounded by curious bovine who like to stomp your tools into the mud. I don’t know who I would get ahold of, but they should make waterproof, heated, shoulder length gloves for when the float decides to come off the shut-off valve in the middle of the tank. I’d own stock in that company and probably own the first pair that they produced.
The next law of ranching is no matter where you are going, church, Christmas with the family, meeting with the banker, dinner with friends or a sporting event at the school, there will be some problem that arises causing you to be late to said event. Escaped cows, a tractor with a dead battery, flat tires or a heifer that is struggling to birth her calf all tend to happen on days when you need to be somewhere else. I once attended a high school graduation where it was delayed half an hour so that the parents of one of the graduates could make it after they had to pull a calf before they could leave home. This law of ranching can be used to your advantage however. Have dinner plans with someone you really don’t care for? Cows are out and we can’t make it tonight, better take a raincheck!
Regular equipment maintenance is just part of ranching. Blowing out air cleaners and radiators helps machinery to run cooler and more efficiently. Greasing bearings and keeping things lubed prolong the life of your equipment. I don’t know why, but you will get about two zerks greased before the grease gun runs dry. Every single time. I don’t know why this is, but it seems like I am forever looking for a new tube of grease when I go to use the grease gun! Battery powered grease guns have made my life easier, but for some reason, they tend to run out of grease sooner than the hand powered ones!
Ranching is continually changing, everyday there is a new problem to solve. I find most of the time these problems bring me closer to Jesus, mainly because I have to ask for forgiveness for cussing the broken water tank or the rotten cows that have torn down the fence for the millionth time. Somedays I think that our ranch lives are very chaotic, others they are peace filled and full of wonder, like wondering if I shut the hydrant off so the tank wouldn’t over fill or wondering if I truly latched the pasture gate. Either way, I wouldn’t trade this life that my family and I lead for anything. That’s all for this time, keep tabs on your side of the barbed wire and God Bless.