Well it's been a long journey, but I'm back, at least somewhat. I'm not quite up to full form, but am headed in the right direction. I am 8+ months post multi-level spinal fusion surgery. I was medically cleared to ride again. What great news. This is my first day back on a horse. After that major of a surgery, I found having strength and balance to be a bit of a challenge. But I actually had fewer muscle aches and spasms after riding a little.
Even though the first day back was a terribly windy and dusty day, I couldn't have been happier. Being out of it for a while gave me a new perspective and realization of just how much I love what I do.
The cowboys have spent the last month or more bringing the cows into the pastures on the ranch from the desert range. These days are long, slow and can be frustrating at times. Not to mention the weather in the spring can be anything from cold to hot, and almost ALWAYS windy. I just got in on the tail end of the job, helping bring in the last bunch.
Once the cows are in the pasture, we need to process the calves. This starts by us corralling the cows and calves, sorting out any dries, (dries are cows that did not come in with a calf ), then separating the cows from calves.
Normally we process our calves by roping them, which involves quite a large group of people. Because this year has been crazy with the COVID-19 pandemic, we needed to stick to a small crew to get the calves processed. So we used a calf table. Process, in our case, means to vaccinate, castrate, ear mark and tag the calves.
It works well to run calves this way, but is not the chosen way of the cowboys. They sure did a great job of it though.
My mom is here and she even got in on some of the action.
This little calf had a perfect heart on her forehead.
It takes only about 1 minute to process each calf once they are on the table. Then they jump out and go on their way without too much stress or trauma to them. When they are processed they return to their moms and go about grazing in the green pasture.
It takes only about 1 minute to process each calf once they are on the table. Then they jump out and go on their way without too much stress or trauma to them. When they are processed they return to their moms and go about grazing in the green pasture.
I hope to be sharing more of my story in the near future. I hope I haven't lost all of my followers. It's great to be back.
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