Moving Cattle Along the Highway

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The start of the week was a wonderful experience even though it was windy as usual here. First, we went to check on the cow-calf pairs on one of the leases to ensure all of the calves were present and doing well; then it was off to start the irrigation pump for the day. The excitement began as we went out to Centennial to drive the cattle there from their current pasture to a new grazing location – this move is to prevent overgrazing. We met up at the headquarters of the ranch, saddled up horses and then loaded everyone up into the truck and trailer then set out to the drop off point.

When we got to the starting point, everyone mounted and waited to hear what the plan was. Some of the cattle got out and went into a neighboring pasture. Our approach was to initially split up, in order to be more efficient in gathering the cattle, and then meet up with the two groups at an intersecting point. The first pasture was very rocky, slow and steady was the best option for our horses in order to ensure their safety, as well as ours. Once we started going, the goal was to ride parallels in order to keep the cattle together and moving. Once we hit the highway, someone had to watch and turn the cattle in order to push them along the ditch. Keeping them off the road was the most important task after that.

There were plenty of riders so we were able to keep everything moving well while staying down and away from the road. At certain points it was harder to get them to move along due to certain grasses along the ditch. Once we were off of the highway it was a lot less stressful as we did not have to worry about a car coming along and hitting either us or the cattle. It was interesting to see tourists’ reactions as they were driving by, as many of them may not have experienced or witnessed things like that. Soon, we were at the new grazing pasture; everyone gathered around and enjoyed that the job was done and the sun was out.

The rest of the week was focusing on the perimeter fence in order to stabilize home pasture. On Tuesday, spent grains were fed out to the pigs and chickens, after being picked up earlier that week. A local brewery calls when they have spent grains to be picked up and then oftentimes we run into town to pick them up. This is all the leftover grain from the process of making beer. It does not have an alcohol content, as they keep all that liquid. It helps save money on feed as well as helping the brewery not have to pay for a disposal cost of it.

Before I started this summer, BJ had started raising meat chickens indoors due to weather conditions. Now that the weather is starting to get warmer and there are not as many thunderstorms, it should be viable to put them outside. We started transferring them to an outdoor enclosure in order to allow them more space and fresh air while also freeing up space indoors. Once they are big enough and have all of their adult feathers, they will be free range chickens. This allows them space to run and their roaming helps with bug control.

At the end of the week, we started felting wool rugs. When a sheep fleece is taken off in one whole piece you can make a felted rug out of it. Other wool is carded and then used to lay on the back of it. One layer in one direction, the other is placed opposite of that. Then, when cold water is added and pressure is applied it helps flatten the layers together. Next you add hot water; this causes the felting process to start while also rolling the rug in the next steps. It was an interesting process and we produced two good-looking rugs. BJ will be taking them to the wool festival this upcoming weekend.

Submitted by: Savannah May
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team