Cattle Drive Pics

[Dylan Biggs]

A move we made in August with the commercial cows and our small band of ewe lambs, a 4 mile move at a liesurely pace, keeping them paired and making sure they are paired and settled before we leave them in the destination pasture. Prevents any run backs or mis mothering and upet cows or calves. It took me many years to learn to take time to save time.

A slow start making sure evry one is paired.

The sheep are coming also.

Me up front helping the cows find the first gate.

Through the first gate and drifting in the right direction.

An owl we flushed.

After two gates and now on an old road allowance.

Anne up front turning them into the next gate.

Stalled them just inside the gate to let them pair up and nurse.

Always have to have a Longhorn or two to give us some color.

The herd was starting to relax too much, not nap time yet.

Getting them going again.

Opening the second last gate.

Making the turn.

Our young Akbash leading her sheep, I think she will mature into a great gaurdian dog.

At our destination address.

All in.

Stalling the front end and letting our movement die to pair and settle them before leaving.

Getting settled.

A grass fat dry purebred with out adequate fertility, she met her fate with the butcher today.

Settled enough to leave, every one was quiet, no bawling.

A token prairie sunrise from Sept.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Great pics Dylan, thanks for sharing.

 

[Gale Seddon]

I simply cannot imagine moving that many cattle, not to mention sheep, all at one time. I'd be bribing them with flakes of hay the entire way!

Of course, the owl photo caught my eye, spectacular!

Have to ask, where's the water and minerals? Do they have to walk miles to get a drink or what?

All of this is so different from what I have, a few small pastures, auto waterers, many round bales for the winter. Fascinating to see, thank you!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Dang nice pics. Esp the last. How anyone can doubt that is gods countey is beyond me

 

[Nesikep]

great pics! I have never had much experience working with a lot of cattle at once except for this spring when I gave a neighbor a hand branding (was fun!) Nice looking calf nursing in the 2nd pic

is that a black gelbveih bull there? he's got the butt of one but he's a whole lot taller than ours.

I wouldn't mind having a longhorn cow in the herd, they are nice to look at

 

[CKC1586]

:clap: Beautiful pics, thanks for sharing!! :clap: :tiphat:

 

[Isomade]

:clap: Beautiful pics, thanks for sharing!! :clap: :tiphat:

:nod: :nod: :nod:

 

[Dylan Biggs]

Thank you eveyone, glad you liked the pics.
Gale the water is located fairly cental in that pasture, because of good rains the last two years ther are actuall a couple of water locations.
This water is a shallow slough on the south side.

And this water is on the east side about 2/3 of a mile to the North. This was a pic from last year.

Nesikep, he is home raised commercial Angus, he is not actually that tall, a smaller cow he was next to and just the way the shot appears. Below a shot from the spring 2010, the bull in question on the right, his sire on the left.

 

[slick4591]

Great pics!

 

[Gale Seddon]

Thanks for the answers, Dylan. Love the swimming picture. Those bulls are just massive! I guess you don't worry about them beating each other up because there are enough cows to go around?

 

[bigbull338]

loved looking at your pics,thanks for posting them.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

Thanks for the answers, Dylan. Love the swimming picture. Those bulls are just massive! I guess you don't worry about them beating each other up because there are enough cows to go around?

Gale in the multi sire breeding we run 1 bull to ~40, so there isn't usually much fighting early on, past the 30 day mark they do their fair share of fighting. These two knuckle heads below were fighting quite regualrly this fall. No injuries though, so we were lucky. I had a bull stifled this spring though that had to be put down. The natural selection pressures in multi sire groups for servicing ability in a competitive setting and enough intelligence for self preservation is valuable. Most bulls sold to commercial herds compete in multi sire breeding groups and often I wonder what effect the use of multi generation AI sired bulls has on their ability to breed in a competitive setting. Especially when the AI sires themselves probably never bred in a competitive setting. Those old bulls that breed successfully in a competitive setting for years surely must be passing on some trait or set of traits conducive to their breeding success.

 

[Gale Seddon]

Dylan, thanks so much for explaining all this and for answering my questions. The bulls are magnificent, and I never would have considered what the AI bulls might be lacking in their genetic contribution due to never having to actually survive or compete. Fascinating. Last picture is priceless! You'd better bookmark that one for the upcoming photo contest.

Once upon a time we had two Dexter bulls in separate pastures, each with his own set of cows...but the non-stop Jurassic Park sounds on either side of the house made me very uncomfortable. My greatest fear was that we'd have two simultaneous fencing disasters and two horned bulls in the yard (thankfully, that did not happen).

Thanks again, your photos and descriptions are a travelogue for many of us!

 

[chrisy]

Great photo's thanks for sharing...that last one of the two face to face is that where the saying comes from, 'you got beef with me?'.... :lol:

 

[ohiosteve]

Dylan, you are living my dream! Loved the pictures and the diversity of breeds and animals. I spent some time after high school in northern Montana during the wheat harvest and your scenery reminds me a lot of that. I am also a believer of natural selection and think the pic of the two knuckleheads is priceless. Just a guess, but you must have some chickens running around the ranch and I'd love to see some pictures of them. We got our first blast of snow in Northern Ohio last week so I'm sure you're seeing white by now too. Only four more months or so and we'll be seeing green again!

 

[Deepsouth]

Thanks for taking us along Dylan, it was a good ride. I believe you could make a living with that camera.

 

[tncattle]

How many head do y'all have? I think that street sign could say "middle of nowhere". Is the biggest city you're close to Edmonton? If my wife would do it I've move out west in a second but she ain't going for it---yet! :cboy:

 

[mlazyj]

Trailing cattle isn't that tough , he looks like he's got 125 head or so with big calves should be fairly easy . The big thing is to remember you have all day . If it's going to be hot ,get going early so you don't stress the calves to bad . Put your cattle in a pile and start them going , cattle have to be trained to trail right , you don't let cows quit you and trail off on there own you run them back in the herd they need to know that's were they belong . What Dylan does by stopping at each gate and pairing them back up is a must , If you start skipping that especialy if you are moving young pairs , you'll have more bums then you know what to with . Leave the 4 wheelers at home , they're noisy , they stink and they don't go calf speed .

 

[Dylan Biggs]

Trailing cattle isn't that tough , he looks like he's got 125 head or so with big calves should be fairly easy . The big thing is to remember you have all day . If it's going to be hot ,get going early so you don't stress the calves to bad . Put your cattle in a pile and start them going , cattle have to be trained to trail right , you don't let cows quit you and trail off on there own you run them back in the herd they need to know that's were they belong . What Dylan does by stopping at each gate and pairing them back up is a must , If you start skipping that especialy if you are moving young pairs , you'll have more bums then you know what to with . Leave the 4 wheelers at home , they're noisy , they stink and they don't go calf speed .

mlazyj, I agree with some of what you say, "the all day" frame of mind, going early in the heat, and preventing bums by taking the time to pair when required. Respectfully, where your thoughts don't describe mine is in the following regards. The pile, I don't intentionally bunch them if they are prepared to drift and or ideally string, both preferable to a pile or a bunch, more natural herd movement, much easier to stay paired. Regarding not letting cows "quit" you, my experience is that cattle only quit the natural safety of their herd mates if they are feeling insecure because of feeling what they percieve as excessive pressure. Cows or yearlings only quit me if I make the mistake of giving them cause. If a cow feels threatened enough to quit a herd the last thing I would do is run her back, that would be more of what already caused her to quit in the first place. Dealing with untrained nervous flighty cattle requires acute attention to any and every individual that exhibits the signs of nervouness that fortells their thoughts of leaving and one must immediately give ground to relieve the excessive pressure the animals is telling you it is expeiencing regardless of how you percieve the pressure. The way I see it is cattle don't need to "know that's where they belong", they need to know the herd is a safe place to be, then they won't feel the need to leave in the first place.

I am with you in prefering horses also, but cattle can be herded very effectively with a four wheeler as long as it is operated in the proper position at the proper distance and speed as long as they don't mind breathing exhaust fumes.

Dylan Biggs

 

[alisonb]

What a life - beautiful area, lovely family, really great looking animals and time to take it all in and capture it on camera .