Working Ranch Blog

The Easy Part by Brett Haas
May. 19 2010, 9:49 PM

The boys have been getting restless. The fights have been on the increase these last few days. I had the neighbor knocking on my door the other morning to let me know one was out on the road. Before you call Child Protective Services on me, I'm talking about my other boys, Da Bulls. Yeah, they know what time of year it is and they're getting anxious. I thought I was gonna have to put a new side on one of the bull sheds a day ago. All I heard was a crash and saw a black bull running for his life. Don't mess with them reds!

Mr. Duramax sniffing out what's in store for him for the next 45 days.

The bull trap is right outside my door and I kind of feel like they're my adopted children. They are pretty easy keeping most of the time. The secret to keeping the fights down is making sure they have plenty to eat, especially during the winter. We feed 'em out of hay rings and they go through the round bales pretty quick, so you gotta keep an eye out and make sure they're full. You usually spot an empty ring when you're wrapping up "morning" chores around 3 p.m. in January, on a Sunday, when it's 3 degrees out and you had coffee for breakfast. But throwing a bale out there for 'em is a lot easier than having to put one back in at 7 that night and fixing fence in your coveralls and five-buckles that you threw on over your PJs.

Kirk and I have been promising each other for the last two years that as soon as we're done with our "next project" that we're gonna build us a real load out alleyway and chute. Loading bulls in a muddy pen with panels wasn't exactly on my bucket list. It's a good thing we got easy going bulls. After we were done I felt like I just ran the Boston marathon through a bog in five-buckles.

Oh, the joy of pulling bulls.

Being the good cowboys we were though, we got the job done and with just a little cussin', so it wasn't too bad. The boys are happy now that we got 'em out to do their thing and especially since we didn't take 'em to the vet like those other times. As we were driving back to my place after putting the last bull out, the conversation was sparse as we were both too tired to think of something to say let alone say it. Kirk, though, being the eternal optimist that he is, did think of one inspiring ditty to end the morning with. "If you think that was hard, just wait until July when we pull 'em. That was the easy part." I'm tired already just thinking about it.

You got the bulls out yet? Tell me at thekansascowboy36@gmail.com, follow me on Twitter, or friend me on Facebook.