This is only a test

Oct 6, 2008 2:17 PM, By Jeff Ryan

Testing is one thing. There is this other small item involved with each and every Rodeo. Nobody reads the magazine just for the stimulating text. You need photos to really sell the subject. Not dealer-showroom-posed photos of some pristine machine straight out of the box. Farmers use stuff. Stuff gets dirty. It happens. I think I read that (or something close to it) on a bumper sticker somewhere. A good photo for an event like this involves a little action. The right action makes for an impressive photo. An impressive photo lands on the cover of the magazine, or maybe the front page. Once again, everybody wants to be Bob Uecker and be in the front row, or on the cover, as the case may be! It's not that we're all ego-driven, narcissistic, spotlight-hogging publicity whores. Well, not all of us. We had a new guy this year. He didn't catch on from the get-go, so maybe he won't be on the cover. Those of us who were veterans know that the stream crossing is where the money shot takes place. Nothing says "FULL-PAGE SHOT!" like a good splash.

Now, let's say, for instance, you know the photographer. Oh, I don't know, let's say he has been to your place before for other photo projects for the magazine. And maybe he tells you to repeat a couple of maneuvers on a machine for “just one more shot." You play along, because maybe, just maybe, “just one more shot” will be THE ONE he’s after and maybe, just maybe, you wind up on the cover of the October issue of Farm Industry News!

By the time the whole event was over, it was getting late in the day. When I got back to the lodge, it was time to gather up my stuff and hit the road. That meant loading up the Yamaha Grizzly 550.

My initial thought on the in-depth testing of the Grizzly would be that I'd get to keep it for two or three days at home. That would be okay, because the A.I. math meant I'd have my cows synchronized to come in heat the day after I got home. That would make for ideal testing circumstances for me to properly evaluate the Grizzly's ability to sort #6041 from the herd, followed by 13 other cows for the morning's matings.

It would be a fun-filled two or three days.

The guy from Yamaha handed me some forms to sign before I'd be on my way with the Grizzly. The plan was for me to return the machine to my local dealer in Riceville, about 30 miles away. One last statement from him made me almost need another product from the good folks at my favorite medical device company's Cardiac division.

"I'm putting down a return date of October 1. Will that work for you?"

OCTOBER 1? That's no three-day test!

Ummm…okay. I'll try to make the math work for me.

Oh, the sacrifices I make for my readers — all in the name of science, of course.

Guy No. 2