Rattlesnakes, an Ulcer, and Mastitis

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This week on the ranch I had a problem while moving cows on horseback that I have not run into before. We were about five hundred yards away from the gate to put the pairs into the pasture for our branding later that week. I rode up on a pile of live and dead yuca and heard a rattle snake rattle at me and my horse, which freaked my horse out and he bucked me off.

Another problem we faced this week was during our branding. We found a calf who had a severe hernia that was almost touching the ground. The boss decided to not cut open the ulcer and leave it as is. [An additional problem]Another problem that came up was while we were moving the pairs and branding, we found two cows [that]who had extreme cases of mastitis.

Something I would change was how we handled the calf with the hernia. I would have castrated him and then put a different tag on his ear to make sure I did not sell him [and]then just keep him for meat for myself. Another thing I would change is taking down the ear tag numbers of the cows with mastitis so that I could cull them when the time was right, because their bag and teats were just too big and they needed to be sold.

I did not have any questions this week because it was just another regular week at the ranch.
[One thing]Something that I plan, and have already done, is to be more vigilant about looking for snakes while riding not only for my safety but for my horse’s safety as well.

The important thing about that is if I landed any closer, I could have gotten bit, or my horse could have gotten bit. With that the vet and hospital would have been at least forty-five minutes to an hour away and by that time there could have been severe damage. Something I plan on doinglike I have stated before is when I manage a ranch to make sure that there are books for the cattle to determine what should be culled and what should be kept back.