Another Case of "Who Left the Gate Open?"

Actually...it was "Who was the dumb a$$ that cut the lock off the gate and left it open?"

Not to stereo type, but most likely it was some damn city slicker hunter. Locals don't do that sort of thing without telling the land owner...because they would have had a reason to cut the lock to get through the gate...but locals would have shut the gate behind them!

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday trying to straighten out the mess.

About 10 bulls and 50 pair (who had gone out the open gate) came back to the 3J Ranch when it snowed a couple of weeks ago and were in the bull's winter field.

Bull winter field...we spread out to gather the field.

Viewing God's Country...my fav photo of the day.

I ended up with most of the bulls and of course they split. Rastus was good help in kicking the one group down the hill to Jerry then he came back to me to help drive the others.

After everything was gathered, we sorted out the bulls and some older cows. There was a newborn calf too (one of those surprises that you really don't want to happen), so we sorted them off.

We drove the rest back up into another field that had good feed in it still.

Taking the herd threw the grassy low lands...then up
a hill to another field.

Mineral tubs were put out...hoping the cows would be happy enough to stay there and not come back down to the ranch. The weather is fairly warm with no snow in for forecast, so they should be pretty happy. I had to take my jacket off in the afternoon and just had a vest on...it was a beautiful day!

Headin' back to ranch at the end of day one.

Day two, we trailered the horses and took another trailer for cows about 5 miles south to a neighbor's place. Cows had been seen in the hills behind that ranch when it had snowed. So we started there hoping to find some close enough to take them to the corrals on that ranch.

Looking south to Steens Mountain off on the horizon.

All we found were lots of old tracks. So we split up and road north with the plan to meet at the canyon of Curtis Creek.

From high up on the rim rock, Ty saw some pairs down on the creek. So, Jerry and I rode down Curtis Creek, and Ty continued north up a draw to close the gate. We met up again at Rifle Spring.

Riding down Curtis Creek...one rocky son of a gun...but very pretty!
It was a cloudy day and looks a bit dreary. My little point and shoot
just doesn't capture like a good camera.

We found the pairs and got them heading north.

They first wanted to give us the run around, but after we got them bunched up, they decided to be good cows and herd!

We got them up and over the hill toward the ranch then turned them east through the low lands where we put the cows from the day before.

Actually, we were expecting to find more, but believe that the other cows went back into their field through the open gate. After combing the field where we found these, they're pretty confident that we got everyone back.

Two long days in the saddle, and my knees were killing me, Colt's hooves were getting sore...but wouldn't miss it for anything! Rastus...he was ready for another day!

A Cow Dog Play Day

Last Sunday, we loaded up Rastus and Cindy Sue for a day trip over to Prineville. Tom Blasdell with Tuf Stock Dogs (who I got Rastus from) was having a play day for cow dogs.

It was a lot of fun...got to meet a gal from FaceBook...and play with Rastus on cows!

No, this lil' cutie below is not mine (we're full up on dogs and horses!). It's from a litter that are about 8 weeks old now and are out of one of Tom's best dogs, Heifer.

Oh so precious!!!

Tom Blasdell starting young pups on sheep.

At this stage, Tom's looking to see what kind of instinct the pups have. It's funny to see some just get right in there and want to chew a leg off, and then see others that are content to sit back and look on...and others that are too busy playing to show much interest. But, it's not always a cut and dry case after the pups get old enough to actually start training...some may have more or less intensity that they first show.

It was just fun to see the lil' butter balls show off their stuff!

Everyone got to work their dogs a couple of times. Tom had a competition style course set up where you had your dog take the 3 head of calves around an obstacle (I attempted), through another obstacle, between the fence and an obstacle...turn around and go back through...and if you wanted, you could open the gate and take the herd to the outside course which was through a gate, around an obstacle, through the water and back through the gate.

I stuck to the "inside" course...just the highlights...

I've got a long way to go to perfect this technique!!! And, I'm not showing you our wrecks ;~)

My Man was the photographer as usual, and I'm glad he did the video...I learned a lot of what I'm not doing correctly by watching myself...even though I cringe. It's just part of the learning curve.

We were supposed to have another clinic here at our place this weekend with Tom, but had to cancel it because I scheduled it with two other really fun events going on the same weekend in the area (one in Redmond and one in Winnemucca). So, we'll get a clinic going in the spring.

In the meantime, I'll work our 3 heifers here at home and go to Tom's for a lesson once a month or so.

Missin' Momma

Pierce is missing his momma...but is not as worried as day one and two. He was not happy when I took Colt to go gather cows yesterday even though I put Whiskey in the run next to him...he loves his brother!

Lil's sad eyes.

What's with the star on the forehead that he didn't have before? Beats me...we're trying to figure it out! I'm going to try washing it and see what happens. I talked to the vet and she said she's never heard of spots coming in after they were born (except scar type color changes).