Ranching 201

Today I learned some more here on the ranch. This morning we had one cow that found her way back to the calves after they were separated yesterday. Carsten said there are six more that came back tonight that we’ll have to chase back to the pasture in the morning. Other than that I spent my morning with Lester rounding up the flock of sheep and sorting them out. One of the rams had gotten in with the wrong bunch. The interesting part was getting in the corral with the sheep and trying to keep them moving in one direction. I’m surprised I didn’t get knocked over or something. I pretty much felt like an idiot having no idea what I was doing, but talk about a learning experience.

Lester has been great about telling me as much as possible about the ranch. He’s gone into several details about breeding, financials, land, government land, equipment, and the list goes on. By no means do I remember it all. It’s great to see how this whole place runs and I’m amazed that it can be done with only a few people.

The most enjoyable part is riding the four wheelers around out in the open land. I could do it all day. And one of the families trusty border collies jumps on the fourwheeler with me and tucks his head under my arm as I drive around. I’ve never been a big dog person, but I can see how handy they are on the ranch and helping with the sheep especially.

It’s an impressive operation. I would suggest to anyone that they come out to a ranch for a few days and lend their hand. I love beef and until now I would just kind of always take it for granted. I knew a littler from what I learned passively, about it coming from some ranch. Now, I see exactly where it comes from, and the process of it. It’s a pretty cool operation.

This afternoon was quite relaxing. I snapped a few shots of Carsten and Lester as they did some skeet shooting. I had my chance, but it’s been so long since I’ve shot a gun I didn’t really want to embarrass myself too much. Most of the afternoon and evening Carsten and I watched football and baseball on TV while Lester and Reneta were in town at a community gathering. It’s another impressive day.