So....why do you want to be a cowboy??

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cross_7":yucnhrqr said:
They're's cowboys and they're's rodeo cowboys
I bet there ain't many that are both, but there are some hands that'd sure make a rodeo cowboy
There quite few rodeo cowboys that don't know which end of a cow gets up first

I ain't running anybody down because of it, but he term is thrown around kind of loose like now days

I've known some good cowboys and they've earned that tag
When you go out with the wagon and sleep out on he ground for a few weeks, getting up at 4:30 to get breakfast, jingle the horses before sunup, fork half broke bronc in the dark, gather cattle till dinner(lunch for some), rope a fresh mount out of he remuda cause yours is used up, flank calves all day, move the wagon and do it ll again tomorrow and the next and so on.
Then you can call yourself a cowboy

Now granted there are some regional differences and also time has marched on. I never worked from a wagon but they just don't exist in the northwest and haven't for a lot of years. When I was riding rodeos in the 70's most of the cowboys (not all but most) were ranch raised. Often smaller places but still big enough that cattle were gathered and worked horseback. But you are right in there is a huge difference between running cows on 30,000 acres of broken up ground and a few head on 30 acres that can all be seen from the kitchen window. Where I worked on the days you were horseback, you swung into the saddle at daylight and rode until dark. You didn't get to change horses mid day because there simply wasn't a fresh one available. So you had to take care of your horse so he will take care of you. It was a long walk if your horse crippled or bucked you off. Cattle weren't spread out in the winter up here in the north. They were in a winter feeding ground. No matter what the weather you got to stack several tons of small squares on a feed truck or a horse drawn wagon to go feed. Sick cows get to be doctored at the end of a rope because there simply isn't a pen within miles. And it doesn't matter how big and mean she is or if you have help or by yourself. It has to be done.
 
Dave wrote

Now granted there are some regional differences and also time has marched on. I never worked from a wagon but they just don't exist in the northwest and haven't for a lot of years. When I was riding rodeos in the 70's most of the cowboys (not all but most) were ranch raised. Often smaller places but still big enough that cattle were gathered and worked horseback. But you are right in there is a huge difference between running cows on 30,000 acres of broken up ground and a few head on 30 acres that can all be seen from the kitchen window. Where I worked on the days you were horseback, you swung into the saddle at daylight and rode until dark. You didn't get to change horses mid day because there simply wasn't a fresh one available. So you had to take care of your horse so he will take care of you. It was a long walk if your horse crippled or bucked you off. Cattle weren't spread out in the winter up here in the north. They were in a winter feeding ground. No matter what the weather you got to stack several tons of small squares on a feed truck or a horse drawn wagon to go feed. Sick cows get to be doctored at the end of a rope because there simply isn't a pen within miles. And it doesn't matter how big and mean she is or if you have help or by yourself. It has to be done.

A few of the big ranches still rollout the wagon in the spring, but not many. The gooseneck trailer took care of that.
There are plenty of good cowboys around that work on big and small places and there are some good cowboys in the feedyard.
But there is also some so called cowboys that's got'em a hat, boots and a big buckle that couldn't roundup a milk cow and claim to ride the rough string.

I've seen some good cowboys and I sure don't put myself in that category, but if they're needing someone to ride around the ranch roads and drink beer and look at cattle I'm the man for the job :D
 
cross_7":9ynb4aun said:
Most people think the cowboy life is riding horseback through a scenic landscape
But the reality is
Wind SpeedN 23 G 26 mp
Wind Chill-14°F (-26°C)
Last Update on 5 Feb 9:45 am CST
Busting ice and patching froze up busted water lines with your hands so cold you can't feel your fingers, getting stuck in the snow while trying to feed, staying up all night trying catch cows that trying to calve or just calved and save the calf from freezing
Riding wheat pasture doctoring yearling with yours ears and nose frozen solid and you can't feel your fingers or toes
Your rope frozen stiff and feels like 3/4" steel cable, horses are feeling fresh and wanting to pitch, just as you get one roped to doctor the others run through fence and scatter to be nice and back
All day ever day this time of year there aint no Sundays
Yep the cowboy life is dam sure glamorous
I agree, you describe it well! But some of us are in a bit warmer climate than what you describe cross! :)
 
branguscowgirl":2nu7d5ze said:
cross_7":2nu7d5ze said:
Most people think the cowboy life is riding horseback through a scenic landscape
But the reality is
Wind SpeedN 23 G 26 mp
Wind Chill-14°F (-26°C)
Last Update on 5 Feb 9:45 am CST
Busting ice and patching froze up busted water lines with your hands so cold you can't feel your fingers, getting stuck in the snow while trying to feed, staying up all night trying catch cows that trying to calve or just calved and save the calf from freezing
Riding wheat pasture doctoring yearling with yours ears and nose frozen solid and you can't feel your fingers or toes
Your rope frozen stiff and feels like 3/4" steel cable, horses are feeling fresh and wanting to pitch, just as you get one roped to doctor the others run through fence and scatter to be nice and back
All day ever day this time of year there aint no Sundays
Yep the cowboy life is dam sure glamorous
I agree, you describe it well! But some of us are in a bit warmer climate than what you describe cross! :)

I spent most of my younger years in the Texas Panhandle and most of that was around Dalhart and Texline
It's as cold in winter as Ive ever been and as hot in the summer any place Ive been.
Those men that do it for a living have my respect and there are lots of ways to make a better living and make more money, but it aint who they are.
I take offense when I hear somebody say "well I'm just a cowboy" when they aint, it's something you earn, to me it's like claiming to be a soldier when you aint

AC cowboyed up around Freedom so I know he understands and I'd bet he feels the same way when some Hurley cap wear dude claims he's a cowboy
 
I was talking to a guy a couple weeks ago. He runs a fair sized place (400 mother cows and 600 yearlings) in some real rugged ground (the Columbia Gorge). Born and raised on the place in the kind of country that makes you be a cowboy. He is a couple years older than me so that is about 64. We were talking about cowboying up and the wrecks we have been through over the years. He said that he now cheats. He bought a dart gun so now when he has one to doctor he does a drive by shooting. Works fine from the pickup or from horseback. Some cowboys get smarter as they age.
 
Dave":2yqq9roi said:
I was talking to a guy a couple weeks ago. He runs a fair sized place (400 mother cows and 600 yearlings) in some real rugged ground (the Columbia Gorge). Born and raised on the place in the kind of country that makes you be a cowboy. He is a couple years older than me so that is about 64. We were talking about cowboying up and the wrecks we have been through over the years. He said that he now cheats. He bought a dart gun so now when he has one to doctor he does a drive by shooting. Works fine from the pickup or from horseback. Some cowboys get smarter as they age.

I was at a customers place that was looking for darts, He said with this weather we're having they have sold out and his supplier is out.
He said lots of folks have gone to it
But that opens up another topic of shot placement and shots in the muscle and etc
 
TexasBred":31nuxo2d said:
cross_7":31nuxo2d said:
TexasBred":31nuxo2d said:
Sounds like somebody needs a new manager, better planning and better help and think a bit more about that "ounce of prevention".

Difference is cattle ranching and a backyard hobby with 20 head you can watch from from your kitchen window
It's easy enough to put out a single bale a hay and wrap you water faucet

But when you have better than a 100 sections to see after and cattle scattered of several counties that dont see nothing but cake and grass.
When snow gets too deep to get to cattle 30 miles away don't mean you can just quit they still have to be fed
Miles upon miles of pipelines and dozens of windmills, troughs and floats its a fact of life
Yearlings on wheat pasture when the temp is 70 one day, 20 the next and back and forth your going have a wreck on your hands
Sure be nice to have set if working pens and chute in every pasture but that ain't possible
You better have fast horse and be good with a rope cause your livelihood depends on it

There's a be nice lot difference between a ranching on a big outfit and a farm
I promise if it were easy I'd have hired on years, but I lived it growing up and you dam sure better love the lifestyle cause there ain't no other reason to do it

So you haven't really done any of this.....just read about it or "herd" about it. This is 2014. Some things have changed a bit for the better.





Checking cows calving from the window with binoculars.
Every negative thing I've said has come back to haunt me.

I'll dang sure be less critical from now on.
 
Cross-7":2bzfxyix said:
TexasBred":2bzfxyix said:
cross_7":2bzfxyix said:
Difference is cattle ranching and a backyard hobby with 20 head you can watch from from your kitchen window
It's easy enough to put out a single bale a hay and wrap you water faucet

But when you have better than a 100 sections to see after and cattle scattered of several counties that dont see nothing but cake and grass.
When snow gets too deep to get to cattle 30 miles away don't mean you can just quit they still have to be fed
Miles upon miles of pipelines and dozens of windmills, troughs and floats its a fact of life
Yearlings on wheat pasture when the temp is 70 one day, 20 the next and back and forth your going have a wreck on your hands
Sure be nice to have set if working pens and chute in every pasture but that ain't possible
You better have fast horse and be good with a rope cause your livelihood depends on it

There's a be nice lot difference between a ranching on a big outfit and a farm
I promise if it were easy I'd have hired on years, but I lived it growing up and you dam sure better love the lifestyle cause there ain't no other reason to do it

So you haven't really done any of this.....just read about it or "herd" about it. This is 2014. Some things have changed a bit for the better.





Checking cows calving from the window with binoculars.
Every negative thing I've said has come back to haunt me.

I'll dang sure be less critical from now on.

What am I missing in those photos? I see a cow with a what appears to be a new calf, along with some other cows. Birds in the trees?
 
I get it cross_7.... I started wearing leather off the tree right between the badlands and the sand hills. Sometimes convenience isn't convenient. I'm better for it, even though they laugh at me around here for keeping a horse saddled all night until my little herd is done calving. We had a headgate in one of our calving pastures. It was tied between a couple of trees with old Classic three stands. One of these days, I'm going back where I belong.....
 
Farm Fence Solutions":223o1u0q said:
I get it cross_7.... I started wearing leather off the tree right between the badlands and the sand hills. Sometimes convenience isn't convenient. I'm better for it, even though they laugh at me around here for keeping a horse saddled all night until my little herd is done calving. We had a headgate in one of our calving pastures. It was tied between a couple of trees with old Classic three stands. One of these days, I'm going back where I belong.....

:clap: That's awesome. Whatever it takes. The next question, how do get them to stick there head in it?
 
Farm Fence Solutions":95ddtk4q said:
I get it cross_7.... I started wearing leather off the tree right between the badlands and the sand hills. Sometimes convenience isn't convenient. I'm better for it, even though they laugh at me around here for keeping a horse saddled all night until my little herd is done calving. We had a headgate in one of our calving pastures. It was tied between a couple of trees with old Classic three stands. One of these days, I'm going back where I belong.....

Im too old and soft now or maybe always was
 
I know how you feel, Cross. I have not been on a horse since I moved. I have a pretty nice mare for sale if anyone is looking. :lol: I do have two pups coming so at least I still have that but the rest of the time I can do just about whatever I need to do with the pickup.
 
talltimber":2tjlq3f1 said:
Farm Fence Solutions":2tjlq3f1 said:
I get it cross_7.... I started wearing leather off the tree right between the badlands and the sand hills. Sometimes convenience isn't convenient. I'm better for it, even though they laugh at me around here for keeping a horse saddled all night until my little herd is done calving. We had a headgate in one of our calving pastures. It was tied between a couple of trees with old Classic three stands. One of these days, I'm going back where I belong.....

:clap: That's awesome. Whatever it takes. The next question, how do get them to stick there head in it?


Well, never the same way twice. :lol: It usually involved ropes, horses, and a little blood. We did have a couple of pipe panels to help the process along.
 
The wife owned a ranch on the Oregon Nevada border which she sold in 2010. She said that when they would gather to move to another pasture a person could be in the saddle from day light to dark searching for cows and never see a single cow. And that is while carrying binoculars to look with. Spend a day or two or three in the saddle and be able to say I don't know where the cows are but I can tell you where they aren't. The next neighbor to the north ran cows on literally a million acres of combined deeded land and BLM range. Big big country the vast majority of which is only accessible horseback.
 
Farm Fence Solutions":1jmawheu said:
talltimber":1jmawheu said:
Farm Fence Solutions":1jmawheu said:
I get it cross_7.... I started wearing leather off the tree right between the badlands and the sand hills. Sometimes convenience isn't convenient. I'm better for it, even though they laugh at me around here for keeping a horse saddled all night until my little herd is done calving. We had a headgate in one of our calving pastures. It was tied between a couple of trees with old Classic three stands. One of these days, I'm going back where I belong.....

:clap: That's awesome. Whatever it takes. The next question, how do get them to stick there head in it?


Well, never the same way twice. :lol: It usually involved ropes, horses, and a little blood. We did have a couple of pipe panels to help the process along.
Can't remember if it was on this board or Ranchers.net but someone posted a pic a few years ago of a man on horseback that had roped a cow.....he had the rope right, cow on end of rope and vet was AI'ing the cow out in the middle of the pasture. :shock: :shock: Seems it was Montana, Wyoming and maybe even Canada.
 
TexasBred":3pgxijy2 said:
Can't remember if it was on this board or Ranchers.net but someone posted a pic a few years ago of a man on horseback that had roped a cow.....he had the rope right, cow on end of rope and vet was AI'ing the cow out in the middle of the pasture. :shock: :shock: Seems it was Montana, Wyoming and maybe even Canada.
I did a small set of cows that way a few years ago. That's how they synced them to. :nod: They had them penned up but figured it was less stress to stick a rope on them than it was to try to get them in a chute. The hard part was getting to them to breed them without getting killed by the rest of them.
 
cow pollinater":25y9uvcn said:
TexasBred":25y9uvcn said:
Can't remember if it was on this board or Ranchers.net but someone posted a pic a few years ago of a man on horseback that had roped a cow.....he had the rope right, cow on end of rope and vet was AI'ing the cow out in the middle of the pasture. :shock: :shock: Seems it was Montana, Wyoming and maybe even Canada.
I did a small set of cows that way a few years ago. That's how they synced them to. :nod: They had them penned up but figured it was less stress to stick a rope on them than it was to try to get them in a chute. The hard part was getting to them to breed them without getting killed by the rest of them.
Dang man, I'm surprised you have an arm and shoulder left, not to mention knees and toes. :lol: :lol:
 
TexasBred":1um7df6s said:
Farm Fence Solutions":1um7df6s said:
talltimber":1um7df6s said:
:clap: That's awesome. Whatever it takes. The next question, how do get them to stick there head in it?


Well, never the same way twice. :lol: It usually involved ropes, horses, and a little blood. We did have a couple of pipe panels to help the process along.
Can't remember if it was on this board or Ranchers.net but someone posted a pic a few years ago of a man on horseback that had roped a cow.....he had the rope right, cow on end of rope and vet was AI'ing the cow out in the middle of the pasture. :shock: :shock: Seems it was Montana, Wyoming and maybe even Canada.

I remember that picture. If it was the one I saw it was on Ranchers.net. The guy doing the AI was Northern Rancher (?). I believe that was his handle. I want to say his name was Cory but I am not positive. He passed away from stomach cancer a few years back. His son was the one horseback and he had the cow on a short line.
 
Dave":uiiygg6l said:
TexasBred":uiiygg6l said:
Farm Fence Solutions":uiiygg6l said:
Well, never the same way twice. :lol: It usually involved ropes, horses, and a little blood. We did have a couple of pipe panels to help the process along.
Can't remember if it was on this board or Ranchers.net but someone posted a pic a few years ago of a man on horseback that had roped a cow.....he had the rope right, cow on end of rope and vet was AI'ing the cow out in the middle of the pasture. :shock: :shock: Seems it was Montana, Wyoming and maybe even Canada.

I remember that picture. If it was the one I saw it was on Ranchers.net. The guy doing the AI was Northern Rancher (?). I believe that was his handle. I want to say his name was Cory but I am not positive. He passed away from stomach cancer a few years back. His son was the one horseback and he had the cow on a short line.
You're right Dave...that was him.
 

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