Feb 222 min read

Fearless yet Afraid.. Another Ronnie Story

It was a cold evening several weeks ago, and the ground was saturated from recent rains. The sky was dark and we knew more rain was on the way. So we opened up the steers to a dryer pasture. Anytime we move them to a new place, they act like 1400 pound little children, romping around, bellering and checking out their new surroundings. And when cooler weather is added to the mix, that increases it by quite a bit.

I was standing outside of the pen, and out of harm's way. But Ronnie, our livestock guardian dog, crawled under the panels and wanted to be right there inside the pen with these once docile, now playful but dangerous steers. He stood fearlessly by my side, with the fence separating us. He positioned himself between me and the steers. One of the steers came up to him, head down as if to buck him away. But Ronnie was calm. His tail waved gently from side to side. The steers saw his calmness and unwillingness to budge and then went on to romp and beller somewhere else in their new quarters.

The sky turned dark, complete with lightning and thunder. It was starting to rain, but we had a few other things to do before the storm hit, so we took care of those things and then returned to see if the steers had calmed down..

The rains were strong. We looked, but couldn't find Ronnie. We were worried since he had been in the pen with the steers. Ronnie is a big boy, but he is no match for a 1400 pound steer. I was so worried.

Tim went out to look for him and there he was in the barn, scared to death of the lightning and thunder, lying down in a 55 gallon drum that we had cut in half to use as a feed trough. When Tim called his name, he picked up his head. Our fearless guardian who would defend me to his death, was afraid of the weather.

I love our boy, Ronnie.