Working the Grass Calves by: Lindsay Hays

The other weekend we worked Aunt Bon and Uncle Will’s grass calves at the ranch we’re renting from Aunt Carolyn.  These calves were the first group that we had run through the working facility.  The unique thing about this place is that it has what is called a turret loading system.

First, Matt would get a group of calves.

Then he’d take them up to the barn.

Where he would then push the calves into the “tub” while he sat on his horse with a remote controlled tub gate.  That’s the cool thing about this place. The butt gates in the alley and the tub gates are all hydraulic.  Matt loved being able to load the cattle and stay on his horse all day!

Then I would catch their head in the chute and give them a new ear tag.

And Abby would give them shots on her side.

Aunt Bon put implants in and gave shots on her side of the chute.  99% of the time she had the gun working smoothly.  But of course, the 1% of the time that it didn’t work we had time to get a picture.  😊

And Uncle Will would put the – L brand on all the steers.

And in a matter of minutes the little guy was set free to his pasture to spend the rest of his day relaxing.

I imagine this is what the calf’s reaction would be if he were to know what this thing did before it was too late.  (It is a dehorner.)

Here we are enjoying our lunch that we had packed along with us.

And we filled a soup bowl with some water, because we thought Rip deserved a little drink after all his hard work.

We had a good day of working cattle!  It was fun to test out the new facilities and spend the day doing what we love.

Have a good rest of your day!