It was just after 9:00 and already so hot the thin asphalt at the edges of the roadways was bubbling and sticky. I scraped some of the tar off my dress boots before I walked into the cattle barn.
Cole was in the wash basin hosing urine off his steer after a long night of him peeing all over himself. Beth was in the stall with the other three steers pitching soiled, smelly straw into a wheelbarrow, so she could lay fresh bedding down. She’d unplugged the fan directly over where she was cleaning so it wouldn’t work against her. I stood behind two of their animals under the other one hoping to get my uniform shirt and the tee under it a little unstuck from my back.
Kids and dairy steers were moving about the main aisle as animals were being bathed and pens were being cleaned. The gates woul
