Can I do cattle farm without a tractor?

cowboydoc · Jul 3, 2004

Yea Bird cattle will get accustomed to alot of things. But they don't like change and for cattle their main defense is to run. So when they see a threat they run!!!

As far as working cattle with horses I wouldn't do it any other way. I can get a cow or a herd to do most anything on a horse but on foot I just get mad, /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif. Can't run as fast as I used to. Working cattle is an art though. You have to know where to push the cow, how to turn them, who's the boss and how to read each one. A push or release here and there makes all the difference.

Speaking of being there for cattle we had one of those days yesterday. My daughters were riding yesterday morning and came across a calf that had gotten mixed in with the horses. Well it was a pretty new calf and was trying to nurse on the mares. They were kicking him and knocking him down and he just kept going from one to the other. My one daughter got in the middle of them and kept the mares away from calf. The other daughter rode to get my wife at the barn. She came back and got the calf back in the right pasture with his momma. Then she sees a cow stuck in the pond. So she goes down and ropes that cow and gets in to help her while my daughter pulls her out with the horse. They get her out and back out of the pond. Her calf goes through the fence instead of the gate and gets caught up in it. My wife goes to get the calf out, the calf jerks, and she gets pulled into the fence and gets a couple good shocks, remember she's wet from being in the pond. They finally get everything straightened out.

That night I get home about 7:30 from the office and figure I better go up and check the calves. Sure enough can't find the one calf that was in the fence. I know it's been gone awhile as the momma is pretty bagged up. Probably hasn't nursed for at least four or five hours. I look for him but can't find the calf. I call the girls and they come up to help look with their horses. At 10:30 we finally find him. There was an old fence we hadn't taken down yet and we they ran off from the pond the calf must have gotten on the other side and layed down. Well by this time I've got him up and he's ok. He starts bawling and here comes the momma. Behind me is the new fence. The calf starts struggling and I fall back in the fence and can't get up cause the calf is laying on me and I'm half in the fence getting the grief shocked out of me!!! Finally get off the fence and get the calf back with his momma.

Just another day on the ranch.... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Bird · Jul 3, 2004

( Just another day on the ranch )

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gifYep, doesn't sound too unusual, but you hope you don't have too many days like that. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

riptides · Jul 4, 2004

( Ain't cattle ranchin' fun? )

The only way I handle cattle is on my plate.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

cowboydoc · Jul 4, 2004

No four or five days a month like that Bird. The rest of the days are spent doing the same thing with the horses, trying to get machinery to work right and fixing breakdowns, fighting the weather and bugs, figuring out how to make it profitable, etc. Wouldn't change a thing though.

It compares to golf to me. As an avid duffer I play for the one good game or the one great shot. You can play ten bad games and have 100 bad shots but that one sweet shot, long putt, eagle, or best game ever keeps you addicted and playing on. Ranching is the same way. Our second cutting of hay has been a beauty of a crop for hay. One of our best ever. And the feeling of finding that calf alive and getting him back to his momma. Selling a great looking crop of calves for a great price. Taking a horse you raised to a championship. It's rewarding. Yes the mulligans, three putts, and lost balls outnumber the good ones by a long shot but that one great 340 year drive to the green makes it all worth it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

MFL · Jul 4, 2004

Egon,

Are you asking because you don't know, or are you checking on our knowledge of "cow history"?

During the late 1800's, when the cattle business really started to become an industry, the only way to get them from West to East was by railcar. In the cities of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, etc. , huge cattle lots encircled every railyard. If you were a burnt out cowboy, drunkard, lay-about or any other unsavory type, you could usually find day labor in these lots making a dollar of two a day. One of the jobs going was as a "cowpoke". Two or more men would stand on either side of a loading chute leading to the railcar, and if the cattle balked at loading, it was their job to "poke" the beaves with a long wooden rod, and get them to load. Way before the days of electric cattle prods, you had "cowpokes".

Back then being called a cowpoke didn't have the same romantic, friendly feeling it has today. Then, if you were a cowpoke, it meant you were maybe a rung or two above the spitoon cleaners! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

BTW, it has nothing to do with the more unsarvory idea of a lonely cowboy out on the plains, wishing for some female companionship, and being surrounded by a sea of cows!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Poppa · Jul 4, 2004

I think you just spelled out the key to life Richard. If there is something you want to do, really love doing, then Do it. But remember to go into anything with your eyes wide open and fully aware of all the pitfalls that are associated with your endeavor.

I've always been a romantic. I can see the allure of something without filling my brain with all the possible things that can go wrong. Makes for a pretty picture in my brain but sure comes as a rude awakening when I am crotch deep in alligators. Farming and ranching surely fall into the "Romantic" category but somehow, maybe thanks to grandparents who fought through it, I have never been silly enough to give it a try.

If I ever do take up ranching, it will be one animal and it will either end up on my own plate or die of old age in my front yard. Anything I farm will also end up on my plate. And, If my farming and ranching ends up like so many of my other "hobbies", well then I thank you in advance for being crazy enough to keep me fed.

Mike

EastTexFrank · Jul 4, 2004

Cowboydoc and Bird,

For me, you guys pretty much summed up what raising cattle and ranching is all about.

Someday, someone ought to write a book of "Cow Stories". I've got a few I'd like to contribute and I'm sure the other members have to. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

herdfan · Jul 4, 2004

( BTW, it has nothing to do with the more unsarvory idea of a lonely cowboy out on the plains, wishing for some female companionship, and being surrounded by a sea of cows!! )

Reminds me of a story my dad told me of a lonely, somewhat mentally challenged stall hand at the local horse farm. Guess he would have been called a "pony poke?"

BobJG · Jul 4, 2004

My father-in-law who is a long time dairy farmer says you should always buy as many horsepower as you have acreage. As well every farm must have at least one pickup truck and one loader tractor.

This puts you in need of a 30 HP utility tractor, and a nice 20 HP riding mower as it sounds like you already have the truck.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Egon · Jul 4, 2004

My interpetation was from long before the stock yards and loading chutes.

It was when poles were used to herd cattle in the days before the lariat.

Egon