Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Early Departure

When cattle start getting out, it's time to move them to another location. So that's what we did last week, even though conditions weren't exactly ideal for sorting cattle - or walking through lots without losing shoes in the mud.

Thankfully, my favorite farmer assigned me the job where I didn't need a flotation device. I do need to invest in a pair of waterproof boots. (On second thought, maybe the lack thereof led to my plum post. So maybe I'll just keep my ruined tennis shoes handy.)
The heifers got their feet wet, too, as we sorted them from their babies for the ride to the Ninnescah pasture.
Eventually, we got them divided - the babies behind one fence and their mamas behind the other. If ever you need a hearing test, the bawling will clean out your ears.
We take the mamas in one trailer ...
... and the babies in another. This protects the babies from getting stepped on during their chauffeured ride to the pasture.
After they were loaded, Randy sprayed them with an insecticide to keep the flies at bay.
It was a beautiful spring day for a drive.
The old cottonwood tree waved hello at the pasture gate.
Once at the pasture, the mamas and babies were reunited.
The 15 pairs arrived to the party early. They will have the buffet all to themselves until late this week, when we'll take another 55 pair and bulls to the Ninnescah pasture.
Stay tuned ...

2 comments:

  1. Love your photos, as always. They do so add to your story telling. How far do you transport them? We don't see these types of trailers used at all in Australia (apart from very flash ones for horses). Cattle are either walked or trucked in a semi trailer.

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  2. These would have been transported about 8 to 9 miles from home. If the cattle are within a mile or so of where we want them to go, we will drive them, using 4-wheelers. In fact, we will be doing that tomorrow AM to get them from where they've been this winter to the corrals, so that we can work the babies. Then, we'll use the trailers to take them to their summer pastures. We only hire semis when we are taking cattle to the sale barn.

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