Farm holidays don't always go as planned

Local columnist

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Good food, good company, and (hopefully) a good football game or two. Aunts, uncles, and all my cousins get together at Grandma's for a carefree day of eating, playing cards, and catching up on what we might have missed.

You know how it goes: After we stuff ourselves at least twice, we all sit around and trade stories until we feel like there might be just enough room to fit in another plate of pie.

Or, that's how it’s supposed to go ...

Seems to me like Thanksgiving has had more than its fair share of catastrophes and adventures. And just like any supposed day off in the world of farming and ranching, it’s only off until something happens — and usually something does.

One of the biggest incidents I remember was just a few short Thanksgivings ago. I'm not sure we even made it to Grandma's before the call came in: Grab a turkey leg and something suitable for chasing cattle and get going.

My uncle had just turned out a bunch of calves on wheat. They were what we call Florida heifers, which, in short, means they are scared of neither man nor gator and crazier than ... (I was looking for a good analogy here, but dern if I can't come up with anything crazier this side of Hollywood.)

Anyhow, something had startled these addled bovines more than a hot-wire fence and they scattered all over the place, and off the place, and nearly to town in some cases.

I've never seen a herd of cattle run off in quite so many directions or get so far from where they are supposed to be in such a short amount of time. We spent the whole day trying to locate and retrieve those dad-gummed heifers and, in case you're wondering, a bluetooth headset is mighty handy on a four-wheeler in such a situation.

Eventually, after an exciting adventure and more hijinks than can be properly conveyed, the cattle were returned, the fence was rebuilt, and the turkey was consumed. It was quite a holiday.

Audra Brown writes about life on the farm. Contact her at:

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