The past few days we seemed to have been sorting pairs constantly!
Gathering in the badlands… we sorted.
Moving them in time for branding… we sorted.
Today, we dispersed the herd into four different pastures with appropriate bulls and… we sorted.
It’s what we do.
The other day…
when I was supposed to be cooking for branding…
I also did this.
We live on a big hill, sometimes referred to as the Greet Hill, and the highway curves on that hill. Which means if someone is really tooling it to town or a semi is loaded with steers and they suddenly meet a herd on the curve… it would be BAD news. We try to set out these signs.
CATTLE ON ROAD
<Note the dented bumper… *Vernon* did that the other day… just so there’s no comments about blonde women drivers!>
While the crew was moving the herd into new territory, I ran home and did some work… but soon I returned with pickup and horsetrailer with my flashers on. That’s local-speak for *watch out!*
This is when dogs are told to GO LAY DOWN! So, Boomer had to bring me a stick just in case I felt like a game of fetch… you’ll hear him panting in this video!
You can see what CATTLE ON ROAD and sorting pairs have in common… the highway!
Since I’m usually right there helping with this work… I took this opportunity and climbed the hill opposite them and filmed the action for once!
You can see how this can get confusing. Often other extra cows or calves want to come along with the pair and need to be sent back. It’s a dance of pressure and release… get close to a cow from behind and she’ll move forward… pressure her head and neck… she’ll turn or turn back. The pivot point is basically their front shoulder… aim for it and *something* will happen. It helps that our cows know this process! They know they are supposed to go down the fenceline and through a gate. Only four missed the gate… and it gave Boomer and I something to do… besides sorting pairs.
Sorting Pairs out of the Herd from Carol Greet on Vimeo.
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