Friends to the Rescue

[chambero]

We had a wild evening yesterday.  On my way home about 3:45 pm (about 30 miles from home) I saw a large grass fire boil up in the direction of our pastures.  I called my wife and she had already seen it and headed out to check on the location.  Sure enough it was really close (<1 mile) from our bred heifer pasture.  We thought we were about to lose them (we had 53 heavy bred heifers and 14 of our very best cows in there - my show calf mommas from last spring).  I made it home about 4:10.  We made the decision to try to get them out of the pasture.  It took me less than 20 minutes to get a crew put together of a semi truck and trailer, another truck and 30' gooseneck, and 5 guys on the road to our pasture which is about 15 miles from town.  We had the girls called up, put in the lot, and the first loads headed to our cow lot in town by 5:30.  We had them all out by 7:00.

You can't put a price on people helping you like that.  As we were heading back in with the last load, I had a talk with my 12 year old son about ALWAYS taking care of the people that help you out or work for you - and not just with a paycheck.  We always buy Christmas presents for the cowboys that work for us through the year, my wife will do little things for their wives, etc. 

I'm sure there are a million stories like this in Texas this year, but it sure means a lot when you are the beneficiary of it.

 

[ZNT]

We had a wild evening yesterday.  On my way home about 3:45 pm (about 30 miles from home) I saw a large grass fire boil up in the direction of our pastures.  I called my wife and she had already seen it and headed out to check on the location.  Sure enough it was really close (<1 mile) from our bred heifer pasture.  We thought we were about to lose them (we had 53 heavy bred heifers and 14 of our very best cows in there - my show calf mommas from last spring).  I made it home about 4:10.  We made the decision to try to get them out of the pasture.  It took me less than 20 minutes to get a crew put together of a semi truck and trailer, another truck and 30' gooseneck, and 5 guys on the road to our pasture which is about 15 miles from town.  We had the girls called up, put in the lot, and the first loads headed to our cow lot in town by 5:30.  We had them all out by 7:00.

You can't put a price on people helping you like that.  As we were heading back in with the last load, I had a talk with my 12 year old son about ALWAYS taking care of the people that help you out or work for you - and not just with a paycheck.  We always buy Christmas presents for the cowboys that work for us through the year, my wife will do little things for their wives, etc. 

I'm sure there are a million stories like this in Texas this year, but it sure means a lot when you are the beneficiary of it.

You have some great friends and neighbors there.  If I was closer, I'd been right there too!

Did you lose any pasture to the fire?  I know things were already looking pretty tight for the rest of the summer.

 

[chambero]

We haven't been burned yet.  The U.S. Forest Service and local VFDs got it stopped at a gravel road about a 1/4 mile from us.  But it could very well flare back up today.  There's a bigger fire in Jack County further south of us that has been going for two days.

 

[shortdawg]

Good friends are closer than family sometimes and are a treasure for sure ! Glad you all came out ok !

 

[Will]

We had a big fire (2000 acres) just east of us Friday night.  I was amazed how the local volunteer fire departments risked their lives saving homes and barns.  At one farm they circled the house and main barn running the hoses and forced the fire around them.  If they had failed they would have been in a really bad place.  We were out in front of the fire helping open gates and would get swarms of grass hoppers in front of the fires.  It seemed like their was thousands of grass hoppers in front of the fires.

 

[linnettejane]

amazing!  thanks for sharing and hope everything turns out good!

 

[sue]

check that. great friends

 

[wyatt]

i wouldnt know what to do if anything here burned we got less than 10 acers right now almost full of just show cattle not alot of room but thats got everything good luck chambero hope nothing bad happens keep us posted

 

[chambero]

We came out fine.  We just have 67 head living in the "country club" in town till they calve.  Got to find some hay though.

 

[wyatt]

i could send you some nice alfalfa and grass hay haha wish i could help tho i dont think i could find means of shipping any of it

 

[rocknmranch]

We came out fine.  We just have 67 head living in the "country club" in town till they calve.  Got to find some hay though.

Are you in south TX? What direction? Have a friend who grows alfalfa, might work it out. The fired out  there have been horrendous this year!

 

[DLD]

Glad you got them out quickly, even if the fire didn't (hopefully doesn't) get there.  Without our friends, most of all of us would be lost - in more ways than we can usually imagine...

Wish I could help you out on the hay, it's pretty scarce around here too, but I'll keep my eyes open - never know what might turn up.

 

[cowgirl864]

great friends (angel)

 

[chambero]

Here is a photo of the fire I took with my phone while waiting to get the girls in the lot.  This is tiny compared with many of the ones in our area, not to mention the state.

 

[wyatt]

better move the tractor before it gets burned that looks pretty bad we dont get anything like that up here

 

[Bulldaddy]

We came out fine.  We just have 67 head living in the "country club" in town till they calve.  Got to find some hay though.

Glad you came out okay with the close call.  My heart skips a beat everytime I see a fire on the way home from work.  They always look like they are on our place for sure.  Don't wait too long to get your hay taken care of.  I bought 4 loads of alfalfa in June and it has already gone up $100 per ton.  Just bought some corn hay to cheapen the ration and can make to to April now.  Best not to run out of hay this winter.  There won't be any to buy.