by Jan Fielden
Round-ups around the ranch are exciting, energizing, sad sometimes, and even dangerous almost every time! People who are working in the pens always need to be alert and able to move fast at the drop of a hat. You can plan a round-up down to the very last cow or calf you are going to sell but you cannot plan how any of them are going to act in the pens, in the open, or in the trailer.
We had a round-up on the 15th of November and while it started out smoothly it ended with complications! The Back Herd came in to the trap; every last single one of them which is always a good sign. They moved from the trap to the pens easily enough…mostly. We had one big bull calf who evidently thought he was king of the hill. He snorted, pawed, and beat up on other calves. This “calf” weighed in at 990 pounds and had decided he wasn’t taking any “bull” off anyone, including The Colonel. This one came into the pens last and The Colonel was able to work him in a pen right away. The bull went wild in the pen, hit the others that were in there with him, hitting the sides of the pen as if he could find a way out and then he was going to “get you” for putting him in there. When it came time to load him, and we had help with that; it was absolute mayhem, chaos, and very dangerous.
The bull ran in to the trailer, turned around and started back out. He literally jumped over two other calves, landing on one of them, then ran over two others in the chute. He thought he was home free. He got loaded again through the chute again but this time he was in the back part of the trailer. Doors were slammed and after another stop, off to Buffalo he went. The Red Oak Ranch does not tolerate bad behavior!!!
