How to be a Ranch Hand

Had a good opportunity to do a video on how to use a t-post puller today. Might show some other ways to pull t-posts in the future if you guys like.

I was working on a water gap today and I kept feeling something around my feet. I looked down and these little trout were loving my nasty feet, lol. Thought it was kinda cool.

Took my silly horse down to the creek today to cool off, it was hot. He loves to roll around and play in it.

Here I’m showing a barbed wire fence I was going around today and how you can better design your livestock fences to include the use of wildlife. The 3 main animals that I see have an affect on livestock fences are Antelope, Deer, and Elk. Antelope go under fences, deer go over, and Elk will go over, or through a fence if they get startled enough. It’s sometimes easier and more cost effective in some situations to not fence out wildlife, but to design fences to allow wildlife to pass through (sometimes guys want to fence out wildlife in hay meadows, which makes sense, so there are exceptions). Not making your fences super tall helps deer and elk not take out the top wires. Not making you bottom wires super close to the ground, helps antelope. And in high pressure places where wildlife likes to travel, you can coincide making wires looser, but still look like a barrier to cattle. That way wires are less likely to break.

Me and Pepper out working on a beautiful day

Good ground crew + good guys in the saddle = good time at a branding. It was a long day, but it was fun. Luckily the rain didn’t hit, passed right by us.

I found an a-hole knot today. Thought I’d do a video on it. Reasons not to do this to tighten fence: 1) It doesn’t last 2) The fence will break easily at this spot 3) Somebody’s gonna have to come back and fix it if it does break 4) There’s a better way to tighten fence that lasts longer 5) Cattle can get out (somebody’s gotta fix that to)

I like to play my guitar for cattle. They seem to like the deeper notes. Only have this video from a few years ago.

My bestest little horse in the whole world, Sir Winston, got to go for a ride today. He did really good. Finally warmed up enough here in Antarctica that the footing wasn’t to bad, lol

I'm here with Mr. Potatoe, showing some tricks on how to give a weak puny calf a bottle.

A heifer had been in active labor for over an hour, and not progressing. Upon inspection, her baby was sideways, and his front legs were to far back (so his head and feet were trying to come through her vagina at all once, the wrong way). Pushed his head back, turned him, and tried to pull his front feet a little more forward (as best I could). The time it took leading her up to the corrals, and the time she was in active labor, plus the time it took me trying to fix and then pull this calf; he very well coulda been dead. I’m my biggest critic. Rewatching this video I see many mistakes. But, after spending so much time being wet and cold, sometimes not only does you mind not work right, neither do your muscles. So I’m trying to give myself grace, lol. Biggest tips I can give you for helping a cow with her baby: 1) calves come out diving. Their front feet lead, and their head is between the legs. Like someone driving into a swimming pool. Anything else isn’t normal and a cow may need help. 2) pull with her contractions. You want to give her enough time to stretch, so other bad stuff doesn’t happen. But when your not pulling still apply enough tension that the calf doesn’t go back in. 3) chains or straps are supposed to go above and below the fetlock (I just did a clove hitch, not ideal). Anyways, sorry for the language. But mom and baby are super healthy and doing good :)

Mr. Potato here, was born today and was having a rough start at life. His mom, a new mom, took a little to long getting up after giving birth. Plus it was cold and snowy. So he didn’t get licked off right away (which is how they get dry). Initially I put him on some dry clean straw and gave him some hot water, with just a little bit of milk replacer (for energy). But even after that, he didn’t get better. Eventually mom walked off, and didn’t return. So I stepped in after assessing his condition again.

Cows couldn’t figure out how to get to the hay. Boss wanted me to get a Japanese quarter horse and move em over to it. I thought I’d be funner to find Miss Lady Bug (milk cow), give her a few treats, and see if she’d follow me. Plan worked perfectly, and probably took a lot less longer to. Soon everybody was walking single file behind me. Hard to see, but Winston sometimes throws a temper tantrum if he sees me and can come with, lol.

Winston got his blankie Lauren sent him. And Fireball is scared of it, lol. It’s interesting to watch their interactions. Cause Jake keeps putting himself in between Winston and Fireball

Charlie was being silly and kept waving Bill's arm, so we decided to take a video and send it to his owner Denise.

Alope and her shadow Valkyrie come get a drink of water and say hi to Luna. I gave everyone some loves.

Just me and Bill, tryin to have some fun.

He’s so helpful sometimes, lol But I love him

#15 and Alope are spoiled… Sorry bout the sun. I can’t always help where I get ambushed. If these 2 happen to see me while I’m working in the field, they usually come up and demand some attention (usually Valkyrie’s with them).

The exciting conclusion to finding a mouse under the bed…

This is how I make friends with the cattle.

Was ranch sitting, when we discovered a mouse under one of the beds…

Moving Sampson (the lead steer), and his little buddy (lead steer in training), to where the other cattle are today. I like to sing or hum while I’m working. Seems to make my moves a lot calmer.

Working on spook busting my horse Sir Winston, but all he wants to do is play.

It’s important to always close gates behind you (unless the cowboss says not to). Otherwise animals could get overlooked and left unnoticed, could get onto roads and get hit, or could get into a neighbor’s pasture, forest service / BLM allotments, etc. Even if your planning on coming right back through. You never know when a 10 min thing turns into hours. It’s just good etiquette. Sadly bull didn’t end up making it, but I don’t work at that particular outfit anymore.