Well, it could have been worse!
I haven’t ever gathered this leased pasture before… I’m not sure what I was doing when we were in it last year… all I knew was that the cows needed to go UP.
UP is a hard direction to get cows to go!
About an hour and a half after we started, I had ended back at the gate we initially came through, chasing two old hides and their calves… I wasn’t a Happy Camper! I dug them back out of the bottom, and we finally topped the ridge.
See that piece of green in the bottom? The gate is up the hill to the left… see why they didn’t want to climb this hill?
Thank goodness some clouds appeared about the time we were heading down the road. It was HOT but the clouds cooled us just the right amount that the cows trailed fairly well. In fact, at lunchtime we got enough of a rain shower, we either jumped in the cab of the pickup, hid under the gooseneck, or relaxed inside the horsetrailer!
Finally we made it to the home pasture…
We were finished by 3:30, let them set for an hour (to prevent runbacks), and made it home by 5:30!
The afternoon provided me with some good light with the clouds dancing and swirling… this is one of my favorites!
(Preg testing tomorrow! Come on back!)
So, we weren’t the only ones cussing old hides today? Uphill wasn’t the favorite direction of our pair and young bull either. Got most of the way to the top before we ended up most of the way to the bottom. But we won! The bull is home and the pair are in the meadows at camp. Score for R and me!
If I’d just pull a “Snowy River” and blast off downhill through the sagebrush, I could have cut them off… but I’m a Big Sissy and it cost me another trip! Dirty old hides, anyway, everyone else was headed uphill!
Beautiful skies we have blue skies with white puffies today, but the tem is already 101.
So pretty! a real treat to the eyes and soul.