It looks easy, right? On television, the cowboys whoop and holler and gallop their horses after the running cattle, swinging ropes and making a round-up look sooooo exciting.
Westerns used to be my favorite shows, until I married a rancher!
Okay, they’re still my favorites, but now I know what’s realistic and what’s not.
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- The point of a ranch is to produce high quality cattle, whether it be to the beef market, heifers to another ranch, or bulls for breeding. That boils down to healthy livestock… which in turn calls for weight gain and low stress… so forget the yeehaw running of cattle for excitement’s sake. They may run downhill or kick up their heels for fun, but when gathering and moving cattle, slow wins the race.
- Early mornings are a cowboy’s friend… though coffee helps this cowboy, as I’m not a natural early riser! It’s cooler at dawn. When it’s hot in the late morning and afternoon, a black cow will get hot, and find shade, or “brush up”. Black cows can easily hide in the shadows of trees! Sunrise will find them out in the open with their calves at their sides. Cows often employ each other as babysitters and go off to graze alone, but at sunrise, calves are there for breakfast… and keeping pairs together is key.
- Pairs, or cows and their calves, must be moved together to the next pasture. As you ride along, you’ll see a mom and her baby nearby… if a cow is alone, letting her go wherever she wants will most likely lead you to the hiding spot she stashed her calf at. If one is brought without the other, they will eventually want to run back to where they last saw each other… even if it’s miles away. Bringing pairs into the big bunch makes for a much easier day!
- Cows have good memories… if they’ve been to a pasture before, they can get there again with minimal direction most of the time! This also applies to holes in the fence where they found good grass, or the smell of salt or water while passing through the neighbor’s pasture! A good cowboy will recognize the unwanted “draws” (whatever might draw their attention from the designated trail) and he will be there to discourage going in that direction, while reminding them of the proper direction!
- The proper method for trailing cattle is strung out in a line, paired up, and hiking along. If you can find this sweet spot, you’re doing great… and you’ll be rewarded with a fairly quiet herd. Lots of mooing means mommas and babies are separated… if only 30% of them are mooing, though, it’s still pretty noisy! 90% of cows are quiet when they have their calves… some can be bellowing as their calf sucks. That deserves a shake of the head and an eye roll! Bunched up like a band of sheep is a very bad way to try to move cattle. It turns into a battle like that… and you’ll wear out yourself and your horse and your dog fighting it!
- Movement of cattle can be initiated many ways… whistling or noises work, and we use them if the situation warrants. Dogs work, and of course we use that too. Entering their “bubble” or personal space is another. That varies tremendously. A cowboy on horseback applies pressure sometimes a hundred yards away, sometimes a cowboy can be right next to a cow, and she’s not gonna move! The trick is to be able to read a cow, and know when to apply pressure or release it. Once a cow is moving, there’s not much need to keep after her unless she slows down or heads the wrong way. Once a cow starts walking, then it’s time to work on her direction.
- Cows are prey. They have eyes on the sides of their head giving them 330 degrees of vision compared to a human’s 180 degrees field of view. Cows cannot see directly behind them, and have poor depth perception. They will balk at shadows, and have to drop their heads to figure them out. If you ride directly behind a cow, she will keep turning her head to keep you in view… with her head turned, her feet follow, and she tends to wander from side to side if possible. You can use that to your advantage, if you want a cow to swing to the right, ride behind her so she turns her head slightly and she will walk slightly to the right. Of course, if she could care less about you, if she is on a road with no room to move, or there is a bigger concern, like a yapping dog… it won’t work. Ya just gotta watch your cattle and see their reactions!
- If you position yourself where lots of cows can see you, they will keep moving. Again, there’s a sweet spot… if you ride along 20-30 feet away from cattle paralleling their direction, you’re just reminding them, “hey, keep moving”. If you ride closer to them, the ones in front of you will feel pressured and go faster or off the road or wherever they can, the ones behind you will stop, watching to see where they should go. Riding in the middle of the herd is not recommended, though sometimes the narrow trails we ride down demand it for a bit. If, however, you ride close to them in the *opposite* direction that they are heading, they will walk by you faster! If you are riding alongside the herd, you can do an overlapping continual oval loop that makes movement steady in your section.
- Old time cowboys that trailed herds from Texas to Montana had it all figured out. You have a cowboy up with the lead. He’s the one making sure they follow the right trail, and, like in our case, opening gates at the appropriate times! Next comes the swing riders. They’re the ones riding that oval loop to keep movement going. They also put themselves in the way where cattle might want to go the wrong way. We have a few stretches where, if you look closely in my pictures, you can see guys all along one side, preventing cows from running down to get a drink from creeks we don’t want to dig them out of! Finally, there’s the drag. This position is usually dusty and irritating because it has calves that can’t seem to find their moms and want to run back, and cows that want to fight the dogs! Most of our riders are back there, but they move up to swing position if necessary. Drag needs a couple of good cowboys to chase after calves and bring them back, and it’s a good place for kids to start learning the ropes!
- Cows have pecking orders… but they also have leaders… they may or may not be one and the same. If you can get an old girl out in the lead to take off and go… other cows will follow. Some places keep a “lead steer” for this purpose… Our yearling steers would not be good in this position! Trailing yearlings is a whole ‘nother ball of wax!
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When I first came here, not knowing *anything* about cows… I was pretty much a simply reactive cowboy. “Ack, one is getting away! Chase it!” The more I learned about cows, and horses, and dogs… the better observer I became. Body language and bubbles, pressure and release, predator and prey, positive and negative reinforcement, low stress handling, it all fed into where I am now. I feel much more knowledgeable, though far from expert! I notice the behavior of animals… I can see that cow thinking about running to water instead of just chasing her after the fact! Watching, really observing what’s going on, has become a joy for me… especially when what I predict is going to happen comes true… I feel like I’m slightly successful in my skills! It’s not just yeehaw and head ‘em up, move ‘em out, after all!
Find me here!
My riding is limited to trail rides in Estes Park,Co. on a 2 hour ride,in my mind I’m spending a day like yours, but after just 2 hours, I can hardly dismount, I only get out that way once a year, but enjoy every minute of it-
The first job Mace did with me: “We have a few stretches where, if you look closely in my pictures, you can see guys all along one side, preventing cows from running down to get a drink from creeks we don’t want to dig them out of!” We had to trail our cows from the bottom of the canyon, up over the ridge and to the corral. We used to get them half way up, and they would spot a break in the brush and make a break for the bottom again, thumbing their noses at me as they dodged around me. Mace changed their minds for them. Good boy!
A good dog is worth a lot!
I read every word with fascination!! What an interesting and informative look at all that really goes into trailing and gathering cattle. I could picture it very well! It must take a lot of years to master knowing all about raising a healthy herd. Thanks for all the detail. I think you must be part English Shepherd!! 🙂
Well, I’m not even gonna say I’m close to knowing it all… we just keep trying!
Just my cup of tea. I would relish every nuance. Years ago I worked at a fox hunting club on the east coast for a little while. Bits of this brought back memories of how I would “read” the hunt as I followed along by road to be there wherever they decided to finish up so the tired hounds could have a ride home instead of trailing them. It was a completely different world in so many ways, but there was a lot of instinct involved, since I would only catch sight of them when they were near a road or farm. I took to it naturally and was only late to the finish one time. I loved it when we were close enough to the stable that I got to ride the huntsman’s horse back with all the others while he took the hound truck back. I only wished I could have ridden in the hunt once, but I was needed doing what I did.
I enjoyed your descriptions in this post.
Thanks, Della… I think your story of fox hunting sounds sooo interesting, too!
That was really interesting, Carol. Thanks for the inside info on trailing cows and things you need to know and watch for in doing it. I could kind of picture it all while reading your descriptions!
Ah, thanks… sometimes I wonder if I’m describing things well enough!
I had no idea how complex moving cattle is. You’re so right they make it look like performance art on tv! This was fascinating and so informative. Thank you for sharing!
Performance art! I like that! Well, boring for 90% of the time doesn’t make for good television…
As a long time fan of westerns I found this fascinating. Your blog continues to amaze me with the depth of information. I’m constantly glad that we have farmers and ranchers and I’m glad not to be one of them!
Thanks to you, your family and neighbors for the work you do.
Hey, you’re welcome! I do like what we do…
Very interesting. I suspect a book on leadership would pick up similar themes.
You know, I do believe you’re right…
Carol, thank you for telling about the way to move cattle. My Dad was the same way. He never made cattle run or pushed them hard. I have always said you can tell a person that is a farmer or rancher. Even young folks. our neighbor is 25 and I knew when we meet she was from the farm. Sure enough she was. We like the Cowboy Channel. Sharon Drake. south central kansas
Quiet in all things… that really describes many of the ranchers I know.
There is certainly a lot to take in. I guess watching Trampas in the Virginian only showed part of the story of cattle ranching. But what a great show, especially as in the late 60’s we got a colour TV.
Trampas made up for a lot… as did Little Joe… Roy… Marshal Jim Crown… Rowdy Yates… Manolito…Heath… James T. West… Tonto… Kid Curry… Johnny Madrid… and Ethan Cord!!!!!!