Bringing In The Herd
A few weeks ago we brought in the herd from the winter pasture, sorted the cows from their calves, ran everyone through the chute for their spring shots, loaded them onto a semi-truck, and hauled them to the summer pasture. It was a very long day, starting early about 8am with the round-up out of the pasture and into the lot where we work them.
Cows don’t like to be rounded up and driven anywhere, especially when they know that disagreeable things are going to happen to them, so it takes Harland, his brother, Gerald, and his nephew, Andrew, all on 4-wheelers, to get them gathered together in the pasture and then driven into the lot.
I’ve always wanted to show you this bit, but have never found a way to film it so I didn’t interfere with the process. This year I finally got the idea to hide in a building that sits just at the entrance to the lot. It was crucial that the cattle couldn’t see me, otherwise, they would have turned tail and run back out into the pasture, so I hid myself well in the building and stuck my camera out to film the action:
And so a very long day began…
I’ll bring you more from 0ur spring cattle round up soon.
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What a great video. The galloping calves made me smile.
It’s a big day for the calves…they’ve never seen anything like it before. Thanks Gabby!
Good job of hiding and getting the video. Thanks for sharing.
You’re very welcome Becky. Glad to have you along.
Well! That’s quite a roundup! Did you get really tired doing that? Do they count them too?
Yes, By the end of the day -Exhausted. Harland keeps track through the spring of how many cow/calf pairs there are in that pasture, and it’s not so large that there could be any stow-aways hiding out there. Thanks Jeanne
It’s the modern American cowboy! You did a great job with the video, and it was wonderful to see all those mamas and their calves looking so sleek and healthy. When I was at Konza Prairie, they’d already brought in the bison and their calves, and it was interesting to hear about the tagging system that helps them figure out which animal needs what.
Beyond that, your title set me humming “Bringing in the Sheaves.” I’ve not heard that in a good while. Good memories.
Would love to see a bison round up! Lucky you!
Love the one brown calf, and the scattered white faced babes! Good jobs to all, and thrilled to see you posting. 🙂
Thanks Pam…took a short break there, didn’t mean to be away, it just happened. Been busy with gardening and spring cleaning… Thanks for coming along to our round up. 🙂
Wow! That’s a lot of noisy cattle and men. I almost had heart failure as they came around the fence straight for you! I was looking for the calves we have come to know, probably silly. I was surprised they used ATV’s and not horses. But then again you don’t have to feed and care for an ATV all that much, huh? Thanks for taking us with you, as always. Take care.
Since we only work cattle like this twice a year, spring and fall, horses would be too expensive. But a lot of the bigger ranchers still do use horses. Thanks Tina for coming along.
Thanks, what a great opportunity to see something that I will never see in real life. TV has nothing on you !~!
Glad to bring this to you…been wanting to let you all see this for years…Thanks Lynda!
I know we only saw the final result here…but it sure looks like they cooperated pretty well, coming into the lot. Hooray! I could just picture a dairy cow spinning around and high-tailing it back out of there, taking a few of her friends with her…so I’m thinking to myself “shut the gate!!” 🙂 Thanks for the video!
Can’t get anything past you Alica. 🙂 Yes, this was just the last couple of minutes. Before they ever got to the lot there was a lot of “spinning around and high-tailing”. Cows, as I’m sure you know, have good memories. They know what’s going to happen to them when we round them up in the spring and they want no part of it. Like little kids they duck and dodge, try and sneak away, or just plain run the other direction.