 |
| Uncle Owen |
Ranching is beset with problems.
Too little rain and the grass doesn’t grow and the cattle don’t have
enough to eat.
Too much? Well apart from the obvious, flooding, there are the mosquitos.
Sometimes . . . well, I’ll let my Uncle Owen tell you about it . . .
The year of 1925 and ’26 was extremely
wet. We had something over twenty inches of rain fall in just two or three months—highly
unusual in our area.
On our leased land, I remember of
an evening, the cattle would scent a breeze which was coming and move against
it just as fast they could, even though it may only be three or four miles an hour,
trying to keep the mosquitoes down.
And in the evenings when there was
no wind moving, they would collect in herds of two or three hundred head and
mill in circles all night long trying to create their own breeze to ward off the
little, biting pests.
Once a breeze did spring up, they
headed into it and never stopped for fences or anything else.
One year, we received a telephone
call from Fort Macleod saying there were at least two or three hundred head of
cattle around the buildings just south of the C.P.R. station.
The gentleman that phoned said he
was sure that they were ours.
So I rode from Glenwood over there,
about thirty miles, and sure enough, he was right.
Well, the wind had swung into the
west about that time, and the mosquitoes of course can’t stay on an animal when
there’s a heavy wind, so I only had to turn them back toward the leased land
and most of them headed right out themselves.
My brother, Alonzo, came up from
the lease and met me and we brought the cattle back again. We found that they
had gone through at least ten fences in this trip and forded the Belly River
which was quite a sizable river when it got south of Fort Macleod. There was
nothing that could stop them once mosquitoes bothered them.
We get a lot of those little, biting pests in the summer around here. We
either apply bug spray (Everyone else) or hide in the house. (Me)
It never occurred to me to walk into the breeze.
For thirty miles.
Yeah, I think I’ll stick with my solution.
It’s Ancestor Sunday! The day I celebrate my Fascinating Forebears.
Tell me about yours!
What clever cattle. If I thought a thirty mile walk would work, I would be on it in a heart beat (sprays and the likes impinge on my breathing).
ReplyDeleteI positively DETEST mosquitoes. I know they are Gods creatures but I still don't like them. Ancestor day? Mine are from Great Britan mostly (England, Ireland and Scotland) and a few from Germany and Holland. All hard working farmers and labourers...nobody fancy. Each generation doing a little better than the previous.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting - I didn't know that mosquitoes would be able to bite animals with a coat of fur. But I suppose they just crawl between the hairs and stab away . . . poor cows. They must have been desperate.
ReplyDeleteI stay inside, too. But that's for the sun AND mosquitoes :)
I would hide in the house too, but our Australian mosquitos manage to find their way in, so it's bug spray AND stay inside.
ReplyDelete