Jerry Crownover – Fibs and “phantom” pain

just athought What’s On Your Mind, Ozarks?

Life Is Simple By Jerry Crownover Life is Simple By Jerry Crownover F rom the time I was born, my parents continually stressed the importance of telling the truth. As it is with any child, I sometimes told a lie in order to avoid taking the responsibility for doing something wrong. When I was caught in that lie, my father would carry out justice quickly…and harshly… with a leather belt or a switch cut from the nearest tree. By Jerry Crownover farms the time I was a teenager, whenever I told an untruth to in Lawrence County. He anyone, regardless of whether I got caught or not, I would is a former professor of have the tendency to rub my rear end, to ease the “phanAgriculture Education at tom” pain. Evidently, those lessons last a lifetime. Missouri State University,

I try to tag all of my newborn calves with a numbered ear and is an author and tag at birth. Since they are all the same color, it makes it professional speaker. much easier to identify sick ones that may need a shot or To contact Jerry, go to special care and allow me to check up on them the next ozarksfn.com and click few days. As an added benefit, I put the tag in the right on ‘Contact Us.’ ear of bull calves and the left ear of heifers just to make it easier to sort them at sale time.

A couple of months ago, while driving through the herd, I noticed a mistake. Number 53 was tagged in the right ear, but he was obviously a she. I had screwed up. Normally, this error could be corrected the next time the little dogie wandered into the corral and I could run her into the chute and remove and replace the tag, but the cowboys were to arrive the next morning to work all of my spring calves.

For those of you who have never worked with real cowboys, you need to understand that the grief and ridicule one receives from these hard-working pranksters when you mess up, is both severe and unrelenting. Triple that amount of guff, when the owner has three degrees in agriculture, is a former professor and has judged hundreds of cattle shows in his lifetime. What to do?

The cowboys were there at daybreak, ready to round up my cattle and run them all through the chute, to vaccinate, de-worm, castrate and brand. Everything went without a hitch through the

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About the Cover

Jennifer Thogmartin grew up on her family’s farm and now teaches agriculture. See more on page 7.

Photo by Rachel Harper

Ozarks Farm & Neighbor accepts story suggestions from readers. Story information appears as gathered from interviewees. Ozarks Farm & Neighbor assumes no responsibility for the credibility of statements made by interviewees. © Copyright Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, Inc., 2020. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.

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