A Trail Adventure--Runaway Calf!

I shift in the saddle on my horse, Duke. We've been gathering cows to move them to a different pasture, and it's getting hot. It hasn't been an easy trail, but not terribly hard. Many calves have been separated from their mothers, and they are trying to run back, because they think that their moms have been left behind. I know that the cows are all up in front, not left behind, but the calves don't know that.

So I am moving Duke back and forth, keeping the calves in the herd.

Suddenly a calf breaks from the herd and begins to dash straight uphill, exactly opposite from the way we are going. I groan inwardly, seeing that I am closest to it. Then I nudge Duke onward and he gallops toward the calf.

I bump and jolt in the saddle--the calf chose some rough ground to run back over, and we are navigating it at a hard gallop. After a short dash, we get around the calf and stop short, but the calf dodges, and Duke and I are chasing it again.

Hooves pound, kicking up a cloud of dust. My breath comes hard, and I know adrenaline is flooding me. Duke stops with a jerk; we have brought the calf to a standstill. Then the calf twists and is off again--running directly away from the herd.

Duke gallops hard; we make it around the calf yet again, but it dodges 'round us, and now we are on the wrong side of the calf.

I angle Duke slightly away from the calf; maybe we can head it off. After a hard gallop, we come around the calf. I hold my breath; will it dodge us yet again or turn around?

It must have given up, for it turns around and begins running just as hard back toward the herd as it had away from it. I urge Duke forward to keep up with it in case it turns back suddenly. But we reach the heard and I heave a deep sigh of relief.

I brought the calf back.

The 10:00 pm check

I slipped on my coat. Looking over, I smiled at Jen* and we stepped out into the night together.

She held the flashlight, and I walked behind her. The air was crisp and cool--it felt like my breath might be cloudy if I could see it.

We glanced at the cows as we walked through them on the way to the corral. Some calves startled and pranced around. They were so cute! But we walked past quickly and entered the corral.

I opened the gate with a muffled "clang" and then closed it after Jen stepped through.

Now began the harder part of our task. We were to make sure that all of the young cows were fine--not having any trouble calving or anything. We walked through the cows quietly. They were mostly lying down or eating at the hay feeder. Jen pointed the flashlight and swung it around the rest of the pen. There was one cow that looked uncertain as to whether it was beginning to calve or not, but we decided it was not.

We climbed up one of the corral fences and jumped down the other side, surprising the milk cow calf. He jumped up and ran to the other side of the pen.

We walked through into the OB barn.

Inside the OB room, we flicked on the light. Warmth surrounded us. Jen handed me the chalk and I reached up and wrote on the chalkboard.

10:00 check. All quiet. SS JS

The check had gone well indeed. And now we turned our faces back to the house. We were ready for  bed.


* name changed to protect identity
**based on a real life happening

 

a new calf

The first calf is here! That means calving season is upon us....which is a lot of work. But it's also really neat, because I love seeing the calves running and kicking up their heels. Calves are sooo cute! I don't like the other stuff all that well, (ie. getting up at 2 am to check the cows) and I don't like it when some of the calves don't make it, but it's all worth just seeing those baby calves enjoying life.

 

Crazy weather on the ranch

yeah, that's what this post is about. Want to know what I mean?

Yesterday and Saturday, it was warm out. It felt like spring was on its way. And when I woke up this morning...we had three inches of snow on the ground, and more was coming down.

It's actually sort of nice that it's happening now, but hopefully it will melt before the middle of February. Because that's when we start calving, and it's not much fun to be calving in the snow. But we need the moisture. So it's nice it's snowing NOW, not later.

Sorry, this post really lives up to the name of my blog, doesn't it? =P

 

a poem

When life is tough
and days are dry
the wind blows cold
the rain won't try
you see the dust
and no more grass
and no more hay
a sky like glass
it's hard to trust
easy to fear
what will you do
this coming year
ranch life is tough
sometimes it's true
but God is enough
He'll see you through
remember this
as drought goes on
and trust him always
His love goes on.



Just some thoughts.

Maya Mitchell!!!!

Piano Bookworm asked me to do this, and I was like "sure! why not?" So now I am writing to you. Firstly, my name is Maya Mitchell. But I suppose you already know that. (At least PB said she had told you guys that I was coming. If she didn't.... it doesn't really matter. I'm going to tell you anyway.)

I am fourteen years old, and I have strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. I think that's because I'm Irish on my mom's side. She's an O'Christy. I'm not sure what Dad is, because I don't know what country or language "Mitchell" is from. Oops. Now I'm rambling. Piano warned me about this. She said: "Maya, if you do this, you probably will start rambling. That's the name of the blog!" Erggg, I hate it when she's right about stuff like that. well, back to me.

I have five siblings, and I'm the oldest. Then there's Kirsten, who's thirteen, Jack, who's eleven, Matt, who's nine, Leigh, who's seven, Lynn, who's five, and Tim, who's three. Yeah, I know. I'm the only one who is an even number of years old. Well, that's because I haven't had my birthday yet this year. It's coming soon, AND I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! I'll be fifteen, and then I'll be able to get a learner's permit to DRIVE!!!

I live on a ranch fifty miles outside of Casper, which is about our biggest town here in Wyoming. It's not big, compared to other cities.

It is really really cold here this time of year. Kirsten, my sister, helps Dad milk the cow early in the morning, and she gets up at five most of the time. I sleep in and get up at five-thirty. That is true. In summer, sleeping in is seven, but in the winter, sleeping in is five-thirty. =P Well, anyway, when I get up it has been quite a bit below freezing in the morning. Yesterday it got up to about fifty degrees in the middle of the day though. That was nice.

Well, I can't think of anything interesting right now, but next time I write, I'll have an adventure to tell you about! We're going snipe hunting sometime soon!