An Injury Sets Back the Ranch Manager
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
A Family Coming Together For the Ranch
My husband, Lane, is the ranch manager for Cross Creek Cattle Company. Last week he hurt his left leg badly. I took him to the emergency clinic to get a x-ray. We were pleasantly surprised when the doctor told him that his fibula was not broken. We were very thankful too.
He did in fact bruise the bone. His leg stays swollen. It is extremely painful, and bearing any weight on the leg is difficult. Subsequently, Lane has been trying to hobble around the house and the ranch trying to do his job. The cattle cannot wait to be rotated to another pasture. The horses want to be fed and watered. They also require hay, which means moving them with a tractor.
The problem with this is that the clutch is on the left. It is also hard to push, but Lane is smarter than the tractor. He figured out how to make his hay bale deliveries in spite of his bum leg. He simply swings his leg over and pushes in the clutch with his right foot. It is almost like he is driving the tractor backwards. Weird, but true. He also found out that you must stop on a FLAT surface.
He is slowly beginning to do more and more everyday. At first, my children and I completely picked up his slack. Luckily we home-school so this was not a problem. The kids took turns feeding and working with the horses. They also check on the grass fed weanlings, making sure they have plenty of hay, and feeding them alfalfa pellets. If you ever wondered how gentle our calves are, we send our eight-year old son in to feed them pellets of dehydrated grass. He is never afraid even though the calves are almost as tall as he is.
We are pulling together to make sure the job gets done here on the ranch. This is a family owned and operated ranch. Cross Creek Cattle Company is a place that is near and dear to all of our hearts. We do not mind doing more than usual. It is a pleasure to have an opportunity like this to help and pick up the slack as the ranch manager heals from his injury. It also reveals how much he does around the ranch. With all that said, we all pray that he will fully recover soon.
