A friend of ours,
who has been farming/ranching for many years related this story to us at supper
last night:
Me
and an old boy went down to Brady several years ago, to a cow sale. We got there
way before the sale ever started. When we walked in, we were offered a mixed drink,
free. Well, we ain't never been to an auction before where they served alcohol
and thought that was a good idea. We sat and had us several drinks and directly,
the auction started. Now, we was just gonnna buy 3 or 4 cows, but after awhile
decided we wanted a whole trailer full. I got up and went for another drink and
when I got back, my seat was taken, so I sat aways down from my partner. There
weren't nobody biddin' on them cows but me and one other feller, so I kept buying.
Directly, I looked over at my partner--and realized he was that other feller!
Here we had bought us a whole trailer full of cows by bidding against each other.
After the sale, we stopped at a cafe to eat and by then I had sobered up pretty
good. I said, "You know, when we look at these cows in the morning, we're gonna
be sorry." We got home late and unloaded the trailer and sure enough, the next
morning, that was the most pitiful bunch of cattle we had ever seen. They were
bony and old and had the longest ole horns we had ever seen. Well, we worked 'em
and put 'em out on some good grazing and luckily the price of cattle went up.
We sold those cows and got our money back, minus the grazing.
Needless
to say, our friend no longer drinks at a cow sale.
June, 2000
© Tonya Roberts
More articles by Tonya
Roberts:
Coleman
County Optimism. Is my rain gauge half-full or half-empty?
Life
with a Cowboy |
