Men, machinery star in bull ballet

Uncle Joe was makin' his rounds this spring checking the horses and cows

to make sure everything had water. When he got to the bull lot, one of

his prize young Charolais bulls had managed to crawl through one of the

round bale feeders and was lying down happily chewing his cud.

Uncle thought over how to extricate his bull, then went for the tractor.

He'd put the round bale in fresh that morning and had not yet cut the

twine. It made it easy to lift the bale out of the feeder and set it out

of the way. Next, with the lance he tipped the feeder up to let the bull

find his way out BUT…the bull panicked!

In his effort to escape, the bull stuck his head through one of the

slots and took off wearing the feeder around his neck! Joe watched the

crazed critter stampede through the other young bulls in the lot, who,

in turn, went berserk, scattering back and forth as if the iron monster

was attacking them!

The saddle horses in the next pen caught the fever and added to the

chaos by running around, tails in the air, rollers in their nostrils and

fear in their eyes all frightening the bulls who were already scared

poopless!

Every now and then the feeder would dig into the mud so the back would

tip up along with the butt end of the bull, whose tail was waving in the

air like a loose air pressure hose! Each flip and flop jiggered the

gathering crowd. In one final assault, surrounded by 11

testosterone-powered, adrenaline-fueled, thick-headed white bulls, he

lead the charge through the metal gate out into the farm yard and right

into the machine shed!

In a matter of seconds all livestock cleared the area except for the

barking dogs, Uncle Joe on his tractor and the still struggling captive

bull. Joe called the dogs off and gave the bull five minutes to wiggle

during which time he, the bull, managed to back out of the feeder and

stumble into the yard.

After an hour of pushing, sliding, dislocating, cursing, twisting and a

couple of "back up and take a run at it," maneuvers, Uncle Joe returned

with his welding trailer and removed the stuck-tight round bale

feeder…in three pieces.

Men and machinery in a bull ballet…it never ends.

Baxter Black is a self-described cowboy poet, ex-veterinarian and sorry team roper. He can be contacted at 1-800-654-2550 or by e-mail at: [email protected]