~~Not So Calm Before the Storm~~ Man it is hot today. From 2-3:30 PM, I took care of the calves and cows in the assistance pen. By 3:30 PM it was beginning to look more promising about some sort of storm brewing and taking shape to the W. Looks to be a couple of counties away. The advantage to where I live is that we are sort of high and able to get an estimate of where the weather builds and travels. Things were in good order at the NW and N pastures of heavies. It was time to buzz to the S two places and see if 46416 was still making laps around the N part of the S pastures. She has been in nearly every nook & cranny so far today. With the storms building and the wind shifting Id just as soon she be done when I get back up there. Hawk, Ducchess, Bandit and me...the driver...were going to see if we could find the range sister. She was the only one missing as we counted and checked heavies off the mental next up list. Yep, we found her. She was at the furthest place away from the corrals...plum clear to the NE corner of the N pasture. Okay. Do I leave her be? Or, do I put a couple of cowdogs on her and have then trail her to the corral? Hum. Thinking. Tomorrow is to be rainy. Hum. Tonight is to be stormy. Hum. H u m. I turned around and snapped up Bandit and said to Hawk & Ducchess, Girls, take her to the corral. Hawk & Ducchess hopped off the iron steed and got in behind the cow and started her across the branch and up the hill. The cow kept wanting to turn back and head back to the corner. I had to take my time to get back across the branch and creep up the steep bank on the iron steed. The cowdogs had lined the cow back out and they were taking her up the E fenceline. This steep, rocky hill has a open path dozed out between the E and W sides of the hill. Sort of a ridge and it breaks off really steep to the E and the W. I got half way up the open path and whistled to the cowdogs, Girls bring er. Ducchess got to the outside far side of the cow and began to haze her my way. Hawk was runnin the drag and the keeping the right side covered. The cow came up into the open area, crossed some dozed up brush and began to head SW through the brush. Perfect. I called out to Ducchess and Hawk, Good girls, bring er on. The disadvantage to the whole scenario was that I had to travel due S to get to the end of the open area before I could turn and head WSW to head down the steep rocky hill. My goal in my mind was to hopefully find Ducchess and Hawk with the cow at the branch when I caught back up to them. It took me awhile but when I got to the branch, there was Hawk & Ducchess with the cow...waiting with 2 new pairs. Hum. Well, this is good. Sorta. Okay, Ducchess, Hawk, bring em. This will be a trick. But the cowdogs have done this before. Goal? As the pairs begin to move my way, maybe they will drift off and I can have Ducchess & Hawk let them pause and I can guide Ducchess and Hawk to the single cow that I want. Hum. Lookie, lookie...its working. Ducchess & Hawk got their single cow across the branch and then let the pairs drift to the S. All was going great until Ducchess turned to see the pairs strolling back to the brush and she wanted to head them off. I called out, Ducchess...no...here. Ducchess stopped and looked at the single cow, then at the pairs and I said, Ducchess...no...here. She came and got back in behind her single cow. Then kaboom to the W was a blast of thunder. Hawk stayed with the single cow until she got her across the next branch and headed up the last hill. Hawk was panicking...thunder! I told her, Hawk, no...stay with her. Hawk stayed the course but she was picking up the single cows pace from a steady walk to a brisk walk. As the cowdogs got the single cow to the last grove of trees they picked up about a dozen other cows and brought them all on up the hill to the corral. I didnt care. And actually, it was a very smart move on the cowdogs part. The single cow was going to be less likely to stall or turn back if she had other range sisters in her company. The cows filed into the corral, I shut the gate and Hawk was clearly ready to head home. Not so fast Suzie. We have to go to the S pasture and get that calf that is on the wrong side of the fence, Load up. Off we went. In behind the calf and the cowdogs bailed off and walked the youngster up the hill to the corrals. I got the gate and we let the little one back to its mother. Okay. Now to sort off the 2 heavies and hold them in the corral lot overnight. Piece of cake. I ran some water in a tub, turn the spares out and opened the gates for the 2 heavies so that they had the lot pen for the night. The cowdogs & I left for home. About 1/2 mile from home the lightening to the W was getting pretty fierce. Hawk was in a panic. I got home and took Hawk to the basement at moms. Ducchess & Bandit & I got the feed for the steers and took off to bring the steers home before it rained. It was cooling off rapidly...hailing somewhere. The sky was pea green and the clouds were swaying back and forth and not really going anywhere, but it was getting greener by the minute. All we got was wind and a dirt storm. Then about 8 tonight we got a splash of rain. It has been pretty intense though with tornado warnings and watches for a few hours. A sniff of rain is better than no rain, right? Hopefully when morning comes there wont be any dead stock from the lightening and we will find no messes to fix or haul off. ~Fingers Xd
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 02:12:55 +0000
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