It was time to move Nate's beef herd from the summer pasture to land closer to home for feed and water. Rather than make multiple trips with a truck and trailer- we do a cattle drive! We've been doing this for several years now, and find that it works quite well, but it takes a number of able- bodied people to make it work. Thankfully, that's not too hard to find around here. :)
Rounding them up and getting them gathered by the gate:
Nate shows up, and they start bawling- so much noise!
Then Mom took several of us, to drop off at various driveways and roads/trails to make sure the cows didn't head down them.
Dad had the tractor with a bale of hay to lead them down the road, (or to try to stay a head of them some of the time at least)
After the herd passes the driveway that someone has been stationed at, they follow them from behind and make sure they stay on the road, and that no one gets left behind. If the cows are behaving, they catch a ride in the truck (or the 4-wheeler), until they are needed to hop out and get the cow or calf out of the ditch.
This time the herd did a good job of staying bunched up, and not getting too strung out... and we only met one truck on the road while we were moving (and he was patient and let the herd go around him) so things went quite smoothly. There were a couple slow cows at the back, and a really fat one that had lots of fun going down the big hill- well, maybe she wasn't having fun, but we had fun watching her!...
2 1/2 miles later they've arrived at winter quarters.
And they are looking for something to eat!
Part of the movin' crew (It's still deer season, so we all borrowed bright clothing from the boys to use).
Comments
Post a Comment