Today is a day I look forward to for an entire year. Working cattle is not only a necessity for cattle ranching, it is also a great time to reconnect with neighbors and friends and also get a little free entertainment ;-) I'll explain the process with photos today.
First we have to gather the cattle out of the pasture and take them to the corrals. These pics are of the heifers (the cattle that just had their first calves). They were pretty skittish because they hadn't been through the process of being gathered with horses before.
Next we sort the cows from the calves and put them in separate areas.
After that, the pen is set up for the calves to be worked. Today we had two guys on horses roping the calves. They have to be able to rope them around the back legs because if not, they are really difficult to get down to hold. It's much easier on the calf and the crew if they can get them by two back feet. After they are roped, they drag them to a pair of workers who sit on the calf and take off the rope when they are situated to hold the calf.
While they are holding the calf, we do several different things. We do it all at once so we don't prolong the stress on the calf. If we are on point, the calf will be laying on the ground and be branded, castrated (if it is a bull) and receive two vaccinations in about two minutes. The vaccinations are meant to prevent common diseases in cattle and also prevent respiratory illnesses. This year we changed the location of the vaccines because it seemed to make them sore from the previous location under the front leg. So this year we gave the shots in the brisket area.
Branding is an art. First of all you have to make sure the branding irons are hot enough to do the job in a short amount of time, again, to make sure it is all done quickly. The smoke is actually from the hair that is burned off, then the brand goes through to the hide. These are two different brands but it shows the process.
These brands are not only used to identify our cattle if they get into a neighbor's pasture, but they are also used at sale barns and feedlots to verify that we are the actual owners of the cattle we are selling.
Everyone is utilized when we work cattle. Even the young kids pitch in. They are an important step to making sure the ropers know when calves have already been worked. They marked them with a pink paint stick today. They also had a can of spray they sprayed on steers after they had been castrated to help prevent infection.
While the calves were being worked, the cattle were being worked in a different area. We work them in what we call "the tub." It is a set-up that my dad and uncle put together and I'm always amazed at how efficient it is. There are several gates set up in a circle and we put around 8 cows in one section and push them through to the alley. Then we load another group and just keep working them through and the gates rotate around and lock into place.
We poured each cow for flies and lice. Flies get to be a really bad nuisance for the cattle when it starts warming up. We also gave each one a vaccination to keep them healthy as we put them out to the pastures.
After they are in the tub, the cattle are pushed down an alleyway to the chute where they can be caught in a head gate if they need to be. It keeps the cows in a single file line and also has metal "gates" that come down behind each cow so they cannot back up once they are in the alley.
A very important tool in this area is the sorting stick. It is used as an extension of the arm to keep pushing the cattle where they need to be.
Sometimes the cows get a little curious while in the alleyway.
This is another picture of the set up for the entire operation. The pen closest to the tank is the one that we use to work the calves. As the work winds down, there is a little time for socializing. The best part of the day is always the food. My mom and aunt (and today my cousin) always do an awesome job with this! I was so busy enjoying the delicious food that I totally forgot to get a picture of everyone chowing down. So, here is the picture of it afterwards. We serve it in our big machine shed so people don't have to take off their manure covered shoes (and sometimes jeans).
We had awesome weather and got a lot of work done. We are so blessed to live in an area where neighbors help neighbors and a day of hard work is worth it just because of the chance to catch up and eat some good food.
Sorry this is a long post, but hopefully this helps to explain a little of what we do and why we do it. Have a great week!
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