by Jan Fielden
This past week we had a round-up. This round-up was a little different from the others we have had in the past. Normally, we lock them in the North East Pasture, which we did this time, then on the day that we want to get them in the corral; normally just two days later, The Colonel gives them his “call”. The cows come running to the gate that is closed and he gets them bunched up so they will follow on up to the trap. They came to the gate, but they would not bunch up for anything. Some of them stopped along the way to graze, to let their friends go past them, etc.
We did finally get most of them in the trap except for a couple of the bulls we wanted to take to Buffalo. We tried running them in, but they simply wouldn’t go and that’s when we just cut our losses and go on about our business with the ones we have caught. We always have a clean up a week or so later to get those that wouldn’t go in. Now, most all our cows in the Middle Herd are very gentle, except around strangers. Most cows react that way around strangers…they run in circles, run into the gates, fences, etc. We had a 700-pound bull along with a heifer in one pen. We were going to keep the heifer. The bull went crazy in the pen.
The Colonel and I both were inside the corral. This bull snorted and ran around and around. Then he did the one thing that isn’t allowed with any of our stock. He got mean, real mean. He ran up to The Colonel and before The Colonel could move, the bull pushed him into the fence and not very gently at that. The bull backed off and The Colonel walked over to the gate and got out of the corral (I would have run). The bull kept snorting and hitting gates and the fence most of the rest of the day. He won a trip to Buffalo on a one-way ticket! The heifer picked up on that real quick and she got mean too-kicking at us. She will be in the cleanup ride to Buffalo. We at the Red Oak like gentle workings!
