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Damon hefted the last sack of feed from the shipment that had arrived that day and took it into the three-car-garage-sized feed storage shed, dropping it onto a neat pile of other sacks. Bales of hay were packed in on the opposite side of the structure and above, in the loft, were the bales that he and his men harvested in the summer to help with the cost of feeding a couple of hundred head of bison through the long winter.
Deep in his thoughts of the coming summer, and what he planned to do to grow the herd and find other avenues of income for the ranch—not that they were hurting in the least, he just wanted to be prepared.
“We’ve got a problem,” Wayne announced, jolting Damon from his thoughts.
Problem-solving was the most important part of the job description when it came to managing a ranch. Or any kind of managing, he supposed It could be strenuous, but also exhilarating, and there was nothing like being the one to make the ultimate decision on what would happen.
“What kind of trouble did you find today, Wayne?”
“We were moving the females and calves to another pen so we could do some work on the one they were in.” Wayne lifted a hand to his mustache, smoothing it in a motion that Damon knew to be a comforting gesture for him when he was nervous. The tone of his voice didn’t give his thoughts away, though. It was as calm and measured as usual. “One of the calves escaped.”
“How did no one notice one of them getting away?” Some of the work being done around the ranch wasn’t up to standard recently and he was done with it. Time to step up the game again.
Wayne smoothed his mustache again. “I had that new kid, Drummond, and Jerry on it.”
It shouldn’t have been a difficult task, just move a few animals from one pen to another.
“Do you want me to speak to them or would you rather? This is not the first task that Jerry has been on that’s been performed poorly.”
“I may need to fire him,” Wayne said, eyeing Damon. He liked to give people chances, and his foreman knew that—chances to learn and develop skills and prove ability. Still, this was getting to be a pattern.
“If necessary,” was all he said. “I’m going to go look for that calf.” He glanced out at the dwindling daylight. It would not bode well for the calf to be gone long. “Send as many of the guys out as you can. We need to find the calf quickly.”
Wayne left and Damon went to his truck, pulling out the radio and letting Patti know what the issue was.
Damon went to the place between the pen the bison had come out of and the pen they were going into and got out, trying to find the tracks the runaway had left.
The crunch of gravel announced another vehicle close by, but he didn’t look up.
“You look angry,” Jason’s reassuring voice sounded behind him just before the slam of a truck door.
“I am. A couple of my guys aren’t being careful, and I lost a calf because of it. We’re trying to find him, but these tracks are leading in the direction of those woods.” He pointed. The woods around the place were thick, and he feared losing the animal.
“I’ll help you look,” Jason said.
Damon glanced over at his friend. Jason regularly stopped by for Patti’s dinners or to talk between his appointments and share anything important going on in the area, but not always, so Damon should check if he needed anything.
“I’d be grateful for the help. Was there anything in particular that brought you over?”
“I’m hungry,” Jason said with a laugh.
Damon clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll ask Patti to cook up some of those steaks for us when this is done.”
“In that case, race you to find the calf.”
A couple of hours passed, and he’d long ago lost sight of the tracks. Frustration bubbled up in Damon. It was dark now, and they should have easily found the calf with all the guys out looking.
He was back at his truck, talking with Patti, who had come out to help when the lights of another vehicle bobbed into view. A minute later, and Valerie got out and joined them.
“I called her to help,” Patti explained.
“I appreciate you coming,” he said. After a long day of working outside, this was the last thing anyone needed.
They discussed the game plan, and what areas had already been covered, and where his guys were looking now.
Valerie nodded. “Okay. I’ll go that way.”
“Call me on the radio if you find the calf.” He handed her a thick rope. “Just toss it over his head and hold him there until I find you.”
He hoped it wasn’t too late for the calf.