Ranchers

the argument they use against us
is one
where they forget their circumstance
the day is done
when they cared for their cattle
and sold it abroad
to a lot of small outlets
who had to afford
whatever prices they quoted and so
some went out of business as most of us know

what they forget is the wild souls
the wolves. the coyotes the bison
they have to feed themselves they have to be
eating in season and catch it and see
they get through the seasons as best as they can
keeping away if they can from the man
for he is a dweller of cities
and he
gets his food from the markets
if he’s got money

The Bison is powerful and marvellously strong
they eat what is fresh
which cannot be wrong
they were put here to do that
and that’s what they do
they don’t get mixed up in man food
and they stay
true to themselves
their honest nutrition
on course
immune to diseases
whatever the source

as for the cattle on ranches
they get
the food that’s prepared by the humans
to whet
their appetites not so much
wild green entree
more dried food and pellets
dosed up every day
with supplementation their immunity
it gets shot away so weak now they be

brucellosis is something that Bison and Elk
carry
their wild they eat wild foods and they
are feared by the ranchers for infecting their cattle
which can cost them for they then feed them hay
and hay is expensive in quarantine
12 weeks of hay, they prefer
to feed them on all the cheap stuff they are used to
now I suppose you concur

the ranchers sell beef to the markets
the great corporations so strong
they dictate the price that they buy beef at
of course they are powerful and its wrong
no matter what overheads they will
pay what they think they will pay
so 12 weeks of hay makes the ranchers say
the wild Bison they have to kill

Yellowstone saves them but when it gets cold
and snow covers pastures they need
to leave the great park and go out in the dark
into Montana to feed
and thats when the conflict grow bigger
that’s when the ranchers show fear
they don’t want the Bison sniffing around
bringing their sicknesses here

so they organize shooting them
which is of course wrong
but they don’t understand
there’s been no transmission
from Bison to cattle
these fears are false, its a band
of people that want them all out of the way
like wolf haters they do abound
the Elk has passed disease to cattle I hear
but its Bison they don’t want around

they talk of ideals and of livelihoods
but really they are in a cleft stick
controlled by the big corporations
who really do get on their wick
cutting their margins a’sunder
and leaving them little to use
but killing wild Bison is never a reason
stand up to those who abuse

you its the corporate mayhem
in all walks of life its now there
everyone’s suffering corporate power
leading to massive despair
but killing off wild souls and blaming
wild souls for poor husbandry
is a factor too far for this poet
and for those so called idealists who be

out there protecting and helping
the Bison to feed and to be
safe from the hunters who shoot them on sight
Montana is no place to be
both wolf and Bison are up to the necks
in haters who want them all dead
but that’s that they are the most ignorant people
and really its why they have led

a posse of people to kill them
ignorance is a disease
and coupled with arrogant corporate souls
the Bison are now on their knees
wolves are just treated like vermin
but they are important and we
must create a climate of care and of thought
with the wild creatures all wild and free