Soapweed's Ranch
Ramblings |
This afternoon we had some
hay down, but it was a bit too green to bale. I suggested to Saddletramp that
we maybe had time to get a few bulls out before dark. He jumped at the idea,
as he'd always rather ride a horse than a tractor. We got in the horses, and
picked out our best cutting horses. We loaded up his Chalk-eye and Goose (both
are paints) onto the 24' trailer and hauled down to Highway 20 where we are
summering quite a few pairs with a neighbor. One pasture right next to the road
had five bulls, so we thought we'd be happy to get these out.
As we pulled into a fence corner to park the trailer, we could see that the cattle were just drifting away from the windmill. When we caught up to the vacating bunch, we discovered all five bulls in a fairly close proximity. We headed them back to the windmill, and drove along a few cows and calves to keep them company. At the windmill, we dropped back everything but the five bulls. These we drifted towards the pickup and trailer. We pushed them, but not hard. A couple tried to go back, but with the help of our good horses, we held them. We just pushed easy-like, and didn't make any undue noise. Pretty soon they all wandered between the pickup and the fence, and soon they were all standing in the corner. Saddletramp got off his horse and crawled over the fence, to stand imposing-like in case they tried to jump over. I brought up the rear. Pretty soon the first one jumped onto the trailer, and the rest followed. We shut the gate, grinned at each other, and proclaimed it a successful mission.
The hay was ready to bale when we got back. Saddletramp raked, and I baled. He had time to go unload the bulls and unsaddle the horses while I finished baling about thirty bales. The sun was setting when the last bale was rolled.
Copyright © 2005 Steve
Moreland
All Rights Reserved