The Baxter Black Corner

ANIMAL LOVERS
By Baxter Black former large animal veterinarian
Let's talk about animal lovers,
Not those who protest and accuse,
But everyday people who carry the load
And don't make the 6 o'clock news.

It's proper to make the distinction
When explanations are given,
Between those who care as a hobby
And others who care for a livin'.

When we speak of animal lovers,
The part-time groups come to mind-
Nice-enough folks, who articulate well
And shine when the cameras grind.

It's too bad more credit's not given
To the ones who seldom get heard.
'Cause, in spite of their modest behavior,
Their actions speak louder than words.

These are the folks, that on Christmas Day,
Take care of God's animals first.
With never a thought they should have the day off,
Or that they might be reimbursed.

They believe that Genesis meant it,
That man has dominion o'er all.
And they don't take their mandate too lightly,
To care for the great and the small.

God's entrusted His creatures to us
By rating us all in a log,
According to what our abilities are,
Most get a house cat or dog.

But the bulk of the animal kingdom
He placed in the hands of a few
Who feel more at home in a pasture than
An office on Fifth Avenue.

God did it that way for a reason,
'Cause talk's cheap where carin's concerned.
The title of animal lover is
An honor that has to be earned.

To those who'd debate my conclusion,
To your own you're welcome to cling,
But I'll bet if we'd ask His opinion,
God knows that He did the right thing.

Time To Go to Work
By Baxter Black former large animal veterinarian
Have you ever heard a farmer say, "My gosh, I'm gonna be late for work!" Not hardly. There is a different cadence to a farmer's life. They literally march to a different drummer.

It is one of the great distinctions between urban and country. It is eight to five vs. dawn to dusk.

Town jobs, out of a necessary sense of order, revolve around a manmade schedule. Humans have surrounded themselves with an artificial environment that will accommodate this slavery to the minute hand. "Punch the clock," "40-hour week," "eight to five," time and a half," "get them on time" and "hourly wage" are alien concepts on the farm.

Cows are up at the crack of dawn. Horses in a pasture are grazing as soon as it's light enough to see. Granted, dogs might oversleep and cats always do, but they've had to adjust their breakfast time to our schedule and their own nocturnal activities.

And farriers, like their animals, left to their own devices, set their body clock on daylight and dark.

At the job in town we eat when it's noon, not when we're hungry. We quit at five, not when we're tired. We don't traipse around the neighborhood begging for candy anytime we feel like it, we wait for Oct. 31. And when the evening whistle blows we shut down the computer, turn out the lights and go home ...very convenient.

But when nature is added to the equation, for example, animals, weather, crops, disease, pestilence, seasons and chaos, the clock goes out the window.

Ask anybody who farms and has a day job. Between waking at 6 am, performing your morning ablutions, going out to feed and check the stock, their leaving by 7:30, anything can happen.

For example, a fence is down and your cows are grazing in the bar ditch. A gate is left open and your horse is in the grain barrel. There are two dead sheep in the lot surrounded by coyote tracks. A cow is calving, somebody left the stock water running all night, your dog was hit by a car and has a broken leg, or your hay feeding truck has a flat tire, and you don't have time for this, you'll be late for work!

In conclusion, if there is any blessing in living life on nature's dawn to dusk schedule vs. the eight-to-five town schedule, it's that farmers never have to worry about overtime.