The Snowy Road Home

Last week we talked about feeding hay and this week we started feeding more cows.  Greet Ranch cows have spent the last couple of months out in the badlands eating grass.  They have been in a "group" allotment, meaning that they are grazing with cattle from other ranches.  

Over the last few days we have have gathered our cows and brought them in to the hay fields where they now are being fed.  Usually, most of them are standing by the gate, impatiently waiting for some kind person to let them through to the hay.  We will often have to herd them out to better grass repeatedly so they don't simply stand by the gate. However, the warm weather of the past week had melted much of the snow.  This made more grass available and made water run in the draws and creek.  This year, with such easy access to feed and water, we had to actually search for our cattle and convince them to start trekking toward home even with the recent addition of fresh snow.

Jekyll looking for instructions. 1/11/18

Part of this includes sorting our cattle from the others and directing them the correct direction.  After they were convinced to follow the snowy road home, it was easy duty for me.  Jekyll was able to do all of the hard work.  He was excited because, if you could ask him, there is never enough work to be done.  After they realized what they were doing and what was at the end of the journey, they decided to hike the rest of the way without much encouragement. Now they seem to be happy being served their meals instead of finding it for themselves.

by Brandon Greet