May 28, 2014

[Soapweed]

Trailing 200 pairs to summer pasture

Grass is growing and green

Little break to let the cattle pair up

It's always nice to see a little water in the road after a rain shower.

Cattle drive headed this way

Riders pushing them along

Getting closer

Almost upon me

Now I am in their road. They are starting to veer off.

Gorgeous green

My hard-working neighbor who provides pasture for some of our cattle each summer

New solar powered well

The cowboy crew

Pushing them onward

Peach and Clavinova

The other two family members of the crew

A father-son team helping us

We arrived at our destination

The cattle are pairing up.

End of another day

 

[dakotasky]

Those are all very nice pictures and looks like a successful looking day for everyone. I'm not much for too many trees blocking my view. I like it wide open and it sure is pretty where you are.

 

[Faster horses]

Everything looks peachy :wink:
at your place, Soap. What a wonderful day to move cattle.

Looks like Kosmo has a new ride.

 

[Soapweed]

Everything looks peachy :wink:
at your place, Soap. What a wonderful day to move cattle.

Looks like Kosmo has a new ride.

He is riding the new horse I bought a year ago. Shortly after I purchased the horse, he started getting skinny. I thought his teeth needed worked on, but didn't get it done. This year the horse is staying in good condition.

 

[Big Swede]

In a herd that size how often do you stop to let them pair up? Does it speed up the process when you get to your destination?

 

[Soapweed]

In a herd that size how often do you stop to let them pair up? Does it speed up the process when you get to your destination?

We take one bunch of two hundred pairs, and two bunches of one hundred pairs. With the bigger bunch, it pays to hold them up a couple times so the cows can find their calves. With the smaller bunches, it is not nearly as necessary. It depends on how the cattle are acting. If there are a lot of calves ending up at the back of the herd, it is pretty helpful to stop for a bit. By the time the cattle arrive at the destination, they are usually tired enough to be happy to rest. We don't "pair up" each pair and sort them out one at a time like some do. Instead we pause for a while, and watch the cattle. If there are a few calves wanting to go back, we try to make sure they get with their mommas. This is where the ear tags make a big difference.

 

[LazyWP]

Its always interesting to see how people handle pairs after a long move. whether its by truck or driving them.
We had 1 bunch this spring, that WOULD NOT pair up. They were hauled nearly 200 miles and I didn't allow them time to pair up in the corral, before moving them to pasture. I think we sat on them for 2 hours, then tried to individually pair them up. Got down to the last 100 pairs and dumped them. Nothing went back, so I guess we got by.
The other bunch were hauled 40 miles. (Took 2 hours to get here) We Left them in the corrals for an hour or so, drove them to the water, and pushed the cows back over the calves, and rode off. Never had anything back in the corrals that evening.
Both bunches are handled horse back, and both are great cows.

 

[Big Swede]

One great thing about calving on grass is that there is no big move with pairs and no pairing up. Just drive the heavies to the pasture, shut the gate and go home.

They do get rotated to the next pasture every few days once they start calving but that teaches them to pick up their calf and move.