Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-02-23

Tor her.
The poles would be raised and tho
sow would 60 charging out, swing
ing her head from side to side as
she tried to get shed of the ring.
Then she would run her head along
the ground, trying to get the ring
out, then try to root it off. As she
did this, and as the ring hurt her
nose, she would give little short cries
very different from the roars she'd
given in the chute.
Better bring us some water, Ho-
mer," Pa would say after a while,
and I would 60 to the house and fill
the jug at the iron pump. The men
would rest while they drank and
talked. Then Pad say, II guess we'd
better bring another'n i'm
At last all the sows would be
through the ringing chute. But that
only meant the worst was yet to
come. For, standing in the dry lot
all by himself, would be the boar,
his head down, the way hogs do
when they know something is wrong.
John Murphy and I would have to
step carefully, for one slash of those
tusks would open a person.
Slowly he would move toward the
chute, while Newt and Pa waited;
now and then he would toss his ears
and give a suspicious grunt. Sud-
denly we would clap him on the end,
and he'd dash into the chute. As
he found himself Gagged, his roars
would seem deafening, and the chute
would tremble and shake. The sows
would come charging toward us,
their heads up; in each nose. would
be brass ring.
We would beat off the sows, then
Pa would pick up an instrument
very different from the one he had
used for the brass rings. These
had sharp steel jaws meant for cut
ting and crushing.
Feed him stick" Pa would
shout and Newt would run one
through the chute. The boar would
seize it in his jaws. But that was
just what Pa wanted, for suddenly
he would grip tusk with his clip
pers and throw all his force on the
handles. There would be a crunch
ing sound and the boar would roar
and struggle in a frenzy of fury.
"Now I'll 60 on the other side"
Pa would say and move around the
chute, and again the terrible clip
pers would descend upon the tusks.
Mingled with the white foam would
be blood.
At last the tusks would be out, and
we would open the chute. But in
stead of trotting away, as the sows
had done, he would turn and charge.
Climb the fence!" Pa would shout.
The boar would dash from one of us
to the other, throwing his head and
making terrible fighting sounds. Fl
nally he would seem to realize what
had happened to him, and would
turn and walk slowly away.
II guess I need some of your
axle grease, Homer" Newt would
say.
While I would be pouring water
on Nevis cut, Pa would shave a
paddle clean, and Newt would smear
on some of the axle grease.
Il find it always pays to have axle
grease handy" John would say.
We would 60 to the barn and sit
down, because ringing hogs is hard
work. After we'd rest while, John
would say, "I'll take another drink
and CO." In a few minutes Newt
and John would be going off up the
road, and I'd look after them and
feel lonesome. Homer" Pad say,
there's some rings left. Put them
away and we'll use them next year."
I'd take the pincers and the steel
clippers and the rings to the granary
where Pa kept his tools, and hog
ringing day would be over.
1t was always work, never-ending
work. That's the way it seemed to
me. One day when Pa said, "Ho-
mer, think I'll let you wean the
calves" I never dreamed what
would come from that.
Everybody in our section was a
corn-hog-and-cattle farmer; "CHC"
farmers we later came to be called,
Calves figured importantly in the
life of every boy. There would be
the day calf was born; somebody
had to take care of that. If the calf
was a weakling, somebody had to
look after that; special milk, then,
and special feeding and trips to the
barn in the night with lantern.
Sometimes the mother would die
and the sight of the poor motherless
calf would touch me. Sometimes it
was the calf who died, then we'd
have to bury it before the hogs got
it.
My heart went down when Pa said
that; I knew it was hell to wean a
calf. The mother would just about
60 crazy and so would I. She would
stand by the calf lot and try to get
her head through to lick the calf,
and the calf would run up and down
on its long thin legs and bawl for
its mother. 1 would have to milk
the COW who would try to knock my
head off. When got the COW MIXED,
I would have to pour some of the
milk into pail and take the pail
to the calf and feed it; the rest of
the milk I would falye RI tho ho,,,o