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Found this interesting video. I live in a similar area. This gives a bit of an idea what goes on with neighbors helping out.
Cattle ranching in montana
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I didn't watch the video, but brandings are a bit of a community affair in cattle country.
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brandings and the fall roundup and shipping day.....when the ranchers maybe make some money, as for me i will just go feed my chickens and gather the eggs...
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Even on our little operation we get friends and family together to help with branding and castration.
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Here is a historical comment....some good words of truth.
"Winter scarified me. Under each cheekbone, I thought I could feel claw marks and scar tissue. What can seem like a hard shell veneer on the people here is really a necessary spirited resilience. One woman who ran a ranch by herself had trouble with a neighbor who let his cattle into her pastures. She rode out one morning to confront him. When he laughed, she shot the hat off his head. He promptly gathered his steers and departed. "When you want that hat back, it will be hanging over my mantle," she yelled as he loped away. When he suffered a stroke a few months later, she nursed him, though his hat still hangs over the fireplace today. Living well here has always been the art of making do in emotional as well as material ways. Traditionally, at least, ranch life has gone against materialism and has stood for the small achievements of the human conjoined with the animal."
Gretel Ehrlich - The Solice of Open Spaces
Photography - Nellie Browne 1900 - 1915 'cowgirl'. Source -historic mysteries.
#literature #stories
"Winter scarified me. Under each cheekbone, I thought I could feel claw marks and scar tissue. What can seem like a hard shell veneer on the people here is really a necessary spirited resilience. One woman who ran a ranch by herself had trouble with a neighbor who let his cattle into her pastures. She rode out one morning to confront him. When he laughed, she shot the hat off his head. He promptly gathered his steers and departed. "When you want that hat back, it will be hanging over my mantle," she yelled as he loped away. When he suffered a stroke a few months later, she nursed him, though his hat still hangs over the fireplace today. Living well here has always been the art of making do in emotional as well as material ways. Traditionally, at least, ranch life has gone against materialism and has stood for the small achievements of the human conjoined with the animal."
Gretel Ehrlich - The Solice of Open Spaces
Photography - Nellie Browne 1900 - 1915 'cowgirl'. Source -historic mysteries.
#literature #stories
last year I was in with a group of folks who helped a friend put his herd out on summer pasture . It was a fun day up on the mountain.
Thank goodness I don't raise any more cattle!!!!!
For you it was a fun day. For him...day in and day out...good or bad weather...night...day. Like Charon poling that barge!
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You need to be born to ranching, or haveing experienced the rat race of the modern world want something better for you and yours.
Besides isnt all ranching like Man from snowy river.
Besides isnt all ranching like Man from snowy river.
Ranch life is how I grew up.. After all these years, at times, I still miss parts of that..
Hubby and I both grew up on ranches. Much of our family still does so.
Middle niece is on a ranch in MT. She's a cute 24 y/o, all of 5'1"-5'2" and maybe 100 lbs. She recently had to get ornery with a fella. She is quiet but knows her cows. New guy came in and wanted to do things "his way" which if he'd have done so would have ended up separating pairs etc. I guess she put him in his place (which I am very proud of her for doing so - she's always struggled to stand up for herself) and I guess things are going well. To my knowledge she didn't have to shoot his hat off though
Middle niece is on a ranch in MT. She's a cute 24 y/o, all of 5'1"-5'2" and maybe 100 lbs. She recently had to get ornery with a fella. She is quiet but knows her cows. New guy came in and wanted to do things "his way" which if he'd have done so would have ended up separating pairs etc. I guess she put him in his place (which I am very proud of her for doing so - she's always struggled to stand up for herself) and I guess things are going well. To my knowledge she didn't have to shoot his hat off though
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We are just outside of Helena Montana if she needs a place to be in hard times that are coming. That is if a decent cattle ranch isnt where she wants to be when things crash..Hubby and I both grew up on ranches. Much of our family still does so.
Middle niece is on a ranch in MT. She's a cute 24 y/o, all of 5'1"-5'2" and maybe 100 lbs. She recently had to get ornery with a fella. She is quiet but knows her cows. New guy came in and wanted to do things "his way" which if he'd have done so would have ended up separating pairs etc. I guess she put him in his place (which I am very proud of her for doing so - she's always struggled to stand up for herself) and I guess things are going well. To my knowledge she didn't have to shoot his hat off though
Here is a historical comment....some good words of truth. <snip>
Photography - Nellie Browne 1900 - 1915 'cowgirl'. Source -historic mysteries.
#literature #stories
Quoted for prosperity or just to say "I think that's awesome" and I'd like read her biography.
I have a friend (since we were 3) who flew helicopters (and other planes) in Vietnam ...
And when he finished with the military, he herded cattle in Texas using helicopters. I wonder if they do that in Montana.
The thing about herding cattle with helicopters &/or 4 wheelers for that matter. The cattle get buzzed and are super stressed. Gathering/herding a horseback is natural and unless the rider is a jerk, the cattle aren't stressed, are easier to work and remain healthier.
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small outfits will sometimes have a pickup bringing up the rear and a four wheeler out front openin gates...the dogs and horses take care of the rest.
Helicopters sometimes do headcounts of elk right before hunting season...talk about herding.
Helicopters sometimes do headcounts of elk right before hunting season...talk about herding.
I never worked on a ranch. But we did raise cattle, on a much smaller scale. I still miss it 40+ years later
It's hard yakka, for sure. What's harder...is running a dairy. People just don't realise the work behind that package or plastic bottle they pick up in the stupidmarket. I have quite a bit of respect for those on the land. Been there...
how cattle are herded really depends on the herd, ours were used to either following the a pickup or using a 4 wheeler gently, they also learn that they can't outrun a 4 wheeler early and for our bunch it was the best way to move them. but you don't just ride a 4 wheeler into a horse worked herd or the opposite
