“How Do You Keep Them So Fat?”: The Kindness of Feed Store Strangers
PublishedSeptember 16, 2004
I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.
“How do you keep them so fat?” I hear that a lot.
It helps that it’s been a wet, cool year in these parts. Keeping a mule and pony in weight gets tough when the grass shrivels and dies.
Still, so far we’ve been lucky keeping the weight on. Most of it’s due to the kindness of strangers.
Last week I pulled into Dustin, OK. Suzanne and Joanne and Laura broke out the feed and Woody set to at once.
Woody getting a bite of cattle feed road style; straight from the bag, Tri County Feed, Dustin, OK.
Some feed stops turn into stays.
Recently, in Alma, Arkansas, the folks at A & R Feed put us up for some 14% pellets. Before I knew it, a laptop turned up and I was plopped down on a stack of grain typing RiverEarth updates.
Work: what lunch may lead to, A & R Feed, Alma, AR.
Two days later, I took off again.
Sometimes it’s good that mules get hungry.
(Thanks to everyone at Tri-County and A & R feed stores for feeding Woody and Magnolia. And me. I’ve kept Woody and Maggie entertained with Laffy Taffy jokes.)
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