One Caviness Truck loaded with cows pulled away from the truck chute.  Another Caviness Truck Driver was getting the Cows ready to load on to his truck, he forgot to close the gate and to back his truck up.  40 Head of Cows headed up the chute, 2 jumped off the end before Troy Allcorn, who was headed to his pickup, jumped in front of the others and got them stopped.  Troy then jumped in his pickup and started after the 2 escaped Caviness Cows.  Troy got them turned around about 1/2 a city block from the barn and headed them back to the yards.  The Cows got in the parking lot when they turned around and when down a dirt road that is by the barn.  There is a big concrete ditch that follows the bike path and some how those 2 cows fell into that concrete ditch.  All the while Troy is following them in his pickup.  Will is in his pickup by now, Smiley is in his pickup, Mike Pierce is in his, Sterling and Josh are on horse back following them.  Benny has hooked on to a trailer to pick the cows up, when they get them.  Will on foot follows the Cows down this Big concrete ditch that is extra steep and ropes one of the Cows and then ties her down.  Then he gets another rope and rope the other cow and ties her down.  Benny pulls down the bike path and  Smiley's pickup pull these cows up one at a time and load them in the trailer.  When they get almost back to the Sale Barn.  Troy calls Benny and tells him that another cow is out.  A different Caviness Truck that is loading at the back chute, bunches the cattle up to much and a cow jumps on the backs of the other cows and jumps off the side of the loading chute.  David Fox on the bobcat and Rick Hazelton horseback have her in the back of the yards.  Will gets around her and ties a rope around the ball of his pickup and ropes the front foot of this Cow.  She hits the end of the rope and the rope comes untied from the pickup and she jumps the chain link fence.   This cow go towards main street and gets in the same big concrete ditch that the other 2 were in except down town.  Somehow they get her turned around and she climbs out of the ditch by the ice house and Smiley finds her in a bunch of trees.  They make a plan to get her, and some how she ends back at the back of the yards in a pile of old wood and wire and stuff.  Sterling gets her roped and Will gets a rope on her and they load her in the trailer and bring her back to the yards.  All 3 cows are doing good waiting on the next truck to Caviness.  What a night!!  Cattle, Horses, and guys are all safe and sound. 

     
     Last night about the time the cattle sale was getting over, the yard guys were in the cafe finally getting something to eat, after a very long day, Over the loud speaker, David says,"There is a bull in the parking lot!  There is a bull in the parking Lot!".

     It was reported that it was like a bunch of quail scattering.  All the young guys that work at  RLA took off, leaving their food on the table.  
    
    Michael Hillman, Josh Hagelstein, and Sterling Pierce jumped on their horses and took off after this bull.  As Will was leaving the cafe Chuck tells Will he can use his horse....  

    The bull was being loaded onto a truck and a couple of the bulls got wedged together in the gate and this big red bull jumped on their back and rolled off the side of the loading chute. He was in the North side of the yards and all the young guys were after him.  With ropes in their hands they took off after him. He got in the corner of the property and crashed through the chain link fence that needed to be repaired anyway.  He took off to the residential area of Roswell.  The guys had to go around the barn and found him in the field next to the sale barn headed toward the home near by.  

    Not sure what happened and in what order, but Will and Kenneth got in Will's truck and hooked onto a trailer and went looking for them.  Michael Hillman had a rope on the Bull's leg.  Josh Hagelstein had roped him around the neck and lost his rope, and Sterling had a rope on him somewhere, not sure where.  Some how they roped this bull in someone front yard or back yard with a lady in her car and some how got the Bull tied to a tree. It was reported that Michael rode up to someone's front door on horseback and ask this lady to move her car while he had hold of this bull?  Not sure about all that.  Someone else said that they broke off a mirror on someone else's car.  Not sure about that either.   There was something said about a swing set and a trampoline?  

   Will called Chuck to bring a gun just in case, and when Smiley and Chuck got to Will and the other guys, everything was pretty well handled.  Will tied the bull to the trailer and they loaded him in the trailer and brought him back to the barn.  

     Thankfully, everyone made it back to the barn safe and sound.  Michael's horse got hurt, not sure how bad, they think he ran over some one's sprinkler.    

    I don't know to much about what happened just bits and pieces.  What I do know is, all the older guys stayed behind and the "Young Guns"  were the ones that went out and took care of the bull.  It use to be that Benny, Smiley, Chuck, Mike, Stan, Billy, David, and Coby would have been the first ones out the door to gather up the bull or livestock, now it's a new generation that can't wait for the next adventure.  When did it change??? 

     We sure have a lot of memories about the "Bull" that got out.  Everyone of the employees at RLA have had some kind of experience with a loose animal.  I thank God every day that He is looking out for us..... For as of this day, no one has been hurt really bad during one of these loose animal calls.



   

   

The Ranch Rodeo was held a few weeks ago.  It was so much fun.  Dana  and Waynette sent me a few pictures.  Here they are.


Smiley and Benny riding in the grand entry.  Will and Braxton are right behind them.

 
Scott Lewis and Peyton, his son before the Rodeo started.



Braxton decided to get a head start in the calf scramble.


Brighton pulled the ribbon of the calf  tail.  I think he got a little extra something on his shirt.  Brighton is showing us his $5.00 bill.



This is a picture of a few of the CCRA members and the College students that got a scholarship from CCRA.


Benny was having fun at the Ranch Rodeo Roping.


Will is wishing someone would catch, so he could heel.


Kade getting ready to rope at the Ranch Rodeo Team roping.


Kade at the Ranch Horse Competition.


L7 teaming branding on Friday Night.

 Will giving Braxton a ride before the rodeo.

This was a great Ranch Rodeo.  Everyone had a good time.  There will be a Ranch Rodeo in Fort Sumner on September 18th and 19th. It will probably rain, it has every year.  Good Luck to everyone that is it.

It's Ranch Rodeo Time....... A lot of time is spent on getting the Ranch Rodeo ready.  Then the actually rodeo is a lot of fun.  It's not a normal rodeo.  Their are events like Team penning, Team Branding, Team Tying, Wild Cow milking, and of course the Bronc Riding.  Another event is the Trailer loading event, it is a fun event that doesn't count in the placing of the teams.  The grand entry starts at 6:30 p.m.  the rodeo will start at 7:00 p.m. and hopefully the rodeo will last only 2 hours.  There will be a dance after the Rodeo on Friday Night.


Capitan Ranch Rodeo


Driving longhorns down town Colorado Springs.


Calf Branding at Capitan.

Trailer loading

Smiley and Kim at the WRCA Finals in Amarillo, TX. - during the branding.  (Smiley broke his ankle flanking this calf.)

Benny at the WRCA Finals in Amarill, TX. .........the Doctoring

Kade is warming up his horse.


Trying to get milk the Wild Cow at the WRCA Ranch Rodeo.  Smiley on the Tail, Kim Chesser on the head and Benny trying to milk the cow.  (Kim Chesser now has his own team.)




Team penning at the WRCA Ranch Rodeo.  Don Studdard, Jeff Ellis and Benny Wooton.  They were 3rd in this event that year.  It's been a while.  Look at how young they all were.  (Don Studdard and Jeff Ellis have their own teams now)


This was a fun rodeo.  The young guys had a team and the "Dads" had a team.



This was a long time ago.... Smiley and Benny and Jeff Bilberry are really young.  Great times.

     We are looking forward to a fun time at the Ranch Rodeo.  Hope everyone will be safe and hope to see you there.
The Ranch Rodeo is about more then Winning.  It's about a bunch of guys getting together and competing against each other and then cheering for each other.  
 

       It was Wednesday afternoon, Benny is in his office talking to someone on the phone.   Will is painting and fixing up our Roswell Livestock Auction sign.  Smiley just left to take Kullen home to get his football stuff.  Martha gets a call from Jason Heritage, Head Livestock Inspector.  Jason tells Martha he needs to talk to Benny it's an emergency.  She tells Jason, Benny's on the phone.  So she leaves Benny a message to call Jason.  She tells me that Jason said it was an emergency....... So we wonder what's happened..... Martha & I talk about the possibilities..... Like new rules for TB or Bruc. Testing, or Trich. Testing or the VS or maybe something new.  Jason waits 5 minutes and then he calls back...   Martha ask him... is it really an emergency?  And of course it was... A truck (not ours) hauling fat cattle from Lubbock, TX to California missed the turn into Roswell and turned the truck over.  

     Benny and Will get their horses and call Smiley to meet them at the wreck site. It just so happens that the truck turned over right in front of our pasture.  The Berrendo Volunteer Fire department is there. Smiley is right there because it's close to his home and so he tells the Fire Dept how to cut the truck open.  Smiley, Jason and Carl Madison get inside the truck trailer with the cattle and start pushing the cattle out of the truck where Benny and Will are trying to get them into our pasture.  It was going really good until about 10 came out a once, then I'm not sure what happened.  (I wasn't there, but  I heard reports)  Benny and Will had to rope a couple of them. 

      One person told me, Will roped one almost to Pine Lodge road, another person told me that a different Truck almost got Benny while trying to rope one of them.  (Benny assured me he was in NO DANGER!)    

      We were at a meeting last night, some one asked me if it was our truck that turned over.  I told them it wasn't and they wanted to know why Benny, Smiley and Will went to help the Livestock Inspectors.   I told her, I guess they went to help because they called and asked and we would like someone to help us if it ever happened to us.  (Knock on wood)

      A lot of people are not aware of what the Livestock Inspectors do for this community.  There are people that complain about them all the time, but for the most part  they are just doing there job.  But Jason, Joe and George went beyond their job in this situation.  

     Carl Madison was driving by with his wife, when he saw, Smiley, Benny and Will.  He stopped to help and got right in the middle of it.  Carl is in his late 70's and will get it done. what ever it is.  A lot of other people stopped to watch and help, Some helped and other just got in the way.   

      Whatever was planned for Thursday got changed, because, Benny, Will, Smiley, Kullen and Jeremy and the livestock inspectors, spent the day gathering those cattle out of our pasture, so they could be put on a truck to their original destination.  

    It amazes me, what these guys do in a days time.  It is always something different!!!





 

If you were ever around Larry Wooton very long,  you would hear one of his sayings.  Here are a few that I remember....

Got a date with a Married women
Ole blind sow found an acorn
My first wife
Fourteen caret
That a boy
If you concentrate on filling the front part of the shovel, the back part will take care of itself.
Won't ever amount to a hill of beans
Jerk the wrinkles out
Much obliged
Write her down - Fred Said.
Be there Effie
Ain't worth a pewter quarter
Glad we Gotcha
A Good'n
A Dandy
If your not in bed by midnight - just come on home.

Here are some that are associated with the Sale Barn.......
Slam it - Damn it.
Light in 3 quarters
Don't ask me - I missed a chicken 10 pounds
Blacker than two feet up a stove pipe
Jilfilirted
Fatter than a 40 pound Robin
Taken turns and it's your turn
Got her panty hose on too tight
I use to go with an old gal that looked like that
If it weren't for mistakes, most of us wouldn't be here
He could stop like a dead end street and come back like a hot check
I can't read or write, but I can figure
This is your $5.00 rabbit we're chasing.
Get your numbers ready
Get your flag in the air
About ready for a color change
She's a mathematician, putting down 3 and carrying 1.
It'll never be on her calf.
I don't think she's blind - she just don't gave a damn.
A long way from her heart
Gentle as a dead pig
Gentle enough for a fat woman
Don't let him bluff you out.
Like women there's a difference in them
Got any million dollar deals on hold.

He had a few pet names for some of us.  He always called Waynette - Hun and of course "First Wife"
Brighton - Bright and early
Kullen - Button
Shannon - Sheyanigan
Smiley - Bird or Smiley
Crystal - Shortening or Short
Granny Greer - Maw-In-Law

Just a few that I can remember.

Chuck & Dana Wagner own a ranch next to the Bosque Grande Ranch located Northeast of  Roswell.  Pictured is Braden Wagner, Shawn Dennis, Travis Wagner, Kullen Wooton, Smiley Wooton, Chuck Wagner and John Davis.


Kullen, Travis, Chuck, Benny, Braden, Smiley and Shawn are working this calf.  Neighboring is still a part of our way of life.  Neighbors helping neighbors.

Kade looks like he might be a little sore from gathering, roping and dragging the calves.

1st picture is Shelby, Grady and Braxton.  2nd picture is Shelby, Braxton, Kyla & Brighton watching from the fence. 
3rd picture is Kyla and Brighton waiting on the guys to stop for lunch.  These pictures were taken at the L7 Ranch.
Gran, Shannon, Kyla, Shelby and Grady, Toni, Brighton, Braxton and Cindy brought lunch to the guys.  Well, Gran & Shannon made lunch the rest of us helped eat it.  Everyone gets to help out when they work cattle.


 1st picture is in the kitchen of the house.  Kullen is taking time out to play with Braxton and Brighton.
2nd picture is Will, Braxton and Brighton are waiting on everyone to finish eating on the front porch of the house at the L7.
The house is an old adobe house that has been fixed up, for the Ranch hand that lives out there. There is no electricity. The electricity comes from solar panels that are on the house. The refrigerator and stove are propane.  There is a phone and dish TV. 
I guess this house was "Green" before being "Green" was in style.  The drinking water has to be hauled in from town. There is a well that is powered by solar panels and the wind. We do have a generator, for use when it is needed.  
In the 3rd picture Kade is taking Braxton and Brighton to see the cattle after lunch.
I didn't get any pictures of them working cattle this day.  They really did work.


Will is giving Brighton a ride before he has to leave.  Brighton and Braxton on Flash.  It won't be long before Grady is riding with them.

   The history of Roswell Livestock Auction as we know it.    Roswell Livestock Auction is located right down town Roswell, NM.  The reason being is it sits next to a railroad spur.  Way back before there was an Auction there were a set of pen used to load livestock on to railroad cars.  
    In the 1950's (we think) it became an Auction barn.  It was owned by the Dye family.  In 1968, Larry Wooton and a few other men leased the sale barn for a year.  Dale and Kay Rogers and their family became the owner and had it until 1984 when Larry and Waynette moved from Clovis, NM and bought it.  Benny moved from Elida, NM to became a partner in 1985. Smiley moved his family from Clovis, NM  in 1986.  Before Larry past away in January 2007, Benny and Smiley bought him and Waynette out.  Today Benny and Smiley "Kyle" run Roswell Livestock Auction and Roswell Livestock Auction Trucking.  The Auction has a Cattle sale every Monday, and a horse sale 4 times a year.
   At one time Roswell Livestock Auction was one of the largest sheep Auction in this part of the world, selling thousands of sheep weekly.  In March 1999, RLA had it's last sheep sale.  
   This is what we know about the "Sale Barn" in Roswell, NM.