Weekly Posting of the Conservative Cow Doctor

The Stick

I recently spent a miserable afternoon Bangs vaccinating heifers because it was in the low teens with a nasty breeze. I avoid Bangs vaccinating in such conditions not because I am a pansy but because we must tattoo each heifer’s ear. When cold temperatures cause the critter’s capillaries to constrict, they get poor dye uptake and illegible tattoos. Only cows with a legible tattoo are allowed to ship or sell, so it is the critical link in the vaccinate, tag and tattoo chain.

We processed the heifers in a feedlot I have served for four decades. As the bitter wind froze the vaccine in my needle, I told the owner we needed a heat source. George scavenged an electric heater from the shop, and we strung power cords to give us enough green energy to thaw my needle. I told George he needed to build us a heated chute house. He chuckled. A few years back the feedlot installed a hydraulic chute which was a huge upgrade from their old chute. Thinking of the old squeeze brought back memories. The head catch had a locking mechanism where two spring-loaded metal plates flapped down to lock the calf’s head in place. Over time, these springs weakened, and cattle could trip themselves free if they hit the head catch with a full head of steam. Like most country folk, George was innovative and found the perfect sized stick to wedge between the flap and the chute frame to negate the weak spring. The stick had to be pulled to release the animal but instantly reinserted before catching the next in line. George so masterfully ran the stick a casual observer might think the head-catch was entirely automatic. It was not, it was George-O-Matic. This perfect stick lived on the head-catch for twenty years because processing cattle was impossible without it, and this brings me to my point.

America is founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Our Declaration of Independence clearly states our rights come from God and government’s only purpose is to secure those rights. However, progressives purposely removed God from the equation to claim government is the source of our rights, health, and general welfare. Because God is the stick which controls mankind, without Him, society bangs around like a worn-out head-catch. Strong fathers, mothers, and marriage have been destroyed, replaced by epidemic immorality as seen by the hyper sexualization of our children. Once again, progressives have mucked up God’s intent. We need Him as our stick now more than ever.