Wednesday, February 22, 2006

pets



Long horn steer would not raise as much as an eyebrow in Texas, where I once lived. In the upper midwest however, they are an oddity. Remember, this is the land of dairy cows and swine, nary a long horn in sight.

My neighbor keeps long horns as very big and very hungry pets. He was born a cowboy, even though his place of birth was the city of Chicago. From the time he was little he made plans to move out....west and further west, while staying in the general area of the city and his family. He married and set up a small homestead (16 acres I believe) and they've maintained the property and the livestock single-handed for over 50 years. Yes - into his 80's he's still shoeing horses for a living and pitching hay bales.

3 comments:

Rachel said...

I wouldn't want to catch one of those horns. Ouch! Pretty animals though. Sounds like he has lived the life he loves! Kudos to him!!

R.Powers said...

Those are beautiful.
Same stock as the FL Cracker cattle line.

srp said...

A good UTexas graduate would say "Hook 'em Horns". But then I am a graduate of UT as a technicality only... not undergraduate but med school. My ex spent one summer as a flagger for a crop dusting outfit. The long horned calves and mothers would get lost in the thick mesquite and the dusters would have to defoliate areas to find them. I think the typical dairy cow is a lot smarter than these lovely creatures.