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Getting Started

It was a hot August morning when Mark and I parked our 1963 Ford straight truck at the sale barn among all the other stock trailers and semi trucks. We were looking for about 8 steers to buy to add to the other 12 we had bought from a friend who lives just south of us. Grandpa wanted us to put the pasture to use even if it was August already. Well, I guess a guy needs to start sometime.

We sat there, anxious for the sale to begin. A nervous feeling was deep in my stomach as I watched the auctioneer take his place at the microphone, talking with the ladies who ran the scale. The huge clock overhead said 10:00, starting time. All around us sat men chatting comfortably about this and that, some were selling cattle and some were buying them, just like we were.

"Man I sure hope those guys have sympathy on my husband so we can get some bought," I thought. I shuttered at the thought that we would have to borrow every penny. I hate borrowing money.

The barn owner grabbed the mic, cleared his throat, and said "Welcome to the sale today. We hope we have what your looking for." With that said, he opened the big gate to his left and in ran 12 heifers. Whew, good, Mark wouldn't have to bid, he wants steers! Around and around they circled there in the ring. The auctioneer shouted over the mic "Who'll give me 61?"  "Yep" Who'll give me 62?" "Yep" On and on he went, with each bidder concentrating and solemnly nodding until finally only one was left. "Sold to number 17."

I leaned over and whispered in Marks ear. "Good grief those guys went crazy over them. Do we even have a chance?"

"Hope so, " was his only answer as the gate swung open once again and in walked two old cows.

Around 1:00 in the afternoon, the first nice set of steers came charging through the gate and into the ring. There were eight of those nice black calves. Mark sat up a little straighter, cleared his throat, and said "This is one of the groups I saw out there and liked."

"Oh dear," I thought...."Oh dear!!"

"Now here are some beauties. Who will give me 60?"  "Yep!" Who will give me 61?" "Yep!" Buyers were bidding right and left. Mark cleared his throat again. I started to kick my foot and could feel my heart beating hard in my chest. "Stop!" I wanted to scream, "let my husband bid!" But on and on those buyers went, the auctioneer pointing to his left and then pointing to his right. On and On. Good grief would we go home with calves or not? All of a sudden it was done. The steers ran out the ring. "Sold to number 32."

"Oh my lands, that was Mark's number!" I looked at him and my hands flew to my cheeks. "We just bought those?" I was so involved in my own nervous state that I didn't even realize he was one of the ones that the auctioneer was pointing at!

"Sure did!" I was so proud of him. That brought the number up to exactly 20. Mark figured we could handle only that much, with the pasture we had plus the little amount of winter silage we hoped to get up. After watching a few more groups go through, Mark said, "Well let's go pay the bill."

I leaned on the counter while Mark took his check book from his back pocket and wrote the biggest check my eyes had ever seen! "Thank you Mark," the clerk said with a smile as she took the check. "Hope they do well for you."

"I do too." I thought as we walked to the truck.

Outside we backed our truck up to the loading chute and Mark jumped out, climbed up over those homemade stock racks, opened the end gate, and stuck a stick between the bars to hold it up. He handed the man our bill of sale.

"Pen number 16!" he hollered. After a couple minutes, eight steers came running down the lane. They crowded into the loading chute and onto the truck. The truck shook a bit as they crowded on, bawling and trying to shove to the front. Mark pulled the stick from the end gate and it came slamming down.

We were quiet as we made our way on to interstate heading home. Finally, Mark broke the silence. "Are you going with me to the bank this afternoon to finish the loan?"

"Of course! We're in this together right?"  I said looking out the window. "I just have to admit I'm a little nervous. This is a lot of money, Mark."

"I know.  Thanks for believing in me honey. It really means a lot."

"What are we going to do with these calves? Take them to the pasture?"

"I'm going to put them in the south pasture now on the way home."

That afternoon we walked into our local bank. That two story brick building looked pretty big to me. I loved this little "hick" town that consisted of the bank, a couple gas stations, and a hardware store.

"We're here to see Pete. Is he in?" Mark said to one of the clerks.

"Yeah...come on in Mark."  It was Pete himself. "Have a seat there. I take it you found some calves. How many?"

"We're just home from the sale with eight, and we owe a friend south of here for 12, so I guess the total comes to 20. I'm sure grateful to you for loaning me the money. I'll pay it back as soon as possible."

"Well, like we talked earlier, I know your wife's grandpa, plus we do have the steers to back it up. I figure a young man has to start somewhere and I want to help where I can," Pete said leaning back in his big black chair. "I'll just transfer this amount of money to your account, and go over this agreement with you."

Oh my goodness! I had never seen that much money in my whole working career! Gulp! I sure hope we know what we are doing! For some reason, I did trust this man beside me. He sure does have a lot of faith though. Our 200 plus acres of cropland was full of sunflowers and bind weed. And you never could guess the weather. He was determined though, and I needed to be too!

"Well, if all of this is okay with you folks, you both can sign and date right here." Pete brought me back to reality.

Mark went first, then me. I was so nervous putting my name on that huge loan. I was nervous, but also I felt privileged that Mark asked me to put my name beside his! We really were in this together.

After our naps on Sunday, we loved to hop in the pickup and head to the pasture to see them. I think when your own hard work is buying something, it becomes very precious. It's special. We would roll down the windows, and let the warm summer air blow onto our faces. Sometimes I would put my feet up on the dash board and sing along while the dust flew behind us. The road wound down around a little creek and passed under a railroad track, and there was the pasture gate.

Sometimes after checking the cattle, we would drive slow around the section to see what we could see, or stop at the pond and set there on its banks, throwing pebbles into the water and enjoying the solitude, not saying a word.

Shortly after we had those steers out to pasture, we got a call from Mark's grandpa who lived on a small farm about 300 miles west. Grandma had passed away and grandpa was ready to "close down shop" so to speak. He owned a nice herd of Angus cows, and they would be calving in late February or early March. Grandpa thought a lot of his cows, so he wanted Mark to buy them. He would be willing to work with us as far as paying them off.

"Well, what do you think about it honey?" he asked me.

"What a surprise! Do we have the pasture for them and what about the feed for winter?"

"We need to check it out, but we do still have the pasture west. I know it has been dry, but there hasn't been any cattle on it for a year so I'm guessing it would hold 20 for the rest of the pasture season.  As for silage, we have enough to fill one silo at least and I think I'll bale up some prairie hay. I just really hate to turn them down."

"Well at least grandpa wants to work with us on the payments and we wouldn't have to borrow from the bank again! That's a plus for sure!" I said as I stirred something on the stove.

"Yeah...when we get them paid off they would be all profit."

After a few weeks of thinking about it, and talking to my grandpa, we headed west on interstate in our '63 truck. I still can't believe we made two trips out there in that truck, but we did, bumping along as if we had the world figured out. Grandma had sent a sack lunch that was in the middle of the seat plus our overnight bag and a pillow so one could sleep while the other drove.

We spent the night at Mark's parent's ranch, and early the next morning packed a lunch and headed north to Grandpa's place. They looked so pretty, those slick black cows, and grandpa was thrilled we were taking them. So late morning we loaded up 10 of them and started our long journey home.

Neither one of us slept on the way home. Mark did all the driving because when the cows shifted the whole truck shifted! I was satisfied to ride along, and around noon I dug out our sack lunch from under the pillow and handed Mark a sandwich.

"We need gas and I really should check the tires." he said after lunch. We found a Conoco station, and while Mark filled up with gas and checked the tires and the "load", I went to the bathroom and grabbed a Milky Way for us to share and headed back to the truck.

All was good as we headed back down the ramp and back into the traffic. I propped my feet up on the dash board and asked "Do you want to share this candy bar with me?"

"What a silly question is that?"

After savoring every sweet chocolatey bite of that candy bar, all was smooth going. I started to doze off a bit. I just couldn't help myself.....BANG!
"Oh my gosh!! What was that?" I asked sitting upright with a start.

"Not sure," was the answer as Mark steered the whole business over to the shoulder of the road. "My guess is a blowout."

"You're kidding, right?"

He opened the door and eased himself out.

"Be careful," I said sitting at the edge of the seat, chewing on my finger nails as the traffic whizzed past us.

"Well, one of the duals is ruined" was the reply as he eased back in the driver's seat.

"Now what do we do? It's late, will any stations be open? What about these cows?" I had all kinds of questions, poor Mark.

"The only thing to do is drive to the nearest exit and hope a station is open" he said as he checked his mirror and slowly pulled out in the road.

Slowly... ever so slowly we drove on. Clunk...clunk...clunk until about a half mile down the road we came to an exit, and a Co-op station AND it was open! What great luck.

"We blew a back dual" Mark said as he hopped out of the truck. "Would you have a good used one?"
The young fellow was so nice. Not only did he find a used tire but he offered to help change it!

I stood there at the side of the station holding my breath and clenching my hands, while they jacked up the truck and all those cows. It made me nervous to watch. After all,  how many tons of weight would that jack hold? And what if all those cows sliding to the other side would make the truck tip over!"

"Thanks so much for your help!" Mark said as he paid the guy. "You were a life saver!"

"How far do you have to go yet?"

"Oh, we're probably a little over half way."

"Thanks!" I holler and wave a hand at him.

"Glad to help. Now drive careful!"

"We'll just unload them in the corral for tonight cause it's so late." Mark said. Grandpa's house was pitch black as we backed up to the chute. The cows crowded out the truck, down the chute into the dark catch pen and over to the tank of water.

Mark climbed down off the stock racks, took my hand and slowly walked to our dark little trailer. We would be making one more of those trips next week, after things were settled down here at home.

But, for now, we were safely home. We were exhausted but could not have been happier.

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