Wild Cow Milking

The events at a Ranch Rodeo are as follows: ranch bronc riding, team penning, stray gathering, team branding and wild cow milking. Some rodeos add more events it just depends. While the Wild Cow Milking event produces the most laughs I've never seen this done on a ranch but I'm sure at some time or another it may be necessary. For those that read Pioneer Woman - her brother in law Tom Drummond's Ranch along with SweetWater Cattle rocked and ended up as the champion ranch team. If you have any more questions about the ranch rodeo ask away....

Amarillo by Morning

Are you singing yet? Recently, the 14th Annual Ranch Rodeo for the Working Ranch Cowboy Association was held in Amarillo. No, I wasn't competing but there were a few ladies out there! Twenty four qualifying teams from as far away as Florida competed and there were three teams from New Mexico. In subsequent posts I'll explain the events that are set up to simulate actual ranch work but for now I wanted to commend the WRCA for putting on a fabulous event, for honoring the men and women that have been and are part of our armed services at every event and for recognizing the women of ranching in a lovely exhibit.

De-Horning

When calves get worked they are usually de-horned. This is done for a variety of reason the most important factor I believe is safety. No one wants to be around a snarky cow in the pens with horns, its also harder to move a cow thru a shoot with horns and you can't haul as many in a truck if they've got horns! In an efficient operation a calf can be run worked in less than 60 seconds if you've got a good team but de-horning adds a time to the operation. The Cooperative Research Center for Beef Technologies in Australia is actually developing a DNA test to determine if a cow will produce a calf with horns. Exciting don't you think?

Pregnancy Checking

I wonder if the ranches in Australia that run thousands of heads of cows preg test? This is always an interesting time on the ranch - the momma's babies have been weaned and before they are put out to their winter pastures the mommas get preg tested, some shots and some get their teeth checked. They check the teeth in order to know to verify age and to make sure she's got enough teeth to keep eating enough to support her and her calf. There are many decisions that are made in a short period of time and its an time to observe different ranching philosophies ie. if she's not pregnant do you keep her? Many factors go into consideration here. Every ranch is different some cull all that aren't pregnant, some may mark the one's that are open, some may put them back on the bulls - its not just running them through a shoot - and lets not forget the record keeping aspect!