Page 11 of Wrangling Nash

“What the hell? Did you drink it all?” I asked, glancing at my thermos that was only about one quarter of the way full.

He grinned again. “That’s why you wake up early, babe.” He hopped off the bar stool he was seated on and picked up his cowboy hat, plopping it on his head. “Well, these calves aren’t going to birth themselves, let's get going.”

“That’s exactly what they are going to do. That's what nature intended them to do. Birth themselves.” I grumbled as I rolled my eyes and followed him out the door.

He froze and turned around with a big grin on his face. “We might just get along, little Vector.”

The next seven hours of my morning consisted of Wylie taking me around to see the various livestock on the ranch, introducing me to the lead ranch hand who managed the animals, Devin, and providing an explanation of where the current herd was with the weaning, breeding, and reproduction strategy.

The city’s veterinarian was also visiting to address several health concerns of the herd, including some out-of-date immunizations, and addressing one of my bull’s injured hooves. By the time noon had come around, I felt like the morning had just started, I’d packed so much into the day. I was wired, buzzing off the excitement of the things I’d learned, while simultaneously exhausted as I tried to take everything in and keep up with the notes I was making in my new binder.

“So, what do you think so far?” Wylie asked as he turned to smile at me while he zipped through the acres of fields back towards the house for lunch.

“It’s amazing how much goes into just the herd management side of things.”

He nodded his head. “It sure is. And that doesn’t include all the herd record-keeping we still need to do. We’ll head back to the house and grab some lunch from Gloria and then shift to that. You gotta make sure you keep accurate and detailed records for all the animals, including births, health records, treatments administered, etcetera. Devin oversees the animals, but you need to be sure he keeps up on the tracking and enters all his notes back into the larger system.”

Shit. This is a lot.

Wylie watched me carefully as we drove and then smiled again. “You thinking of quittin' yet?”

I gritted my teeth. “Not at all. Sounds easy,” I answered sarcastically. Even Wylie had to know this was a lot to take on.

He chuckled as he kept driving. Ten minutes later, we were pulling up to my grandfather’s home, where Gloria had prepared a delicious lunch for us.

“Oh, hi! You must be Gloria,” I spoke, setting my notepad down on the counter and coming to shake the beautiful, older woman’s hand.

“Hi, Jovie! It’s so good to meet you. Clarence spoke so highly of you and your sister.”

“That’s nice to hear. I’m hoping that I can make him proud by being here,” I said, smiling as Wylie scoffed and slid into a seat at the island. He grabbed a sandwich that Gloria had prepared for us.

“I’m sure you will, dear.” She responded.

I sat down at the island next to Wylie, eagerly digging in. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I’d been until I sat down. Being in the hot sun all day while performing manual labor was exhausting.

“So, you come here every day during the week?”

“I do. I’ll make meals for your day, pick up around the house and tend to the pool and yard as much as I can.”

I nodded, realizing the value of Gloria's services. My body ached from just a single morning's work, and as I savored the delicious sandwich, I knew I would rely heavily on her assistance. Whatever her salary was, I would be willingly footing the bill.

“I’m going to head out and take care of the pool now. Do you kids need anything else before I go?” she asked Wylie and me. I shook my head no, and Wylie grunted in response.

When Gloria slipped out to the backyard, I turned to Wylie. “She seems nice. How long has my grandfather employed her?”

Wylie grinned, that same wicked grin he always did when I knew he was about to say something inappropriate that was intentionally designed to get under my skin.

“About 15 years.”

“Really? That's a couple years after my grandma died. He never mentioned her to us.”

“That’s because she wasn’t just his housekeeper. Seventy-year-old men need love too, you know?” He said, grabbing a soda from the table and sending me a wink. He hopped off the stool, “come on, let’s go in his office, and I’ll show you the automated ranch management system.”

Chapter 9: Jovie

“Okay, so then you click here, and that’s where you verify each cow’s gestational age, expected due date, and parental lineage. And then here,” Wylie’s fingers brushed the computer screen, leaving a smudge that annoyed me, “is where you’ll access reproduction and fertility rates.”

“Everything Devin is putting into the system calculates this data for me?”

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