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PASTURE GATHERING
I'm fixin' to tell you about a pasture gathering. ("Fixin' to" is a little Texas slang I picked up from Dad. It means "about to" or "getting ready to")
Here in the Texas Panhandle, we put cattle on wheat pasture for the winter, then gather them in the Spring to go to the big feedyards. Usually the calves weigh about 700 pounds or so... the heifers in my story weighed closer to 850.
The nice things about the humans here in the Panhandle... all the neighbors pitch in to help when needed. One of the times all the neighbors help out is at pasture gathering time. One of our neighbors, Gregg, mentioned to Dad that he would be gathering cattle on Wednesday, so when Wednesday rolled around, off we went to lend a hand.
Now, when we gather cattle, normally the cowboys set up a portable corral made up of panels (much like in the Parelli Wild Horse Roundup on the National Geographic channel, only not quite so strong, as you'll see in a minute) They set up the corral in a corner of the pasture, usually close to the water tank, then drive the cattle into it. Then they back the truck up to the portable chute, and load those rascals. Usually it goes pretty smooth... usually.
Well Gregg had about 240 head of heifers. There were eight pretty good cowboys that showed up to help. Now this is a job that could normally be done by two good cowboys, but everyone in the county knows that Gregg's wife is a good cook, and they'll get lunch for helping.
Well the boys started out into the pasture to start gathering the calves, and it all started out real nice. The heifers went right down the side of the fence and into the portable corral, just as smooth as you please. All the cowboys jumped off their horses to close the gate before the heifers doubled back when they realized they were trapped. The boys got the gate closed just in time, but those silly heifers just turned and hit the side panels. They twisted that side up like a slinky and spilled right over the top! Away they went at a dead run!
Most of the cowboys went to work fixing the panels, and parked their pickups, bumper to the panels, for support. Dad jumped in the saddle and away we went. We were FLYING! I'll tell you, when a herd of calves get silly and stampede, you better get in front and get them turned quick, or they'll run right through the fence and be clear across the county before you know it! We raced to the head of the herd and started turning them in a big circle. We kept them going in a circle, making it smaller and smaller, until they stopped. (Technique sound familiar? Runaway horse... same principle.) About the time the other cowboys caught up, we had the herd headed back to the corral at a nice walk. No problem, right? Wrong!!
We got all the calves into the corral but twelve. Those twelve just doubled back, and were NOT going to be stopped. They ran right into the horses, and kept going! Away we went again!
Well, Gregg told the truck driver to back up and start loading what we had. We'd rope the rest and bring them in. It went pretty good for a while. One of the cowboys would rope a calf and choke him down a little bit... takes the fight out of them, you know. Then we follow the calf, rope still around his neck in case he gets silly, until we get him back to the corral. Open it up, put him in, and go to the next one. This worked real nice till we got down to the last couple of calves.
Now you'd think eight good cowboys on good horses could corral two ornery heifers. One of the heifers must have been a Mexican fighting bull in a former life. I mean, she was charging everything and everybody. She almost knocked Gregg's horse down. That made Gregg mad, and I learned some new words that day. Well, Gregg threw a loop and caught that rascal. He pulled his slack and made his dally, and when the heifer hit the end of the rope, down she went. But she was up again as quick as a cat, and charging right at Gregg and his horse! Now Gregg, like any good cowboy, had his horse sidestep that heifer as she came at them, and she went right by. Learning how to sidepass comes in handy sometimes.) Only problem, Gregg's horse had stepped over the rope, and there was fixin' to be a BIG wreck. There's a time to let go of your rope to avoid a wreck!
Me and Dad made it over to help him about then. The heifer had stopped to catch it's wind, and Gregg started to dismount to get the end of his rope and finish the job. That heifer came right at him again! Dad shook out a loop and dabbed it over her horns, and we yanked her around before Gregg got too well acquainted with that heifer. Well here she comes at us! It's a good thing I'm so quick and nimble on my feet (also a good thing that Dad and me were both paying attention). We sidestepped her, and gave her another yank that pulled her to her knees. Gregg grabbed his rope and dallied again, and we thought there'd be no problem getting this gal to the corral, now that we had two good cowhorses to guide her. But she wasn't about to move.
About that time, Rex rode over to see what was going on. Gregg told him to go get the trailer and bring it over. We'd just pull her into the trailer and haul her to the corral. (The corral was a half mile away from all the action.) So Rex comes back with the trailer, and Matt is with him. They park the trailer close to the heifer, and Matt gets out to open the gate. Meanwhile this heifer has been standing there resting. She's mad... real mad. She's covered in sweat and dirt, and she sees Matt about ten feet away from her. HERE SHE COMES!! She drug two stout horses about five feet, and Matt's blood pressure skyrocketed as he jumped into the back of the pickup, heifer breathing down his neck! Dad and Gregg got their ropes up over the sides of the stock trailer, one on each side and me and Gregg's horse got a running start and drug that ornery heifer into the trailer. Finally.
That was a tough morning's work. All the heifers got shipped. None of the horses or cowboys got hurt. The only casualties were the panels, and Joe's lariat rope snapped when one the heifers hit the end of it.
The water tank was a welcome sight... so was the lush grass on Gregg's front yard we horses got to eat while the cowboys filed in for some of Lynn's good home cooking.
And that's how it happened, that day in April.
Time to get rested for tomorrow's adventure.
Until then,
Shakespeare
Email: tbgraef@fivearea.com
