Mr Potts was our neighbour, I called him Potsy but not to his face of course. He had bought a farm next to ours, and didn’t have much clue about anything to do with farming. Potsy was from England, he had been a mechanic over there. This is probably why he was somewhat ignorant about the way a farm works, and of course on how to treat livestock.
He had a nice jersey cow, but kept it tethered on a short lead, even though he had over 1000 acres in which it could roam.
I was about 12 years old at the time and hated to see this poor thing tied up all day, most days in the blazing Mallee sun, without a drink of water.
I would wait until I saw him go down the paddock and ride over to untie the poor beast.
Day after day I did this.
But Potsy must have been smarter than I thought .. He set a trap. He went off down the paddock one morning , as usual, so when I thought it safe, I raced over, (on my horse) and untied the beast.. Uh Oh… Potsy came roaring back, shouting and frothing at the mouth… I kicked the horse into action and tore off home… Potsy in hot pursuit. I went around the back of the shed to hide, ooops , Dad was there. Dad told me to go inside the house. After a fair bit of loud talking, and a few choice words Potsy left .I was shaking when it was time to face my father…I’m in big trouble I thought. Dad grinned at me, and trying not to laugh told me it wasn’t a good idea to meddle in other peoples’ business ,even though he did agree it was wrong to tie up a beast and leave it without water , shade or food. It was downright cruel to do so.. He must have given Potsy the message as well because from that day on the cow had the freedom to roam about and never again was it made to suffer…