Biscuits, Buffalo, Blessings and Beauty.

Yesterday we held the 3rd Annual Anja cattle drive. Two years ago when our Swiss friend Anja was here we decided to walk our yearling heifers to their summer pasture, that gave her the chance to experience a cattle drive. In the years prior to that we had trucked them. The animals being moved, yearling heifers, are young females that we decided not to sell in order to include them in our herd for the long term. In a couple months they will be introduced to a bull for the first time. We call these young cows our “biscuit heifers”. They are not yet “bred” so they are “biscuits.” Get it?

It was a beautiful day with many memorable moments. I was not on horseback, (I was last year) I just wasn’t in the headspace for it, so I played a support role and from that vantage point was able to get some good pictures.

The biscuit heifers were grazing near our house so this first picture captures the yard in the background as the cowboys move the herd west. I was waiting at the gate where they would turn out onto the road.

From my car window I took this picture of Morgan and sent it to the school secretary as I texted her about Morgan being absent for the day.

The herd is almost out the gate but some of the girls thought they should head east. Thats where I jumped out of my car and into the ditch to change their mind. They did not challenge me really. I might have looked a little scary. A six foot tall woman in a full length burgundy bathrobe was likely not something they were accustomed to!

Everyone is out and heading in the right direction.

And they are off.

Ranching in my robe again.

Over the course of the morning plans for me and what I would do with the crew changed completely. How it ended up seemed perfect. I threw together a make your own sandwich picnic box and met the crew at our land which is about halfway to the pasture. I took this picture just before 11am. I like the vantage point.

This is the herd moving onto the field where I was set up for lunch. This corner is pretty iconic in our area due to this sign. It has become a marker for all who travel near it. Its a red rooster and the words says “Red Rooster Barn”, I think most of us call it “The Red Rooster Road.” A few years ago we got the chance to buy this quarter,  it makes for a good stop point on a day like this.

Benches and a table from my fall cow chase “tool kit” allowed this scene. It was a pretty amazing lunch. The weather was almost too warm but sitting in the sun surrounded by nature was incredible. Later when we talked about it we agreed there was a sense about it that this was fine dining.

There were some pretty fun stories told during this break. This was part of one of those moments.

One of the awesome parts of our lunch was that several trucks went by and they all slowed down, I think there was an attempt to avoid kicking up too much dust on our lunch scene and an awareness that these animals were not fenced so they used an abundance of caution. The respect that was part of this was really nice to experience.  In this picture a “Flying G” truck is going by.

Russ and Clare, a day to day get er done duo at our ranch. Russ is so appreciating having Clare at his side.

I am really happy with this picture I was able to grab of Miles.  He was about to get back riding after lunch was over.

Russ decided to bring Jane our mule on the trail.  Her sole job was to follow the herd and tote water bottles. Jane seemed to have mixed feelings about this. Clare did alot of work to keep her going with the herd. It meant alot to Russ. They have a long history together, this marks the 30th year that Russ has put a saddle on Jane. I was riding Jane the day that Russ gave me my first riding lesson in 1999, a day that ended up with him giving me some TLC after I didn’t ride so well when Jane spotted what she thought was a wolf charging out of some bushes, it was actually a big white husky dog but I found the ground pretty fast. Anyways…….as I was holding onto Jane during the moments everyone was getting back in the saddle she and I talked about the good ol days and she suggested we take a selfie.

The crew and herd are back heading west and I headed home to get the truck and trailer. Morgan was riding one of his young horses and needed to give it a break. When I got back to the herd, about 30 minutes later, there had been alot of excitement. The herd encountered a lone loose buffalo. This shook Russell more than anything he has encountered in a very long time. The moments that followed called for some quick thinking strategy as the buffalo wanted to join the herd, as Russ and Miles worked to manage its movements and keep it out of the herd Clare, Morgan and Laurie did their part to get the herd away as fast as possible. This was very dangerous. The buffalo became agitated, it was shaking its head and snorting. We have only a few seconds of video to mark these moments, that is what Morgan was able to manage in the midst of everything else. In the video you glimpse Jane in the foreground and Miles, Russ, the dogs and the buffalo in the background. It all ended up okay but what allowed this to end so well is a bit of a mystery. Between all on the trail there is a lot of faith, it was Miles who came to the conclusion that God was on the trail all day and Jane with her apparently empty saddle was his steed. Having so recently been in hospitals with Russ I am flooded with gratitude for how these moments unfolded. None of the horses got spooked by an animal that they were so unfamiliar with, that in itself is a miracle.  Russ was riding the same horse that bucked him off for much less two weeks ago,  Morgan added music to his video.

As I jumped out of the truck Russell was quite expressive in telling me what had unfolded, I couldn’t grasp it all at first. Shortly after the stories were told Morg got busy getting his fresh horse ready to go. By the time all was said and done the herd and crew had moved a long way and I had the poetic sight of a lone cowboy on the prairie. This following picture doesn’t do it justice.

A sick heifer needed medicine.  My day included picking up the needed drugs at the vet before picking up the cowboys at the end of the chase.  They had left “Olympia” at our friends’ pasture chute which was enroute to our pasture.   The last job of the day was to return to Oympia and give the meds.  Here Russ got in the chute with her to wedge her and stop her from wiggling.  Morgan was gripping her tail.  Laurie was running the headgate and Miles gave the needles. 

Laurie focused on a job that had some tricky moments.

40 seconds before this photo was taken Knightwing was on the floor in the backseat of the truck with her head down.  All of a sudden the truck erupted with dog noise.  A coyote had been detected.  It was a big healthy one.  Knightwing was certain she needed to exit through Russell’s window, the two of them blocking each other’s view brought the truck to a stop.    Knightwing had work to do, she thought.  It was a bit of chaos.  By this photo moment things had calmed considerably but I was sharing my seat.

The cheezie party was pretty intense, quite a bit of debriefing, two big bags of cheezies and some cold beer then chips were needed.