A Bull Story

 

Ralph and Walebe Jewelmaker
LV for short

It was sometime during the 80s. The boss wanted to make a trip to a Holstein auction in Pennsylvania and I rode along for the experience.

And it was quite an experience too.

When we arrived in PA the sun was shining and temperatures were in the 70s....Amazing weather for March and we reveled in it. He was interested in a young bull, Hunterdon Adonis, and a cow from a family he liked. He had bid on her and a son of hers at an earlier auction and he had seen her for a big price.

Adonis was a handsome one and he decided to bid on him, but the cow was clearly sick and he was afraid to even think of hauling her all the way home on the homemade (oak) cattle rack we had recently constructed. 

However, she had a bull calf by SWD Valiant at her side, and those who know me know how highly I regarded that particular bull. I learned that from the boss you see.

He decided to see if he could buy him.

We much enjoyed the sale and ended up purchasing both bulls. I don’t remember the logistics of loading them, but they were soon up the ramp and on the way north.

Enter the blizzard.

It was a big one and it struck the minute we turned off the flat central plains of the Keystone State and ventured into the mountains. 

The winds howled and snow fell so fast that the wipers couldn't touch it. Traffic was bumper to bumper with people who had never seen a snowflake before losing their minds all over the place.

It was so brutal that we tried to find a place to park and wait it out, but we were concerned about the young bulls in the back. We stopped at a mall to try to buy a canvas to wrap the wooden rack (it was made of thick oak planks and had a roof and all) but they just told us to go away, they were closing. Without the canvas to add protection for the bulls we didn’t dare stop but drove straight on through the storm.

Conditions grew steadily worse. Being an experienced Upstate NY driver the boss was pretty successful in keeping her between the guard rails. However, other folks in lighter vehicles had unreasonable expectations of their maneuverability in 4-wheel drive. Truck after truck, with cars interspersed, flew by in the snow packed left lane and vanished into the whiteout, only to reappear a few miles later mired in the ditch. It was a mess.

It was so awful the boss even stopped for coffee. He hates coffee and has only drunk two cups since I have known him. Most of that ended up in a snowbank too, but at least he tried.

Eventually we made it home, unloaded, and went to work. 

The little Valiant bull became terribly ill with probably the same thing that laid his dam low. Our vet saved him though and he went on to be quite a sire. His name was Walebe Jewelmaker, and he sired Frieland LV Dixie, the only cow we ever had go grand champion Holstein at a show. She did it twice. We had Dependa-bull come in and draw him, so he continued being an influence in the herd long after he was sold.

Adonis wasn’t much one for the girls and only sired a couple of calves. He was sent to auction after he attacked the boss with great enthusiasm. The two or three daughters he sired were good ones though.

One way or another I will never forget that stormy ride….and the threat of a big storm today that didn’t materialize was a sharp reminder. I think a trip like that would kill me now.

Liz and Frieland LV Dixie at the Cooperstown Junior show
she was a cow who just got better with age.