Home on the Range

Today we headed up to the cabin to bring the cows home for the winter. I can't believe how fast this summer flew by, it seems like we just took them up. We are bringing them home a little earlier than the past few years and that is only because we are supposed to get socked in with weather in the next couple of days.

John came by this morning and asked Kelle and I if we were willing to take the horses to the cabin to round up any stray cows that were not with the rest of the herd. Of course we jumped at the chance to play cowgirls. We saddled the horses quickly and loaded them up into the truck and headed up to the cabin. We rode for about an hour and actually found 3 strays on our neighbors land. As soon as the cows saw that we were after them, they took off running. Missy, Sassie and little Sheeza, never having any experience in chasing cows, ran after them and headed them off into the right direction as if they have been doing it all of their lives. It was almost as if it were instinct. When we got to about the place where we originally saw the cows, the mama cow decided to jump the fence into our property. So Kelle and I thought we will just bring down the younger calves and the mama would make her way down by herself. We were doing actually pretty well until one of the babies decided he didn't like being away from the mom took off and jumped the fence as well. To make a long story short, we lost all three because they went into the thick brush, were we could not go on horse back. But we knew they were heading in the right direction so Kelle and I decided to head back down as well, we could see darkening clouds in the horizon and w knew we didn't want to get stuck riding in the elements. We made it to the valley and told John and Chris what had happened and they said the cows would make it down and not to worry. We loaded the cows that we had, into the semi and stock truck and headed for home. After the semi was unloaded John, Chris and I went back up to the cabin to get the remaining cows and the horses that could not fit in the load prior. As we got there, we saw that the one of the calves that Kelle and I had chased, was down by the corral and we were able to put it with the other cows. Now all we needed was the black mama and the other calf and they will all be home, but they were no where to be seen. So we left a couple bales of hay in the corral and know that with the coming snow, those two cows will be coming out of the hills for the easy food and we will gather them up then and bring them home safely.

Even though we still have those two cows up there, John was very pleased to have the horses up there and for our willingness to help. Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to live on a farm or have a ranch were I could do this kind of stuff. And here I am today.
I am loving it.