Cow move: Day 1
On this end of the day, our first day of the annual cow move off range feels like a success. I can feel it in my body–hot, tired, sunburned, and relaxed. And full of pizza from Karina’s Kitchen!
After a flurry of preparations at El Potrero, Alex and I drove out on range, and I picked up the trail from where I saw the 8 yesterday and tracked them up and down to a wash some ways south of the Fenceline Drinker where they had holed up for the day. The horseback riders made it out quickly, but then we ran circles around each other for quite awhile trying to figure out how to tell them where I was. (You know, I am in this WASH….the kind of flat wide one with the sandy bottom…) Finally we connected and I watched Yvonne, Lisa, and Nick competently walking the 8 down the wash toward the lower drinker. They were met there by Alex and Sue and Ann Marie, who all helped them down the road where Tom and Dan guided them around the cattle guard and through the gate. Woody had constructed the most elegant array of cars, trucks, trailers, gate panels, cardboard, saw horses, spare tires, and what-not that led them ever so gently toward the corral. I guess there was one little mishap at the top of the lane with Zelda and some barbed wire, but otherwise, it all went well. Crockpot and calf were in this bunch and Yvonne had her hands full at the front keeping Crockpot’s head toward home instead of “Home on the Range” but Yvonne proved once again that she is a tougher cookie than Crockpot.
After the horseback riders rode off, I was going to head back to wherever I had left the truck, but Alex had found fresh sign at the lower drinker, and Tom had heard mooing north of the Lower Drinker this morning, and on the way back to the truck I just happened to pick up a fresh trail on the Cow Superhighway. So I kept going after it, and got the tour of the dirt tanks. The trail eventually ended up at the dirt tank on the east end of the lease by the jeep trail, where the other seven were happily sleeping. I left them there, picked up the truck, and headed back to El Potrero. We decided to finish what we had started first, and sorted out the animals who were staying at El Potrero, then loaded the rest in trailers for Yvonne and Nick to haul to Masons.
Meanwhile Alex, Tom, Dan, and I drove to the Upper Drinker, hiked to the dirt tank, and walked the remaining herd over to the Upper Drinker for a long drink and a bale of hay. Charlie’s instructions to feed Mycha worked beautifully, as she followed right along after me, and with some pushing from behind the rest of the crew trailed out behind. Everyone was happy to get a drink and we left them munching on hay with instructions to meet us at the gate at 7:30 tomorrow.
We returned to El Potrero to find a pizza feast being prepared with grace and style by Karina, Kaya, and Nick. Wow. What a nice way to end a long and satisfying day. I am so grateful to everyone for pulling together to do something that none of us could do alone. Each person provides a little piece of the puzzle.
Cow move: Day 2
Day 2 of our spring cow move went smoothly, and everyone is off range now. The four calves are at El Potrero for weaning. We will load Candela and Cruella up tomorrow for the trip back down to Mason’s and the four calves will get to stay in the round pen for a few days near Auntie TwoToo and Auntie Konchita. Everyone else is at Mason’s enjoying the fine spring grass.
Alex told the cows to meet us at the gate at 7:30, but forgot to specify a.m. or p.m. so they showed up last evening, ate the hay, wandered back up to the Upper Drinker, and by this morning, they were all the way up at Big Tank, settled in for a day’s nap. They left a nice trail to follow, though, so our fine riders were soon there, escorting them back down to El Potrero.
It was a pleasure to work with such a willing and talented team of people. Everyone pitched in at the right time and it all just got done. Though there are always plenty of learning moments, everything that happened today got handled with good humor, even Yvonne being knocked down and stepped on by Zelda during saddle up time. She gets the biggest bruise award, for sure.
I think the best thing about this move is that I am looking forward to doing it again. It is a fascinating kind of improv in which we discover new ways to relate to each other, the horses, cows, land, weather, vehicles, pastures, etc–all part of the moving dance.
