Working Ranch Blog

Herd Bound & Down by Brett Haas
Apr. 19 2010, 11:47 PM

You gotta love working cattle. They're always throwing you a curve ball when you least expect it. Last Friday we shipped our Fall calves. We considered holding onto them and putting them out on grass to gain a little more weight. However, when Kirk found out how hot the market is right now, he decided to fold faster than Superman on laundry day and cash in the chips so to speak. Now what could be easier than bringing in 68 Fall cows with 6 month old calves? Well, turns out bringing in First calf heifer pairs is. We saddled up last Thursday along with the always dependable dynamic duo of Shorty and Jim. (Don't worry Jim, next time it'll be Jim and Shorty. I promise.) I went and picked out Cooper to ride because I thought this would be a nice easy job for him. We headed south under the turnpike (I-70) and grabbed the rest of the pairs, about 30, and headed back north to mix 'em with the rest that were already there. Then we'd pen 'em all, roll out some hay, head to

town for lunch, and be ready to ship in the a.m. Sounds like a plan doesn't it? You know, I used to watch the A-Team when I was a kid. One of my favorite lines was when Hannibal said, "I love it when a plan comes together." Of course it was always at the end of the show right after they successfully escaped from jail or some other predicament, using nothing but trash bags, duct tape, hair dryers, lawn chairs, and some really long extension cords. And just like every show, the plan always came together. So, that being said, I'm guessing there's a reason old Hannibal, Murdoch, Face, and B.A. never made an episode about working cattle. If they did, then I'd probably know what to say when the plan doesn't come together. So I guess "you stinkin' cows" will have to do for now.

So we mix the bunches together and needless to say the fight was on. Thinking back, Kirk mentioned that it probably would have been a better idea to mix the herds a day before so they would have traveled better together. There's something about these Fall cows this year. I don't know if this winter just made 'em cranky like the rest of us or what, but man alive, we've had more brush diving, herd bound, come-near-my-calf-and-die, I-ain't-going-in-the-tub, cows than we ever have had. Usually the Fall ones are the easiest to work. They're the oldest and they've been through it all. Not this year though. After we finally got them penned last Thursday, we got the calves shipped on Friday. We let them out and it only took two days for them to go through the fence and get in with our heifer yearlings. This morning we took two hours trying to sort off those herd bound and down cows. Then, when the vet came, there were a few die hards that were perty sure preg checking wasn't necessary for them. We disagreed with all but one, who got a new home in the moving-on-down-the-road pen.

I will say though when we got the pregnant cows worked and headed back south, it was like the old days when you'd just point those Fall cows, give 'em a shove, and as long as enough gates were open, they'd find their way home. We just went along for the ride. Hopefully the older Spring cows will be a little better behaved. We pushed some of them to new pasture this morning so as to be ready for a branding on Wednesday. They did good. We've yet to get 'em across the road, so the fun may have just begun. Man, I'm getting tired just telling you about it. Is it time to calve out heifers yet?

Tell me you cattle stories and comments to thekansascowboy36@gmail.com. Look me up on Facebook as well or follow me on Twitter.