Get er done

So the day started pretty simply.

We did chores- they went pretty well minus the fact that the darn steers are off their corn. I'm guessing it's a combo between it being too hot and them getting too much good hay! ...o well, they seem to still be alive and kickin'!

After we got that taken care of Ross went out and rounded up the horses for a day's work. Today, we were told that we were gunna take a first shot at rounding up bulls out of the big unit. Hence the name, it's rather large. I saddled up Tanner and loaded him up. The doctor told Adrienne that she could ride the other day so she saddled up her horse and loaded him in hopes that he wouldn't buck her off today!

We hauled all the way out to the house on the hill of this pasture and then took off. Dean and Ross took one side and Adrienne and I took the other. There was one bull right at the gate so Adrienne drug him all the way to the other end of the pasture...he was not fun to push. I took off in another direction and every once in a while I would run across another rider or see them in the distance....but never with any bulls- and I didn't find one either. I ended up meeting with Adrienne at the creek once and got her bull headed in the right direction but other than that there wasn't much contact with everyone else. Becasue I wasn't sure what was covered and what wasn't- and I knew we did have anywheres close to 8 bulls, I took off for the west end of the pasture and covered quite a bit of it too. Right at the very last few steps I took towards the gate I ran into one bull...my prize. When we all met up we had five bulls, two stray steers (we knew there were a bunch in there) and no Ross. So...Dean goes back to figure out what the black spot in the fenceline is and Adrienne and I hold the bulls at the gate. After a while Merle calls and says he's headed our way on a four wheeler- meanwhile I ride over the ridge to see if I can find Ross. ...and here he comes with ONE yearling. Yes, he came all the way across the pasture with one steer- I think he originally had ten or so but this was what he had left. So, I figured since he was headed that way anyway I pushed six or seven steers out of the far corner and we took them with as well. We all ended up meeting up at the gate (Merle on the four wheeler as well) and took our five bulls and seven or so steers back across a couple pastures and to the long pasture along the road.

We should have started earlier or given up sooner...it was super hot! I'm pretty sure if my horse could speak english he would have had some choice words for each time I kicked him! But, we all made it back to the trailer and they headed home. I took the four wheeler back and headed up the rear, closing the gates. We unsaddled and went in for dinner.

After dinner, we all set out to stack bales. Adrienne stayed with Rylee and her sister Erin for a while. Dean went north to stack bales- he got his tractor running temporarily by putting an old ty rod back on. The one that Roger and I worked on wasn't working right and now we are tryhing to solve that mystery- in the mean time, the old one should hold out.

Ross took the hydrabed pickup to move bales with, I hooked onto my loader bucket and Merle headed out with his tractor too. I started putting bales next to each other for Ross while Merle stacked. This worked for a while until Merle's loader broke down and he headed to town to fix it. I have a broken pin in my loader and they didn't order the right ones in town so I was being super careful as well. After I got everything set up for Ross I started stacking, but gave up pretty quick after realizing that my loader pin wasn't going to hold out. All in all, the stacking was fine. I did manage to mess up one bale, but I shoved it in the stack so tight that I'll never be found out until late in the winter time! haha!

After quitting that job I took my loader up to the chicken shed and cleaned it out. The chicks have grown to the semi ugly stage and have been jumping the partition for quite some time. So, I got both sides of the shed ready for them and took the partition wall out. I wanted to get a few more things done before choes so I took the trash out of the shed as well. That bought me enough time to realize that I had better start feeding. By this time, Merle was back and had stacked bales and Ross just finished up hauling them in. Now, we are ready for some heifers to move home tomorrow!

As I went to do chores, Adrienne and Merle went out and worked on the fence at the bull pasture at Dick's. I did chores and Dean helped clean up. Then, I turned in for teh day and showered. Shortly afterward, Mom and Grandma showed up. We drove out and looked at teh horses and went for a short walk. It's fun to have other living breathing talking bodies in the house...but it's getting close to bedtime. Nicole (Who worked here for several years before I ever came) is here tonight at Merle's as well. So, we're just full of compnay! But, it's time I part for bed. Perhaps my back won't hate me as much.

"Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction." -Cowboy Wisdom