But now…Don’t Worry Boys…She’s Got Foot Rot!

Words of wisdom and knowledge from an old Florida Cracker…uh huh!

The quote, “Don’t Worry Boys…She’s Got Foot Rot,” is actually from an old Florida Cracker, but one with not an intimate knowledge of raising beef cattle here in the Sunshine State, at the time he was making this statement anyway!

The “old Cracker,” is my Dad, and “the boys” being referred to here were myself, my brother Shane, and our good friend John, whom we consider a brother and part of our family. John has worked for my Dad since high school, and John and I went to school together.

Now Dad grew up around cattle to an extent and his Father, my Granddaddy Troy used to cow hunt back in the thirties and forties for large ranchers. So he had a little cattle background, and his brother Odell, had a ranch in Osceola County, so he’d go down there from time to time and visit.

My brother Shane and I were virtual novices to this, but we too had been around it just from a visiting sense, as my Mother’s sister was married into a large ranching family also.

So as I said, we did have a little knowledge, but not by any means a working knowledge of living on or around, and actually raising cattle as part of our living.

At this time I was still working for my Dad at the complex, with Shane and John working for Dad in the groves. So with this being the case we were all going to be ranchers…in our SPARE time!

By the time Dad had sold Bronson Farms in 1995, he had bought all three ranches, and had had them for about 5 years. Once selling his egg business, Deb and I started our business, Shane became the Ranch Manager, and John still oversaw the orange groves.

But the time I’m speaking of now was during Dad’s first days as a ranch owner, and boy did we have a lot to learn in just a short period of time!

The story today is one of our first learning on the job trials…and I must add errors as well! We would soon see that we’d have many of these trials ahead of us, but a whole lot more errors than trials in the long run.

Today Shane runs over 750 cows and yearlings, and about 35 bulls. He cuts and puts up all our hay needs, still keeps chicken manure spread on the pastures, which he’s doing as we speak by the way, oversees the selling of sod and the renovation of the pastures after sodding, and keeps the cows worked and calves sold that we don’t keep.

Deb and I are going to try and spend a couple days at the ranch this week, and if we do, we’ll take some pictures and videos to share with you guys.

My Dad calls me one Saturday morning and says, “Dub, let’s ride down to the Yeehaw ranch for a little while.” I always enjoy riding down there and agreed. This was probably I’m guessing 1990, so all involved were quite younger at this point. Shoot, that means I was only 33 at the time, and a real rip snorter still at that point in my life.

Now back then I was probably 250 and right, Shane probably 235 and John around 250. It sounds heavy I know, but all of us are in reality big men, and back then we could tote that weight and…

Anyway, Dad and I pull up at the gate. Shane and John pull up just a few minutes behind us with a small horse trailer behind their truck.

I walk back to them and ask why the trailer? They said Dad had a cow he wanted us to catch, put on the trailer and haul back to his place in Apopka. About that time Dad walks up to us.

I asked him, Dad how are we gonna catch this cow, and load her on this dern trailer for you to haul back to your house? By putting these cows out here first, you reckon you mighta’ put the cart before the horse?

Now remember, he had JUST bought this place, but had already put quite a few head of cattle on it. Cows on the place, NO cowpens, NO horses, and NO 4-wheelers, no dogs, only 1,000 acres of pasture, swamp, pine woods, a scattered oak hammock or two…and oh yea, the cows.

Well, Dad just says I’m gonna’ rope her. I said rope her? You ever roped a cow before, or at least one in the last thirty years or so? Dad goes, piece a’ cake! I said okay piece a’ cake, once you rope her, and that cow takes off and drags the last bit of slack outta’ that lasso and then drags you next, what then??

It was at this point he made his now famous declaration…“Don’t worry boys, she’s got foot rot!” We probably have laughed more in the last twenty years over those words, than any other seven words in the history of mankind!

How big a cow is she Dad? She’s probably pushing a thousand pounds healthy, but she’s beginning to get poor, and her ole’ foot is giving her a heck of a time, she cain’t hardly get around on it! We’ll walk up to her, throw this rope around her and that’ll be it, boys.

It was ON!

Well we started off walking and spotted the ole’ cow up ahead of us in some palmettos. First thing I noticed was she was a big ole’ cow, with a lot of Brahman bloodline in her. This perked my interest first. Secondly, to be hurting so bad, she looked to be getting around pretty dern good, though she was favoring one of her hind legs. We’d soon know.

Dad’s started swirling that lasso around a few times, though not near close enough to rope her, but I’m guessin’ he was getting a feel for it, practicing up, you know! Looking back now we must have been some sight.

We get up within 30 to forty yards of her, she takes a peek up at us…and runs about a half mile across the pasture into a clump of pines. Yep, she’s a really favoring that foot. Dad, looked like a streak a lightning shootin’ across the pasture there! Poor ole’ thing must be pained up something fierce motoring off like that, huh?

Dad’s getting fired up now, beginning to twirl that dern lasso like the ole movie cowboy Stoney Burke, already off in a trot hollering, “Come on boys, we’ll wear her down for sure!” Well, “the boys” are already seeing this may be one long day, but take off in a trot behind ole Stoney!

We get to the pine woods, she sees us, and she’s gone again, and we are too. This time, ALL the way to the back of the place. She runs up in a big ole bunch of what we call hog palmettos. These palmettos, get head tall or taller, and grow in thick bunches, really large in diameter.

You can hear her stompin’ around in there, but can’t EVEN begin to see her. It’s beginning to warm up with the heating of the day, and she’s hot, we’re hot, and just everybody is getting ill-tailed! She’s getting mad enough you can hear her just a snortin’, and pawing the ground up in there and we’ve come to a standstill.

Then Stoney Burke (Dad) says, you boys go around to the backside of them palmettos, I’ll stay here up front, then ya’ll start walking through ‘em just a hootin’ and a hollerin’, and you’ll run her out right on top of me! Then I’ll toss this rope around her, and we’re done!

If you’re from Florida you know that there are a lot of rattlesnakes down here. You’ll also be very aware that during the heat of the day they like to lay up in some shade.

On top of this, all your young life your Mama and Daddy have probably told you a gazillion times, “Don’t get up in them palmettos, you’ll probably run up on the biggest kind of ole’ rattlesnake! Stay out of them dern palmettos you hear, or I’ll tear your tail up!”

My first thought is exactly that…rattlesnakes, and by looking at Shane and John, I believed them to be thinking along these very same lines. So to say we may have been balking at this last command from ole’ Stoney’s mouth, would surely have been an understatement!

Plus, if we were all lucky enough to not get snake bit, there was still a very large, and very angry cow, hid up somewhere in them palmettos, too!

Now ole’ Dad has always been one a tough ole’ knocker, and I ain’t sure the “three of us boys” could have jumped him and whipped him, even though we looked like most of the line of a pro football team! So heads hung down we start towards the back of them palmettos.

Between getting snake bit, stomped and gored by a big ole angry “disabled” cow, or having Dad jump us all, it was a no-brainer! We’d take our chances with them dern critters in the palmettos…every time!

We got around to the back of those palmettos, took a couple deep breaths and we dove off in ‘em, just a hearin’ Dad hollerin’, “Come on boys, bring her to me, I’m ready….

We’ll finish this tale tomorrow, but I have to tell you all that this IS a true story, and another fine example of my Dad not believing in his heart for one second we could not pull this off!

Never, ever take No for an answer, and if you doubted you could pull something off, then just grab a handful of Dad and he could literally “will you mentally,” to reach down and find the inner strength to pull it off, no matter the odds! He’s my Dad, but he was, and still is one heck of a man!

Thank you all for coming in to see us today, and like I said we’ll finish this up tomorrow. I will give you one heads up to sleep on. She does come bustin’ out a them palmettos, and he does get the slack snatched out of that rope pretty dern quick!
God Bless you guys!

Dub and Deb