It's that time of year again......green grass, fresh cattle and Cowboys that are eager to get out of the winter feed truck life and get their butt's back in the saddle. After a long winter of the same ole day in and day out of stringing yearlings on a feed line and pulling sick cattle......summer prowling is always something to look forward to. Before cattle can be turned out to summer pasture they all need to be processed, sorted and shaped up. Time is very valuable this time of year so everything must run smooth and steady.....and this is how it goes.
The gather.....Me, Chris, Josh and the bigger kids headed out for the back side (not mine of course because they had to go to school which they were not happy about, but the Drummond kids are regular hands for workings because they all are home schooled). Once everybody was back to the herd with the cattle they found in their country we headed to the pens with them. At the pens the work began.
Step by step we worked 200 head and hour....and this is how we did it.......
Tim Kill...... who has put in 15+ years cowboying for the Drummond's is in the back keeping the pens full and moving cattle around, but his most important job is to keep the little boys in line and their little bodies busy, which can be a full time job on it's own.....Both kids and traditions are very important to the ranch.
Tim Drummond and Chris.....Tim being one of Chris' bosses was to help Chris keep the snake full at all times and keep cattle pushed up to the Chute Girls......which were Alex and I (Alex is Ladd and Ree's daughter).....She would keep the snake tight and pushed up, and I would make sure there was always a head going in and a tail going out.....with out a steer in the chute at all times progress would be slowed down.
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| My view all day!! |
Then there is the crew in the front......Josh (bub) is a young single Cowboy that has worked for Drummonds for 10 years or so.....he was running the chute today. His job is just as important as the rest of us......and while running the chute he was giving wormer (all cattle got a shot of wormer to deworm them allowing them to gain more weight).
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| Hallie....doing her job! |
Then there is Hallie.....Tim's daughter.....her job was to keep the syringe full of LA 200 (a medication given for bad eyes) It was hard for her to pull the medicine and hold the syringe all at the same time, but she got creative and figured out what worked for her and by using feet and everything else.. lol......There were several bad eyes from the ash off the burnt grass, so she stayed VERY busy!
Next is Ladd, Tim's brother and Chris' other boss (Ladd is married to Ree, The Pioneer Women).....his job was to implant, which is a small pill like tablet that is put in their ear and absorbs for the next 90 days making the cattle grow and gain weight at a faster rate........this also is a VERY important step to the processing.
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| Pete!! |
Last but not least is Pete....not sure how long Pete has worked for the T Apple brand but he is a big asset to the ranch.....I love to listen to Pete sing, and he always has some kind of burrito for all of us to eat on. His jobs was to fly tag, each steer got a fly tag to TRY and help keep the flies down this summer! When steers are not knocking off flies, their heads are down and eating.....so once again this is to help with the gain...
Well when you put all that crew together with all the right tools we can process 200 head an hour.......that is alot of bovine......but when you have thousands to do every year, you get pretty good at it!!
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| Chris and Hallie kicking cattle out to Summer Grass!! |
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