South Dakota, I remember. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to make sure not ONE of our hundreds of cattle were having trouble birthing a calf. Not one night, but numerous times through the evening, every night and everyday of calving season. No weekends, days, or nights off. In hopes of saving every single cow and calf! I remember bottle feeding runts in the front porch of our home, as often as you feed a human baby. I remember Daffy, the ONE runt calf that made it when I was in 5th grade. I remember when she moved to the shed because she was healthy enough. I remember playing with our pet cow that couldnt wait to see us coming with its bottle! I remember Daffy the Duck, our runt duckling we nursed to health and later lost. I remember my sisters agonizing cry and look on her face when she found him dead. I remember my lamb, she had crazy hair like my aunt April, so I named this lamb I loved, AprilI. She had polio and couldnt keep up so we kept her in the shed and bottle fed her. I remember our crazy Buck! Every time I had to feed the sheep, this crazy Buck would chase only me and I was deathly frightened of him! ( he knew that:)) I remember running like nobodys business to hide behind hay bails, light poles, anything that would save me from this mad sheep man! I remember my deep love of Our horse Brownie. I remember riding all day sometimes and meeting my friend half way between our ranches to ride. I remember how connected I felt to Brownie. I remember finding Brownie dead in the horse field of an aneurism. I still remember the spot he was laying and the vision of him on his side. I remember such heart ache. I remember our front of the line cow. It didnt matter where she was when we came to feed, she was at the front of the line, with her head in the bed of the truck trying to eat while she would let us pet her. I remember the pigs and trying to get out of having to feed them EVERYDAY! Thankfully my mom took on the pig barn most of the time! I remember loving the runt piglets! We would keep them under the heat lamp in the porch until they were ready. I remember runt he became our pet pig who even liked to stay clean and not roll around in mud! I remember my chicken, she got sick and I tried to nurse her back to health. Everyday, 4 times a day I would take her out of her cardboard box in the porch. Feed her, hold her, and hum to her. I remember her dieng in my arms on the front porch. I remember my grandpa coming out and telling me Erin you have got to try to not get so connected, animals are going to die. I remember crying so hard and so long that I tried from that point on, to stop getting connected to these Animals. South Dakota, when I look at these images, I remember that pain. It is intensified with every dead animal I see. I tell you about each animal I remember so vividly to show people. Of the HuNdreds of animals we had....I remember each of them. To think of my ONE or two animal losses and to see 100,000 is gut wrenching and your lives work, gone. I remember the work. Ranching is not a 9-5. Ranching is all day, everyday. Where I come from, theybreed the hardest of workers, there are no days or evenings off. Ranchers life and work are their animals. To pour your life into each and every animal and lose one, 10, 100 or everything is pure devastation. Let alone the connection you have to your heard. I also remember branding day and sheering the sheep. Days or two when your family and ranchers all around get together to help each other all day. To vaccinate, caste rate, and brand or sheer your animals. Neighbors giving their whole day of HARD work to help their fellow man, because thats what we do! South Dakota, This is what I see from you all now. You may not have the media attention or funds that you should. But you have the most dedicated group of giving people this nation has to offer. Your hearts, hard work, faith, tenacity, and togetherness make me prouder than ever to say where I come from is South Dakota!
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 21:50:25 +0000
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