Several years ago I saw one of our permittees out on the range. I told him "Man your cows look good and your calves are growing awfully fast." He said "Yeah I have some nice mother cows." I told him "I'll bet your calves come off the range this year over 700 lbs." He said "Nah, they ain't that good of mothers." I told him "I'll bet you a steak dinner at Maddox Ranch House that the claves come off over 700 lbs." He said "You're on."
Later that fall he came in a told me he owed me a steak dinner. I asked him how much the calves weighed. He said "Never you mind the weight - but I am more than happy to buy you the dinner because of their weight." He never told me the weight and we have arranged to have dinner many times but something always interfered and we never did it. This morning I got a call and was invited to breakfast here instead. I went with one of my co-workers too. We had a very nice breakfast and a lot of good discussions. He told me "YOU CAME TOO LATE---AND YOU LEFT TOO EARLY." That made me feel really good about having been here. Just as we were getting into the trucks to leave he said "and by the way - the calves averaged 725 pounds." When I was a young the mother cows didn't weigh much more than 800 pounds---oh how the range has changed.
He is getting quite old and is starting to be a little frail. I hate seeing good people get that way. As we walked out the door together he said "THAT MAKES ME FEEL A LOT BETTER - NOW I DON'T OWE ANYBODY ANYTHING." I'm not sure how I feel about that. I would rather he owe me forever than for him to get frail and die.
What happened this morning is what I will miss the most about not working anymore. I loved my job.
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2 comments:
i really think it is so cool what a legacy you built and earned, and all those friendships, that is really something to be proud of! and I didn't know cows weighed that much! LOL
Now cows weigh between 1000 and 1200 pounds. Amazing what breeding has done in the last 50 years.
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