“These are the times that try men's souls.” | I know a lot of cowboys that don't know squat about cows! LOL Yeah they can drive, push cow down a trail, follow them for miles, but do they know how to doctor, pull a calf, treat a sprattled cow, splint a calf's leg, bottle feed a calf, market a pen of calves, pick a bull for genetic qualities needed to produce a uniform pot of calves?
We do work our cattle a horseback, but during calving time it's 4-wheelers, trucks, tractors that we are on. Only saddle up when needed, try to push, trail cattle to calving grounds a good three weeks before calving. Then it's checking water, looking for problem cows, and calving heifers at home place. Most all saddle horses have had the last 4 months off here, most everybody will start branding here this weekend, will brand off and on for the next month. All branding will be done a horseback in this area.
Gone are the days of spending all day every day a horseback, 4-wheelers, UTV's, backhoes, trucks are needed to get everything done in a short amount of time. Even the big outfits I know still have to trailer a hour or so to get to cattle, as we do.
If a cowboy doesn't know how to fill and use a grease gun, and run a goon-spoon (shovel) here they aren't needed on this place.
Do you know how to pick the cowboy from the cowman when you ride up to a wire gate that needs to be opened a horseback? Well the cowman will open the gate a horseback or a foot, the cowboy will be off to the side schooling his horse to spin trying to get out of opening the gate! That is the fastest way to be get on the bad side of a cowboss on any outfit in the west!
I've seen a lot of good cowboys that can trail cattle with a 4-wheeler or motorbike or a horseback equally well. They know where to be, when a cow needs to be turned or let trail on her own. It is a pleasure to work with people that know these skills. |
Not sure how real cowboys do it!
