Working Cattle





Part of welcoming Spring is the annual working of the cattle.  Josh and his dad started the process one lovely Friday morning and when Josh came in for lunch, he was so excited with the nice (or at least "nicer" than what we had been having) weather that he asked us to go out with him after lunch.  I had planned on it anyway because the kids and I always enjoy being around when they're working with the cattle.  Not only is it different from the usual routine and so adds a little pizzazz to the otherwise normal day, but it also gives the kids a chance to be around the livestock so they grow up being comfortable with the animals instead of being anxious around them.  So after lunch, we layered up and headed out.    

 

The area where we work on the herd is at the top of the hill.  And at the top of the hill is a rather steep terrace that prevents the field behind the terrace from ending up at the bottom of the hill on the highway.  We don't go up there very often, but when we do, the terrace is always a hot spot for the kids to play on: they climb, they roll, they play... its nature's creativity at its finest!

 

Here's the setup: A group of cattle is brought in from the feeding area and ran into the barn, from there the cows are are broken into smaller groups of five or six and ran into "the tub" (a smaller holding pen ), from there the cows are ran through the chute (a narrow alley made of gates).  There are three holding areas within the larger chute.  One is at the end of the alley where Loren is standing in the picture.  This area also holds the "headgate", an area where two bars (gently) squeeze the cow's neck area, thus keeping the cow from jumping around uncontrollably while it's being worked on.  See the next picture to see what it actually looks like and how it functions.  The head gate opens (catches) and closes (releases) with a lever at the front of the whole thing.  While the headgate encloses the front of the section, a steel door falls behind the cow to enclose them in from the back side.  The second holding area is an area that acts as a sort of waiting room, with a steel door in front of and behind the cow to keep them enclosed and the third holding area is the same.  Behind the third holding area is a  circular pen that keeps the cows contained until it's their turn to run through the chute. 

Make sense?

Aww!  Look at the cute little bull calf we caught!  Here's the headgate.  The cow runs through the chute, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and thinking it's found its freedom.  Just when they think they're free, whoever is operating the headgate pulls the lever so that the doors close and the cow's head is caught.  Just like this little bull calf's head is caught!  Whoever is operating the headgate has to be FAST and has to be STRONG, because once the cow has sensed its freedom, they run as fast as they can to gain it.  The operator has to quickly shut the door at just the right time so the cow doesn't escape!  Even though it doesn't hurt the cow, you can imagine they aren't very happy about being headgated, hence the reason for the need for strength to shut the doors and secure it in place.  After the work has been done, the gates are opened and the cow is released.

We ran this little bull calf straight through... he wasn't up for any vaccinations this go 'round.

 

 

Here you can see the three holding pens.  There's one in the very front, there's one that the front cow is just heading into and then there's the back one where you see the calf's head. 

 

I got recruited to operate the back and middle areas.  That job entails using that rope you see me holding there to raise the back door and another rope (you don't see in this picture) to raise the middle door to make sure there is always two cows waiting to be sent (one at a time) to the headgate. This takes a bit of coordination because when you have two ropes in your hands operating two different gates, you've got to make sure you're using the right arm to open or shut the right gate.  Its not that hard.

I know all you ladies out there are greatly enviously of my marvelous sense of style!

 

The kids were begging to take some pictures, so I allowed them each to have the camera for a minute.  Caleb took this one of Sarah.  You can see my feet back there standing on the chute.  Being impressed that Mama could actually climb, I think Caleb started to take a picture of me standing on the chute but got distracted by Sarah wanting her picture taken.  :-)

 

Sarah took this one of me.  I can tell... that's her hair flying in front of the lens and Caleb usually does a pretty good job of not chopping off people's heads!

 

The next group of cows had just been herded into the barn and Josh was sorting out the lucky few whose turn it was to go through.

 

It looks like I'm straining to open up the gate, but really I'm just hunkering down so the cows don't see me.  If they don't see someone standing there, they will move through much easier.  If it were someone they were accustomed to seeing (Josh and Loren), they might be a little less weary.  But a complete stranger (like me) makes them come to a complete stand still.  So, out of sight, out of mind!

 

I see it was Sarah's turn with the camera again!  There's me again, but look to the right of me... you can see cow ears poking over the edge of the tub! Them's the cows waiting to run through.

 

Loren usually funs the front chute and headgate.  He also was in charge of giving the vaccination with the syringe to take care of a virus that would cause reproductive issues.

 

Josh ran the cows into the chute and then was in charge of spraying the cattle with a liquid dewormer and insecticide.  I like this picture because you can see where Loren stands at the front of the chute, where Josh's station was in the middle of the chute and then the view from my position at the back section.  Its like an assembly line for cattle vaccinations.

 

Where's da beef?

Actually, these are the mama cows and somewhere in there was a bull.  You wouldn't want to eat them.

 

When the last cow went through, Caleb had to have a turn trying to raise the gate.

 

And of course, so did Sarah.

 

Posing for the camera!

 

And then it was time for Daddy to rearrange back the gates to their permanent positions and for the kiddos to play in the bunk. 

Cheese!

 

They played in the bunk until almost time to go.  Then they found the swinging gate.  First a ride for Sarah...

.... and then of course one for Caleb.

After doing the cows at our place, we went to Great Papa's place to do the heifers that are kept there.  The heifers are kept separate so we can keep a closer eye on them and kind of baby them along for their first calf.

When we're working here, Josh always puts up a ladder by the tub so the kids can look into the cows waiting.  Its a big hit with Caleb because he gets to look at the cattle and its a big hit with Sarah because she gets to climb the ladder.

 

 

The best shot of our brand.  It was near impossible to get any of the brands to show perfectly between gate rungs, but you can tell how the freeze brand shows up through the black hair.  The brand will be even more profound as the cows begin to lose their thick winter hair and their shorter summer hair replaces it.

Back to the ladder... Sarah's pouting because I would only let her climb up so many rungs.  Sarah is my wild child.  She's not afraid of much as far as activity goes: she'll climb as high as she can, run as far as she's allowed, jump from heights taller than she is, leap over mini canyons ... whatever.  Last week, the kids used some old lumber scraps to build an airplane on their little red wagon.  Once their airplane was built, Caleb told Sarah to get in the red wagon so she could test it.  He was going to start her down the hill and see how far she could fly to see if the plane fell apart or made it to the bottom of the hill... and she couldn't wait to do it!!!  She immediately got in and told Caleb to GO!  Heights don't bother her either.  I tell Josh she's gonna be our silo climber.  We'll see!

 

 

After working on the heifers, it was time to help Papa put the gates back in place.  They really enjoy "helping" and Josh and Loren are so patient in allowing them to do so!  Wish I could've gotten a better picture because it was really cute, but the camera batteries died. 

 Fun fun!