Horsewright
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2011
- Messages
- 11,677
We had our fall works last weekend. This is where we process all our adult cows and brand any youngsters. The adult cows are processed by running them through a squeeze chute and there they are given needed injections, worming and any doctoring that might be needed. The calves are roped to be processed as this is easier on them then getting hustled and bustled going through the chute. Saves em getting jostled around by the adults. Thought I'd share a few pics of some of our leather work being used. Outside of saddles and boots in these shots, if its leather, we made it.
So here's the cowboss (me) getting ready to sort. What we're gonna do here is sort off all the adults from the calves. We do this as slow as possible. Again we're trying to prevent the adults from jostling the babies around. In fact we did have one younger cowboy helping that we kinda had to shut down. He wasn't getting the go slow part. Literally trying to get as much as possible done at the walk.
Our friend Tyler sorting some out.
Nichole and I.
The girls. Nichole's mare Josie and Tyler's mare Dusty Rose.
After we got them sorted, I gave out assignments for work that needs to be done. I had Tyler, Gracie and Noah stay horseback. Their job was to bring 3-4 cows at a time from the holding pens down into the sweep and then into the alley. I had Lucia up on the catwalk keeping the cattle moving down the alley into the squeeze chute. Fernando was also up on the catwalk. He was applying the wormer to each adult as it passed by. Salty was running the chute, Nichole and Cara were giving injections and doing the paperwork and Steve was helping them. My job was to shut the sweep gate behind the cows but in front of the horses of Tyler and his crew. Timing can be tricky here so ya not smacking a horse upside the head with a big gate.
Salty squeezing one of the cows in the chute.
Nichole and Cara have the injection guns. I made Salty's knife too thats on his chinks belt.
Giving an injection.
Up on the catwalk. Lucia and Brother Bill cussing and discussing. Brother Bill cooks for us but he'll come over and help as time allows. Lucia's belt was the only one on the place that day we didn't make. She has two on order.
Just some of the bustle around the chute:
All done and taking the cattle down the return to the pens. A group had turned around at the gate and was blocking entrance for the rest. I'm jumping out and will go around to the gate. I turned that group and then Salty and Cara were able to bring the rest on through.
So now we sort the cattle off that have calves. We put them back in the big pen with the calves. I had Nichole and Tyler do that. Rest of us just wait. We want to know which calf goes to which cow so we give them time to "mother up". Salty, Lucia and Noah waiting. Noah is wearing a pair of Arizona Bell type leggings. I've only ever made two pair of this type of leggings.
After this sorting we'll take a little break and have some lunch. We had one cow that had twins. One of them had contracted tendons in his front legs from being tight in the oven, so he couldn't walk good. mom nature tells the cow to abandon a calf that isn't "right" so she had. We'd found him standing in some sage brush with his head down and about dead. We used the truck bed and brought him into the corrals hoping that his mom would mother back up with him but she didn't. So we named him Frank and he's being bottle fed three times a day. We brought him home built him a nice little house in a horse pen and he's doing fine. Gonna make it. Here Nichole and my daughter Alyssa are feeding him in the big corral.
So after lunch I divide up my ropers into two groups. Half will work the ground first and then about half way down we'll swap and they'll get up and rope and the others will get down. I stayed down the whole time as I loaned Alyssa my horse so she could rope. The ground crew will also help the riders spot a "pair" so that we know which calf goes to which cow. We've got two electric branding irons running so we're good to go when one is spotted. Here Noah and Gracie were helping spot a pair. I didn't make these shotgun leggings that Gracie has on. When she got up horseback she switched to a pair I'd made. These were made for her older brother and she found em heavy after a long day.
Noah and Gracie fixing the ropes after a calf has been headed and heeled. Made Noah's knife too.
Nichole comes out with one.
Alyssa grabs the heels and the ground crew will lay the calf down. Notice the slack in Nichole's head rope. If she doesn't give that slack at the right moment the calf won't go down. She's also give the calf some air. We always do everything as gentle as possible on these little guys.
I swapped my ropers around. I let Alyssa stay up as she doesn't get to come out very often. She's a nursing student down the hill. Here's Gracie after she switched leggings.
Salty has one roped.
Nichole really wanted this bald face calf to be a heifer. But he wasn't.
Tyler and I handling the groundwork on a big one.
Well hope ya like our little leather tour of fall works at Rancho Dos Marcos. All of our pics were taken by Emma, a young 16 year old that couldn't join us in the work because she's recovering from knee surgery. She did a great job manning the camera.
So here's the cowboss (me) getting ready to sort. What we're gonna do here is sort off all the adults from the calves. We do this as slow as possible. Again we're trying to prevent the adults from jostling the babies around. In fact we did have one younger cowboy helping that we kinda had to shut down. He wasn't getting the go slow part. Literally trying to get as much as possible done at the walk.
Our friend Tyler sorting some out.
Nichole and I.
The girls. Nichole's mare Josie and Tyler's mare Dusty Rose.
After we got them sorted, I gave out assignments for work that needs to be done. I had Tyler, Gracie and Noah stay horseback. Their job was to bring 3-4 cows at a time from the holding pens down into the sweep and then into the alley. I had Lucia up on the catwalk keeping the cattle moving down the alley into the squeeze chute. Fernando was also up on the catwalk. He was applying the wormer to each adult as it passed by. Salty was running the chute, Nichole and Cara were giving injections and doing the paperwork and Steve was helping them. My job was to shut the sweep gate behind the cows but in front of the horses of Tyler and his crew. Timing can be tricky here so ya not smacking a horse upside the head with a big gate.
Salty squeezing one of the cows in the chute.
Nichole and Cara have the injection guns. I made Salty's knife too thats on his chinks belt.
Giving an injection.
Up on the catwalk. Lucia and Brother Bill cussing and discussing. Brother Bill cooks for us but he'll come over and help as time allows. Lucia's belt was the only one on the place that day we didn't make. She has two on order.
Just some of the bustle around the chute:
All done and taking the cattle down the return to the pens. A group had turned around at the gate and was blocking entrance for the rest. I'm jumping out and will go around to the gate. I turned that group and then Salty and Cara were able to bring the rest on through.
So now we sort the cattle off that have calves. We put them back in the big pen with the calves. I had Nichole and Tyler do that. Rest of us just wait. We want to know which calf goes to which cow so we give them time to "mother up". Salty, Lucia and Noah waiting. Noah is wearing a pair of Arizona Bell type leggings. I've only ever made two pair of this type of leggings.
After this sorting we'll take a little break and have some lunch. We had one cow that had twins. One of them had contracted tendons in his front legs from being tight in the oven, so he couldn't walk good. mom nature tells the cow to abandon a calf that isn't "right" so she had. We'd found him standing in some sage brush with his head down and about dead. We used the truck bed and brought him into the corrals hoping that his mom would mother back up with him but she didn't. So we named him Frank and he's being bottle fed three times a day. We brought him home built him a nice little house in a horse pen and he's doing fine. Gonna make it. Here Nichole and my daughter Alyssa are feeding him in the big corral.
So after lunch I divide up my ropers into two groups. Half will work the ground first and then about half way down we'll swap and they'll get up and rope and the others will get down. I stayed down the whole time as I loaned Alyssa my horse so she could rope. The ground crew will also help the riders spot a "pair" so that we know which calf goes to which cow. We've got two electric branding irons running so we're good to go when one is spotted. Here Noah and Gracie were helping spot a pair. I didn't make these shotgun leggings that Gracie has on. When she got up horseback she switched to a pair I'd made. These were made for her older brother and she found em heavy after a long day.
Noah and Gracie fixing the ropes after a calf has been headed and heeled. Made Noah's knife too.
Nichole comes out with one.
Alyssa grabs the heels and the ground crew will lay the calf down. Notice the slack in Nichole's head rope. If she doesn't give that slack at the right moment the calf won't go down. She's also give the calf some air. We always do everything as gentle as possible on these little guys.
I swapped my ropers around. I let Alyssa stay up as she doesn't get to come out very often. She's a nursing student down the hill. Here's Gracie after she switched leggings.
Salty has one roped.
Nichole really wanted this bald face calf to be a heifer. But he wasn't.
Tyler and I handling the groundwork on a big one.
Well hope ya like our little leather tour of fall works at Rancho Dos Marcos. All of our pics were taken by Emma, a young 16 year old that couldn't join us in the work because she's recovering from knee surgery. She did a great job manning the camera.
Last edited:
