Spring Roundup

Last Saturday was spring roundup at the old Busted Handle calf factory.  Amy, Kathy and I were joined by Jeff and Krista, Ed Kearn, and Lauren and Kyle Trodden to gather and treat 27 cows, 20  baby calves and 1 bull.  It was a beautiful day, cool but sunny, and we started with a nutritious breakfast of Texas-shaped waffles.

Breakfast

Then we went outside and called them into the pens.  With the extra help it went pretty smoothly, and we separated the calves to work first.  They each got an ear tag, matching tattoo and one shot.  Jeff started tagging and tattoing, Amy giving shots and bossing people around, and everybody else opening gates and keeping the chute loaded.  Kyle soon picked up tagging and tattooing, giving Jeff's knees a rest.  There was so much I help I didn't have to do much and we finished the calves pretty quickly and took a water break before starting on the cows.

Lauren and Ed move calves

Tagging and tattooing calves

The cows each got 3 shots and a pour-on anti-parasitic, as well as a quick general health evaluation.  Kyle started as the pour-on moron but moved up to wrangler, allowing Lauren to move into a skill position.  She, Krista and Amy gave shots and Kathy kept the records.

Krista comforts a calf

Don't drink it, Lauren

We replaced our new Angus bull's ear tags with some custom Heyroth Ranch ones and gave him 2 shots.  We heard him introducing himself to a few of the cows through the fence and making some dates for breeding season.

Tagging the bull

New tags

It was a great day.  Sunny enough to get sunburned but cool enough to not stress the animals--bovines or humans.  We all got nice and dirty, a little tired, a little burned and had a lot of fun and followed up with good BBQ brisket sandwiches.  The cows and calves are back contentedly grazing in the oat field.  I'll catch them once more soon to separate them into breeding herds, put the bulls in and let nature take its course.

Thanks to everybody for your help.  You're all invited back for weaning in the fall.  Come join us and we'll put you to work too.

Baseball Again...Finally

Enhanced Truckage

Apparently some varmint saw his shadow and gave us one last (I hope) winter blast.  This one brought a tiny bit of rain (.4") which was welcome, and some hail which wasn't because...

...I'd just brought home a new truck.  I traded in the Ford which wasn't a bad truck, but was limited by its payload/hauling capacity and its V-6 engine.  This one is a big Dodge 4x4 and can haul or pull most anything.  I imagine Paul is pleased to know it even has power windows.  Now our fleet consists of the new one and the '94 Chevy which still runs good, or at least as good as it ever did.  I have gooseneck hitches in both so we can haul round bales, cows or whatever we need to.  I put a toolbox in the bed of the Chevy so the seats can be a little more accessible to humans.  It blocks the view of the hitch, so I'll have to figure out a system for hooking up.  You can't see the hitch in the new one from the front seat anyway, so I might as well put a toolbox in it too.  I'll probably miss the Ford at the gas pump.

This pose of the fleet reminds me of 2 old friends of Gonzo's who had been known to howl at the moon occasionally.  They both bought new 4WD pickups, one a Ford and the other a Chevy, and the trash talk began immediately.  They decided to settle it one night at the Hog's Breath Saloon, backed them up to each other in the gravel parking lot, and hooked the bumper hitches together with a log chain.  Within seconds they destroyed both bumpers, tailgates and every tail light assembly, mirror and back window in both trucks and dug a set of trenches in the parking lot a World War I field marshal would have been proud of.  Asked later if they had settled anything one of them, known for his ability to see the silver lining, said "Naw, but we've got the only log chain in Harris County you can push."  I heard they told their wives they were minding their own business, duck hunting over at Anahuac, when this big hailstorm came out of nowhere...

Life is good.  Come see us and go for a truck ride.