Wrangling the Cows

#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk

My first week was an overall eye-opening experience of how cattle are managed out in the west. I had some experience with cattle in feedlots but I had no clue how they were managed in open pastures. I was taught how the Baldwins move bulls, check the cows, move the cows to different pastures, how crops of alfalfa/triticale are irrigated and how the windmill pumps get set up to provide water to a cattle tank. These were the basics of how things work on the ranch. Being introduced to these processes helped me to understand the goals and work that needs to be accomplished on the ranch to make profits.

On Saturday, we had to move a calf that had escaped from a pasture through a loose opening in the barbed wire fence. Eventually we got the calf back where it needed to be, but not without some struggle. Elden and I were in the pasture in the work pickup, and we were going to go herd the calf into the fence. The idea was the calf would fear the truck and return to the correct pasture through the opening it jumped through. There happened to be some miscommunication between us and he blocked off the truck into the fence but he was not at the correct gap in the fence; the calf couldn’t squeeze through at that spot. This made things difficult since I was outside of the truck, and he yelled at me to move the calf into the opening but there was no opening right there. I got back into the truck, and he drove the calf towards a different gate, so the calf had a clear way of getting back into the correct pasture.

I still have questions on: when the Alfalfa gets harvested and how many cuts they can get in a growing season; how the alfalfa gets processed into bales and what happens to the triticale grass after its mature enough; how solar panel powered pumps work and how efficient solar powered wells are compared to the windmills. Another concern here is irrigation, and wells drying up, I want to know what is causing that and if drilling a new well solve the problem permanently, or how soon until that one dries up as well.

I am planning to apply my new knowledge of irrigation and water pumping from windmills to understand and help prevent future land over grazing. It is important to have an understanding of the cattle lifecycle here on the ranch. In having this knowledge, as well as understanding the reasons for rotating the cattle allows for control of grazing times per pasture and control. Not only do we have to be conscious about how much of a pasture the cows are eating, we have to watch for the amount of water they’re consuming to make sure they’re not drinking faster than the windmill can pump water out. From my first week, I will build up a base of knowledge to use in the future, which will help me think more critically and understand more of the processes without asking too many questions about it.

Submitted by: Samuel Warneke
Edited by: GrowinG Internship Team