On the Trail
#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk
This week was full of early mornings! We started trailing at the beginning of this week. I have never heard of trailing until I got here. At home, we move our cows from pasture to pasture by loading them in trailers and hauling them to another pasture.
Here on the ranch, they trail their cows to another pasture. The cows that we moved were on Bureau of Land management land. We have been tacking up our horses at 3:30 A.M. and getting to the pasture right when the sun rises. We spread out and start gathering the cows. We take them on the stock drive until we hit our destination of the water truck or a reservoir so the cows can rest overnight. By the time we get there again in the morning, most of the cows are around the same place but there are times when they spread out so we do the same thing where we spread out and gather them on to the stock drive.
I think a concept from this week I would challenge is the usage of horses. We usually give our horses a one-day break but even then some of them are very out of shape and tired. I think that a good idea would be to start exercising them before trailing season because it is long days for them, and they start to get lazy and tired. It would also be helpful to have some horses that have previous cow experience and are eager to want to work.
I would like to know how they decide when to move the cows and how they decide who uses the stock drive and if they have a schedule. Another question I have is what is the benefits of trailing versus just hauling them in a truck and trailer.
It is very handy to move cows with horses. At home we use side-by-sides and it is not very efficient. One thing that I would take back to our operation, is moving cows with horses so that we have the ability to go wherever they go and to be able to gather them.
Submitted by: Danielle Wadsworth
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
