Working Cattle

Friday afternoon, the kids and I got a chance to be out with the guys to help work cattle.  When I was still at home before leaving for college, I would help my dad feed cattle in the feed lot; mine and my brothers' jobs (whoever happened to be helping) consisted of opening/closing gates, raising and lowering the auger on the feed cart, then directing the feed into the bunks and keeping hungry "calves" (they weren't the cute just born kind, but several hundred pounders are still considered "calves") away until we were through the line of bunks.  Then there was the jobs of feeding hay and bedding up with stalks.  Since the Van Zante setup uses a silo, Josh and Loren don't need too much help feeding, so I haven't been around cattle for several years.  But Thursday evening, I was informed that I had been designated to help "work cattle" the next day.  I didn't mind at all... in fact, I was actually looking forward to it.  (I know, I'm a little different!)

"Working cattle" means taking each of the weaned calves in the feed lot, running them through the chute in the barn where they are then vaccinated (just like babies and toddlers are: it prevents outbreaks of diseases), given a squirt of pest control (lice, mange,etc) and the bulls are banded (a form of castration). 

The big helpers, ready for a Jeep ride!

We hadn't even started the ride to Great Papa's place and Sarah Rose was already thoroughly enjoying the experience.

There's part of the cattle in the waiting ring.  (I'm sure Josh and Loren have a name for this area, but to me its the waiting ring.)

And there's the vets in residence.  Josh is just standing there looking purty, while Loren is getting the syringes filled with the vaccines.

Here's how it works:  A small group of calves is cut out from the larger group of calves you saw in the previous picture.  That smaller group of calves is run into this area, called the squeeze tub.  The squeeze tub has a one-way sliding door behind the calves that allow them to be squeezed toward the next gate that they have to go through.  From the squeeze tub, they are....

...put through "the alley", a series of holding pens  The front squeeze tub gate is opened to allow one or two calves into the back chute pen, where they stay until the calves in the middle chute pen are released into the front chute pen (the head gate).  When the middle calf is released into the front, then the middle gate has to be opened up to allow the back calf into the middle and then the squeeze tub gate opened to allow another calf into the back section again, keeping all the pens full and the "assembly line" flowing.  Understand?  My job was to operate the back and middle chutes.

Once in the front chute, the calf is restrained by being put into a head chute.  A head chute is an area where two gates slide apart vertically to squeeze around the calf's neck, therefore restraining the calf from too much movement that would either hurt the calf being worked on or the person working on it.  The head chute doesn't hurt the calf at all, but it does make them rather irritated.  I liken it to a baby getting shots:  when a baby is receiving shots, the nurses instruct the mother to pin down the baby's arms against their sides or chest and lean over them to hold the child's top body down while they (the nurses) stretch out the poor baby's legs and pin them down while another nurse gives the baby the shots.  From an explanation or a picture, it sounds/looks horrendous, but it doesn't really hurt the baby and its for their own safety, despite ticking them off! 

Anyway, once the calf is restrained in the head chute, they are given a dose of "pour on", which is the pest control medication squirted across their back that takes care of lice, mange, etc. (exactly what a flea and tick collar or drops would do for your pets at home), a shot of vaccinations, and if they are bulls, they're banded and given a tetanus shot.  Banding is a form of incision-less castration using a rubberband-like device.  One person lifts up the calf's tail, which numbs the calf from the tail down.  Then the second person can administer the band painlessly.  The calf can tell that something is different for a few days because you can tell they walk funny at first, but with no incision its pain free.  And then wala!.... a bull is turned into a steer.  There is a little science behind banding:  the bull should be left alone for as long as possible so the natural growth hormones allow it to do just that.... grow, but the bull needs to be banded before it gets bullish (keep reading....).

Why castrate, you may ask?  For a couple of reasons.  One, we don't want the heifers getting pregnant in the feedlot.  (The feedlot is the area where the cattle are fed until ready for market and thus, the meat counter at your local favorite grocery store!)  Two, if we didn't castrate, the hormones would make the meat taste very bullish once butchered.  That tender, juicy Angus steak (or hamburger, or any beef product) that just melts  in your mouth would not be near so tender or sweet if it were full of testosterone!

Caleb was occupied with counting the calves left in the squeeze tub.  Papa Loren secured this ladder just so Caleb could have this special job!

While Sarah Rose entertained herself with the pull ropes that I used to lift the various gates.

Then they got the bright idea of trying to work the gates themselves. 
PULL, Young'uns! PULL!

Sarah also kept track of my paddle.  The paddle has beads inside that make a rattling noise that somehow (sometimes!) gets the cattle to move in the direction they're supposed to move.

Here's Josh working the inside gates.  All the gates are on double hinges, allowing them to swing both directions making countless configurations of alleyways for the cattle to run or holding pens for them to be kept in.  Josh knew just how each gate should go to make the right alley, so away he went.

The last group of cattle coming in.  Loren and Josh did one group before lunch, and the kids and I helped them do the second and third groups after lunch. 

By the last group, Sarah Rose was plum tuckered out...

...and was in need of the chocolate cake I had prepared for coffeetime for a little pick-me-up.

Caleb didn't turn down his piece either!  In fact, they both ate two BIG pieces of cake and then ate a great big supper of bacon wrapped stuffed chicken breast, lemon-dill rice and salad I made that night.... and STILL requested dessert!  They are definitely going through a growth spurt!

 Well, folks.  There you have it.  "Working cattle" in nut shell.