Ranch

I spent the day up at the ranch with Kyle yesterday.

I was hoping to leave out of here about

7:30 in the morning, but that didn't work out.

I finally was all fueled up and on the

road about 8:20.

When I got to the ranch, Kyle and I headed

out so he could show me all the work

he has been doing on the property.

And we also picked a couple of early

BLACKBERRIES!

He is going to have a bumper crop

in just a couple of weeks.

But one bush, hiding under an oak tree

already had some ripe.

And then it was out to the back

to gather up his cows.

They were feeling very cooperative!

We opened the gate and they just

sort of headed on in!

It was all very nice, quiet, non-stressful!

We got them all into the holding pen

and then slowly shooshed them into

the alley in small groups.

As big as 7 or 8 and as small as 2 or 3.

Once they were in the alley,

Kyle walked along the cat walk and

sprayed each one on the back for flies.

Then we opened the slide gate and

they walked onto the scales.

I recorded their ear tag number and weight

and we opened the door and let them out.

Some of the groups had babies in it.

Kyle was able to get in there quietly

and sort the babies off into the small

calf pen off to the side.

Then we worked a group of about 6 babies.

They are so small, they can turn around 

in the alley, so it was a challenge to get

them headed the right way and into the scales.

But everybody was pretty cooperative.

Until the last two.

A little male/female pair who are 

VERY bonded.

They tried to get in together.

But we needed them one at a time.

Split off the little girl and got her in there.

And she FREAKED OUT!

Turned around and was desperately trying

to get back to her little friend.

Stuck her head between the bars of the

slider gate... and got STUCK!

She was REALLY stuck!

Pulling back, bawling, I thought she was

going to pull her ears off. Or pop an eye ball out.

Or something...

I went around to the other side and tried to

push her so she was lined up straight.

She fought against that.

She was really pulling hard!

Kyle finally got in the alley in front

of her head and pulled up on her jaw

until she finally got the right angle

and popped her head back out.

Whew!

We were really stumped!

A quick weight and out she went.

We saved "Tex" a Texas Longhorn for last.
She had her new little guy with her and we
were afraid it would get squished in the alley
if he was in there with the other mamas.
Once the mamas and babies were all back
in their pasture, we tried to figure out
how to move the 4 extra heifers from a
front pasture to the facility.
They are being kept separate since 1 is going
down to the Melbourne farm, 2 are sold
for grass-fed beef once they come up to weight,
and one is a Melbourne farm reject.
There is no "alley" connecting the front pasture
with the facility yet, so we hoped we could
either lead or drive them.

Nope.

They ended up in the main alley by accident,
and ran all the way to the very back corner
of the property, and then we got them turned around
and pushed them back up to the facility.

It took 45 minutes!

And 5 minutes to run them through,
weigh and spray
and then when we let them back out,
they headed straight to their pasture!

We were done in about 10 minutes!

These are the miscreants.

Molly is the red one up front.
The two black ones are the grass-feds.
And the one in the middle with the little dot
on her head is Sunny - heading to Melbourne
one of these days.

We used two gates and a buggy to make a
make-shift alley to get the heifers from the
pasture into the facility.
It worked when they got OUT.
But not much for going IN.

Before I got there, Kyle made a trip into town
and bought himself a new crockpot
and a pork roast "kit" including the veggies and seasonings.
It smelled heavenly!

But I didn't get to stay.
I still had to run into Ocala and pick up some
feed for our farm and then get home.

On my way out, Kyle picked me some flowers!

I enjoyed them on my drive home.

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I got up this morning to a colic-y horse.
Andy didn't feel well.

He curled up in the shade for about an hour.
And then he got up, got a drink of water,
and went back to grazing.

Silly boy.
Glad he's feeling better.