RIDING WITH THE LOCAL USED COW DEALER - 6

We stopped at another feedlot.

Another bloated steer. Steve stuck it. It sounded like air going out of a tire, but wet and gurgling. It didn't smell like air going out of a tire. "A lot of money is lost right here," Steve said. "This is a $700-800 loss, this one wasn't far from going to market." The steer caught on the end-gate of the truck as the winch pulled on it. Steve had to work at it to get the carcass up into the truck. When we got back into the truck cab, Steve filled out a slip, then jumped down to leave it in the barn. "Everybody's different about where they want it put."

The smell of this work? You have to talk about it, you can't ignore it. The stink accumulates. Imagine a pan of bacon grease left sitting out for a week or two, the house closed up, a mustiness already risen from the basement where clothes have mildewed, mixing with the greasy rancidness. Now add the sickly sweetness that comes up your throat when you've eaten way, way too much candy. Underneath, there's always the smell you smell when you stick a finger to the back of your throat, just before you puke. You might think it helps to rest your forearm on your belly when you're about to gag, but it doesn't help much.

"You breathe out of your mouth a lot," Steve said. "You make sure you know which way the wind is blowing. I always warn everybody what I'm doing before I do it." Steve has seen even old, grizzled farmers vomit at the smell when he stuck an animal before loading it.

"I have to say one thing," Steve told me, "we have good roads around here. The county does a good job. They keep a lot of gravel on the roads." Wisner Rendering picks up in Cuming, Stanton, Burt, Thurston, Wayne, and Dodge Counties of eastern Nebraska. I wasn't certain which county we were in, exactly - Cuming, perhaps. As evidence of the good job the county does, we saw a fellow out with a road grader working the gravel surface of the road we'd turned onto.

"You might want to stay in the truck," Steve said at our next stop. "This dog is a little growly. He came after me and I smacked him with the chain, so he knows I'm not going to take his crap. But you might want to stay in the truck. He's guarding the property - I'm doing my job, he's just doing his. That dog and I have an agreement - as long as I stay near the truck, I'm okay, but I can guarantee you he wouldn't let me get near that shed."

"One time a dog chased me right up into the truck," Steve said. "I always look at the farmyards to see if there's a dog, I didn't see any. I was hooking up the chain, all of a sudden the dog is five feet from me, snarling. That's not a good place to be. I went right up into the truck."

"Dogs and breaking your fingers working with the chain are the two biggest hazards in this work," he continued. "On my birthday I broke this finger in three places." He holds up a pinkie. "I got it wrapped with tape and then went right back to hauling."

"A few years ago I was training a young horse and he threw me off," Steve said. "I broke a couple of ribs. I had to keep hauling. That horse is now my favorite older horse, we've come to an agreement."

"I've been driving in 60-below wind chill, with a mask on," Steve said. "It freezes to your face. We face tremendously adverse weather conditions, sometimes. Winter, when it's cold, is the busiest time of the year for me. In summer, the feedlot owners are usually selling their cattle, cleaning out."

To be continued....