Cattle Company Day

Fall is full of fun ranch work. Today, we set out to haul my brother's cows home and wean some calves. For a day like this, you better plan your work and work your plan. 

I love fall in Wyoming, especially Worland. So much reaping of the fruits of spring and summer. Having Mollie with me, we saddled up to corral the cows. 

Our 25 acres of grass has done real well for its first year out. The cows have grazed it good. Now it's time to send Luke's back to his place. 

Two fawn antelope have lived in here all summer. Been fun to watch them grow. 

Our pairs have done well. Little Sister finally got some size to her. 

And Mom and daughter have summered well. We'll save this heifer calf to be part of the herd. I like her. 

I'll be honest, I'm not going to miss Red Devil. 

No hurry. We just kept crowding the crew towards the corrals. 

They got plugged up at the gate, so Dad walked in and pushed the front bunch through. 

Then we cleaned up the rest. 

Nice herd. 40 head or so.  

We'd just run a little bunch in, separate the calves, and load the cows. 

And do the same with the calves. 

Then we convoyed over to Luke's place. 

And kicked his critters out. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we went ahead and weaned our two calves. 

In order to do that we had to move the water talk back inside.

Here's a siphoning trick, slowly dunk a hose in the tank starting from one end and moving to the other. Make sure all the hose goes under water as you do this. Then just plug the end with your thumb. 

And take off, pulling the hose out of the water as you go. Except the opposite end, keep that fully submerged. 

Let off your thumb and watch 'er go. 

Once drained, we moved in back inside. 

This is what is called gentle weaning. We separate the moms from the babies through just the corral fence. Then we feed the calves inside the pen. This feed should work good because it is the same stuff they have already been grazing on. 

This way, the pairs know where the other is at. They will still bawl for a couple days, but this method greatly reduces the separation anxiety. Works well when you have the opportunity to do so. 

Fun day on the farm. I dig the seasons. It's been a pretty long hot summer and I'm looking forward to some cooler weather and change of pace. This time of year also has some fun cattle working opportunities along with it. We'll see what steps we take next with the herd. 12 head can still graze a long time in our grassy meadow. After a couple of weeks of apart from their mothers, we'll kick these calves back in with the bunch. Mom will be dry and everyone should get along hunky-dory. Ranching in the 307.