The Girls Have Gone To Town

Although cattle prices picked up this year I think this poem by Ted Nibourg is still an interesting reminder of the past few years of raising cattle.

We were hit with drought in two, BSE in three

Calf prices so low they may as well’ve been free

Cow numbers way up, calf prices way down

No more market so the girls couldn’t go to town

Then the Yanks closed off the Medicine Line

The Americans shut out our Canadian bovine

Cattle over thirty months weren’t allowed down

So again the old girls couldn’t go to town

Along came a cattle guard called COOL

A policy put together by some protectionist fool

Support money started flowin’ from the crown

That started some of the girls goin’ to town

Then along came the high price of feed Calves had to be verified and premises IDeed Regulations made lot of cowboys shut er down

And all of their girls just headed off to town

The spring of 09 was dry and cold

Growin’ conditions were put on hold

Dried up pasture grass was turnin’ brown

A whole pile more of the girls went to town

Going into fall just brought more of the same

The cost of hay made gold prices look tame

The dollar jumped up; calf prices slid down

That just sent more of the girls off to town

A Great Basin buckaroo came up lookin’ all around

He searched high and low but not a cow could be found

“Where have they all gone?” he asked with a frown

Hell fella, all the girls have gone to town

Ted Nibourg

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