Working Ranch Blog
Oh Bull! by Brett Haas
Aug. 3 2010, 11:43 PM
Aug. 3 2010, 11:43 PM
I'm gonna borrow a bit from Sara's latest post here. I hope she doesn't mind. Although the bulls we pulled were supposed to be bulls. They're good at being bulls too, especially when it comes to wanting to stay with the ladies. I'm torn when it comes to pulling bulls. I'm partial to it because it means some horseback time. I spend most of my summer in a tractor, so a little saddle time is a nice break. On the other hand, though, there's a part of me that's impartial to it, because, well, they are bulls and they do what they do best: be bulls.
I remember checking the boys one day and I noticed one with a low-hung ear. I thought he might be sick so I called Kirk to verify. "He's not sick," Kirk said. "It's broken." Now how in the world do you break an ear? I soon learned that if it can be broken, eventually a bull will break it. So whether it's a fence, water fountain, mineral feeder, loafing shed, the neighbor's bull, a truck, or an ear, a bull will find a way. That's why trying to convince one of these 1 ton wrecking balls with hooves that it's time to go back to the bull traps (small pastures) for another year isn't all that fun at times. Hey, you do what you got to do though, right? And like I said at least we get to pull 'em a horseback. What's that poster say? A bad day horseback is better than the best day working. It could be worse, right? I could be in politics. Naw, I rather deal with our bulls than that bull.
Anywho, of course, the cleanup bulls with the heifers were first. We like to calve the heifers out early 'cause they're a little more high maintenance than the cows. We had two bulls in the group we sell come December and one with our home-raised group. These guys were easy. One of the older bulls tried to brush up on us, but we figured he just had to show the younger one that you just can't go that easy. It was almost comical. You could tell he was letting us know that he didn't have to come if he really didn't want to. Thankfully the younger bull paid no mind to the lesson.
Here's Ritz and Gunny after an easy pull. You can tell it was because she's just a darn bit too perky.
A couple weeks later it was everyone else's turn to come home. We picked (and when I say "we" I mean Kirk) the hardest one first. He's a fence jumper. Your horse looks at him the wrong way and he's gone. Thankfully though, he jumped the fence in the direction we wanted. Of course, a minute later he jumped back in the wrong direction. We weren't interested in starting a rodeo, so we grabbed the whole bunch and headed to the next pasture. We managed to get him settled in with another group of cattle. We thought we could beat the heat by starting at 6 a.m. We should have known better. So we just let him be and left that battle for the next day.
This time we were saddled up at first light and off. That and we had some cloud cover. We got the fence jumper first thing along with two other bulls that were close. Our cloud cover vanished quick, so we trailered over to another pasture and got one more before we called it quits. We had to bring him with some cows as well. Low-stress on our animals (and us) makes everything easier and more profitable in the long and short run of things. Work smart, not hard I say.
Day three brought even more cloud cover and cooler temps thanks to the remnants of a cold front that brought a little precipitation our way in the still of the night. We headed under I-70 to get one more before it rained again. He went pretty good for having to go under an interstate waterway tunnel alone. We brought a few cows, but cut 'em off as soon as we got to the tunnel entrance.
Our timing was impeccable. As soon as we got him penned and loaded at headquarters the rain started again, so instead of heading to another pasture we headed to the cafe' to have some breakfast. Shorty and Jim were there and were nice enough to buy. Oh, wait, I'm still in bull mode. O.K., sorry, Shorty and Jim were there to fill us in on all that we miss out on by having jobs and the like. They always got good stories. Dang, just can't get away from that bull can I?
You pulled your bulls or at least somebody's leg yet? Tell me at thekansascowboy36@gmail.com. You can also find me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
I remember checking the boys one day and I noticed one with a low-hung ear. I thought he might be sick so I called Kirk to verify. "He's not sick," Kirk said. "It's broken." Now how in the world do you break an ear? I soon learned that if it can be broken, eventually a bull will break it. So whether it's a fence, water fountain, mineral feeder, loafing shed, the neighbor's bull, a truck, or an ear, a bull will find a way. That's why trying to convince one of these 1 ton wrecking balls with hooves that it's time to go back to the bull traps (small pastures) for another year isn't all that fun at times. Hey, you do what you got to do though, right? And like I said at least we get to pull 'em a horseback. What's that poster say? A bad day horseback is better than the best day working. It could be worse, right? I could be in politics. Naw, I rather deal with our bulls than that bull.
Anywho, of course, the cleanup bulls with the heifers were first. We like to calve the heifers out early 'cause they're a little more high maintenance than the cows. We had two bulls in the group we sell come December and one with our home-raised group. These guys were easy. One of the older bulls tried to brush up on us, but we figured he just had to show the younger one that you just can't go that easy. It was almost comical. You could tell he was letting us know that he didn't have to come if he really didn't want to. Thankfully the younger bull paid no mind to the lesson.
Here's Ritz and Gunny after an easy pull. You can tell it was because she's just a darn bit too perky.
This time we were saddled up at first light and off. That and we had some cloud cover. We got the fence jumper first thing along with two other bulls that were close. Our cloud cover vanished quick, so we trailered over to another pasture and got one more before we called it quits. We had to bring him with some cows as well. Low-stress on our animals (and us) makes everything easier and more profitable in the long and short run of things. Work smart, not hard I say.
Day three brought even more cloud cover and cooler temps thanks to the remnants of a cold front that brought a little precipitation our way in the still of the night. We headed under I-70 to get one more before it rained again. He went pretty good for having to go under an interstate waterway tunnel alone. We brought a few cows, but cut 'em off as soon as we got to the tunnel entrance.
Our timing was impeccable. As soon as we got him penned and loaded at headquarters the rain started again, so instead of heading to another pasture we headed to the cafe' to have some breakfast. Shorty and Jim were there and were nice enough to buy. Oh, wait, I'm still in bull mode. O.K., sorry, Shorty and Jim were there to fill us in on all that we miss out on by having jobs and the like. They always got good stories. Dang, just can't get away from that bull can I?
You pulled your bulls or at least somebody's leg yet? Tell me at thekansascowboy36@gmail.com. You can also find me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
