RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31128, 3 August 1966, Page 32

RANDOM REMINDER

HEIGH-HO WHERE’S YOUR SILVER?

Two Oklahoma gentlemen, we read the other day, are renting out cows to city tycoons who long to be on the land. The hirers pay a yearly rental, and become the owners of one calf (registered, guaranteed) per cow per year. And if the investors want to see their property, they can come out to Oklahoma and there they will be provided with boots, saddle, golden palomino, accommodation, a steak dinner (if the herd is of 20 or more) and a stetson. Of course, the investor may, if he wishes, take his new calf back to live at home with him. *

There seems to be an opportunity for a vaguely similar enterprise even in Christchurch. The gentlemen who attend the sales at the Addington yards seem extremely upset if their gaunt and bony beasts do not fetch about £5O: they may see some virtue in getting a steady rental for them instead. Indulgent parents might see in the hire of a cow a piece of oneupmanship on the neighbours. Most little boys can prevail on tacir mothers to provide them with cowboy outfits, but to have a real cow in the yard.... The animals hired out must be reasonably sturdy, because they will be en-

closed In Juvenile bitt enthusiastic beadlocks and brought to the ground. They may also be ridden, unless a horse is also provided. They will be caught by lasso, and undignified attempts may be made to milk them at inconvenient times. They will have to be patient animals, yet not look so docile that their benign expressions undermine the belief of the cowboy that he is standing before a panic-stricken, thundering herd. Yes, there’s nothing like a cow about the place to keep the young fellow quiet Besides it would

give his father a grand chance to play, uninterrupted, with the electric train.