Thank You, Bob Pond
Bob Pond passed away on September 10th, age 93. I read his obituary and felt a surprising sense of loss for a man who I hadn’t seen since the mid-sixties and who I barely knew at all. The write up said that he had worked for 44 years for Northeastern Breeders Association, now Sire Power, as an artificial inseminator. He was the first person in the northeast to breed over a hundred thousand cows on the first service. That’s a whole lot of calves!
I crossed paths with Bob Pond several times as a kid on our farm on Sugar Hill when he came to do his magic with our cows. I’m not sure how my father decided which bull’s “stuff” to pick for the job, but my brother and I leafed through the Holstein bull book from time to time and claimed our favorites. After all these years, I remember my pick – Big Rock Burke Teddy. I even named one of our bull calves as though he would follow in Big Rock’s prolific footsteps – Billy Bobby Bradford Bull, named after two Sugar Hill kids and our county name.
Unfortunately, my bull calf faced the same fate as all bull calves born on our farm – a quick trip to the sale barn most likely to be fattened up for eventual hamburger. My father didn’t keep a bull among our cows. I never asked why, but it may have been the risk of losing his investment; my neighbor just had to put his good bull down after it broke its leg. Or, maybe my father chose not to deal with the possible orneriness of many bulls. My Aunt Marie knew about that first-hand, facing Billy Bruton Bull in her front yard, losing the stand off and ending up with a gored rear end!
My cousin Suky and I shared a fun memory last night talking about Bob Pond’s visits so long ago. As she said, “What young kid wouldn’t gawk at a man putting on long rubber gloves and sticking his arm up a cow’s rear clear up to his elbow?” We were mesmerized. Yes, Bob Pond visits were memorable, rivaled only by another visitor to the farm, Doc Abell, who might show up about nine months after Bob if a cow was having difficulty calving. Then we’d get to see the second act to Bob’s first – the birth.
So, rest in peace, Bob Pond. I’m guessing there are a whole lot of former farm kids out there thinking back on good memories of your life’s work and of our slightly skewed lessons about the birds and the bees!