The Trails End
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This week found the conclusion to trailing! As much as I loved it and saw some amazing views I’ll never forget, I was ready for a couple days rest. It was a short week because of the 4th, but still full of experiences. I learned about what a water bladder is, what it looks like when a cow has possibly eaten too much clover, and how to know when to call it a day.
While bringing the rest of the older cows up the mountain, we stopped at a water tank and there was this big, well bladder looking thing sitting by it. After making a comment about it, they explained to me that it is called a bladder, and it holds water from the spring to supply the water tank. We had to guard it to make sure the calves and cows didn’t walk on it and pop a hole in it. That day I also learned that if a cow has eaten too much clover, she will get a bloody nose. I saw a cow that had a bloody nose and notified my host about it, and he told me she was an older cow and could have eaten too much clover. He said it can be fatal if they consume too much, but he said she could also be sick, as she walked in the back of the herd the whole trip and had some difficulty finishing the last of the trip. Luckily, we found her a few days later and she seems to be recovering.
Perhaps the hardest lesson to learn is when to admit defeat and try again tomorrow. The plan was to move the girls we brought up the mountain a couple days prior to a corral, so we could vaccinate calves the next day. Unfortunately for us, the cattle had other plans. They were scattered all over a canyon and into the bushes, not wanting to come together. They would not “pair up”, which is when the cows find and walk with their calves, and the calves won’t follow the group if they’re not with their moms. After struggling for half the day to get them over a couple hills, trying to keep them going in the right direction and fetch some of our cows from the neighbor’s pasture, my host made the call that we would have to come back tomorrow. It was late in the afternoon and only about 2/3 of the cows were staying paired, about 20 calves had turned back to the start and a handful of cows were following the calves back. By that point, everyone was tired and frustrated, so we banded together to push the 2/3 of the herd that was cooperating to the next pasture, so they were at least heading the right direction. Unfortunately, I was not able to come back to help the next day to round up the cows and calves we had turn back, but I was told it went great and majority of them were paired up and around the area we had left them.
I think knowing when to call it and trying again later is a lesson that is hard for everyone to learn. I was grateful to be able to experience it in a way I haven’t before, as I haven’t had a timeline to move cows to pastures and vaccinations due. I’m ready to bring that experience with me for the future and be able to look back and see that everything worked out in the end.
Submitted by: Ronnie Owens
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team
