Riding along in the mountain pasture… giving Bravo some much needed work on becoming a cow dog. Blue skies have been with us lately, the smoke lessening a bit and some slightly cooler weather… though today did end up hot enough (high 80’s?)… and when we drove DOWN the mountain, the Big Horn Basin was full of smoke. I think we were just high enough it wasn’t so apparent.
We gathered the pasture and trailed this bunch to the corral over a hill about a mile away.
One of the more rotten things to happen when you’re gathering cattle? Climb a steep, sagebrush clogged, dead tree limb obstacle course up one side of a creek to kick up some ornery calves snoozing under a tree… then look back to where you just were and see this…
See those little black dots in the middle? Yeah, just over a rise from where I HAD been, is six more pairs. Now I had to take the ones I’d just gathered, kick them into the main herd, and return to where I had been, and gather those. It’s frustrating, but just part of the job…
Once in the corral, we sorted off the calves, turning the mommas out to graze while they waited for their babies to get their shots. I worked the back of the bunch, letting Brandon, Daniel, and Tess handle the show, with Vernon in between.
One of these things is not like the others…
We had three bulls with these cows and calves… and they made for a bit of excitement a few times… It’s best to just Get Out Of The Way. They’re not mean, but they do like to shove each other around, and a couple of tons of bull can move remarkably quite fast! This guy just turned and walked back out my gate like he knew he was supposed to.
Favorite pic of the day? This one of Vernon moving calves from one pen to another…
Haha He is a Big Boy! Wouldn’t want to get in his way!
Love all the pics Thanks!!