Herding Cows

At the beginning of May we needed to move the cows from one pasture to another so we could finish up immunizations and castrations. Kamryn, Jaxson, Hallie, and Wes rode the horses while the rest of us rode in the ranger with Papa. Wes is pretty good on a horse, and his horse knows how to work cattle, but its always a little tough when the kids help, because they don't really know what to do. And even when they know what to do, getting their horse to actually do it is another story. Which is why I prefer to be a spectator.

Kamryn on Rusty

Jaxson on Hercules...he has almost outgrown his pony, but he doesn't want to give him up

Hallie on Lady, and Wes on Chet in the background. It was about this time that Lady threw Hallie off. Luckily Hallie was fine, but it was really scary to watch from so far away and not be able to do anything about it. After that Hallie got right back on (no way would I have!) and we were so proud of her for being so brave.

It even sprinkled on us a little bit.

And we ended the afternoon by castrating one of the bulls. It was a long and not so fun job. I really never thought this kind of stuff would be a part of my life! Wes is always a champ, doing most of the work by himself, even though we help out here and there when we can. Someday Jaxson will be big enough to actually take on some of that work/burden. Until then we have little cowgirls and a cowboy in training.