This is the view from my rear view mirror...yes, I am the cow's equivalent to the "Ice cream truck." haha
I was out working at sunrise and I had to snap a picture or two...
It has been a busy few days...
I went to a bull sale in Alvarado to buy some more bulls for the ranch. I always enjoy these type events but I also often feel a bit like a worm in a punch bowl. I am usually one of the only females at these events and often time I find that men do not take me seriously because I am a girl.
I also had to gather a pasture of cows and "work" their calves... this involves castrating the males, giving all of them an injection of a vaccine that protects them from many form of Clostridium, giving them a growth implant and notching their ear so we know they have been "worked." The cows also receive 2 injections...one to "deworm" them and one to protect them against reproductive diseases. I try to gather as many as possible into a small "trap" (a 5 acre pasture)but there are always a few who won't cooperate and so they have to be gathered the good ol fashioned way...by horse back.
I also had to gather a pasture of cattle that have newborn babies because some of the babies got scours (diarrhea) and one calf died. I had to give the calves that were really sick a shot of antibiotics and a bolus (giant Imodium pill for cattle) and the others a vaccination to prevent them from catching the scours.
I will be gathering yet another pasture of cattle in the next weeks to wean and sell their calves.
....the work of a rancher is never done.
