Loving cows..

Last weekend the Big Love and I had the opportunity to work cattle with my in-laws. When I say "work cattle" I mean that we had to vaccinate, brand, and castrate the calves along with tag them with their ear tags. The brother in-law had originally planned to work calves the weekend before, while we were in Reno for one of the littles livestock show. However, after I gave him a stern talking to regarding communication, it was changed to this past weekend. They said to be at "camp" aka the location where the pens are that are used for extra observation or cattle needing extra attention/help are at. It is also where my in-laws camp out at when they are out there. We (I) made breakfast consisting of dutch oven eggs/potatoes/bacon wrapped in a yummy tortilla! There is something magical about using the dutch oven outside isn't there? Maybe I'm just crazy but I think it makes the food taste better! Anyway, we were to camp about 5:00 am ready to go. The big love and a wonderful 4-H kid/family friend went and gathered the cattle in a fashion that they call it the farmer way, which consists of using hay as a lure to get them to go where they are supposed to go :) After breakfast was ate and most of the cattle were where they were supposed to be, it was go time! Thankfully my in-laws keep a (somewhat) organized system of medicine/tags/records that were a huge help. The Big Love was on horseback catching and dragging the calves while the brother in-law and dear family friends branded/tagged/vaccinated them. It was a lot of fun! I got the job of record keeper... Not the funnest of all the jobs but I try to remind myself it's just as important... ;) It went so well that we were done with the black cows (Angus) early!

Although two of our little loves weren't with us, they still had their brands put on their calves. This is our 9 year olds brand. He's pretty proud of it and is excited that it's being put on his own calves in the herd! 

Then some amazing friends called and told us that their show calves were out. Luckily the horses were still saddled and we weren't too far away. We headed over to help look for them. Soon afterward the in-laws showed up on UTV's to help search too. The calves were way the heck away from their pens. The in-laws followed them closer to get them home, then when they were in a field, the Big Love roped them and was able to get them in the trailer. They got a ride home, I think they were exhausted and probably humbled!

After that adventure we headed back to camp. Lunch was made which consisted of Rocky Mountain Oysters. It was my first time officially trying them. I've been able to not enjoy their splendor until this day. The Bundy Boys battered and fried them and had us try them. They weren't bad! I guess if you fry anything it can't be too terrible! LOL If you haven't had the luxury of trying these, the best way I can describe their consistency would be a meat jello or similar to a Vienna sausage (do they even make these anymore? I haven't seen them for years). After lunchtime and the laughter of having oysters wore off (who am I kidding, there were a ton of jokes about it, it's hilarious), we headed out to then do the same thing with the Corriente cattle. The calves don't get ear tags but they still require brands, vaccines, and castration. Realizing that there wasn't a need for my record keeping, I hopped on a horse and played in the pen of calves. This was my first time EVER trying to rope a calf off a horse. It didn't go too terrible and I even caught a few times. Granted, I did yell at my husband (not my finest hour) after he hit me in the back of a head with a rope but I did apologize afterwards but goodness the wind and being smacked, I was over it all. I can totally see why folks enjoy roping so much! I told the Big Love that I'd be roping more this summer on my time off and I hope that he'll support me on it. He of course said he would! I asked/told him that I wanted to learn because I remember distinctly when we were dating that he wouldn't teach me how to rope because it would be expensive to buy me a rope horse and entry fees! My how times have changed, and I had to ask him on a day where he knew he appreciated me :) Phew! What a day! It was so fun and a great way to spend a weekend! What about you? Have you ever "worked cattle?" Tell me about in the comments below!

This has made me laugh so much! I don't think Starbucks would appreciate it as much as we did!