"Cattle Drive" has always been an interesting term to me. After all, cattle don't drive, you gather them up and move them down the road or across pastures to their new feeding grounds.
First, there's the gather.
First, there's the gather.
Then the herd has a tendency to rush out the gate and head
down the road in a hurry...
...until they settle down to a steady pace.
Depending where you travel, there can be a few obstacles along the way. The older cows have been down this road at least yearly and they barely blink an eye at their surroundings. Here's a bridge that a few of them have crossed several times in their life. It makes a different noise under their hooves than being on gravel, so the calves and even new horses can balk at the strange sound it makes. In those cases, it's wise to get off your horse and lead it across the first time or two!
Vehicles are a common sight.
And there are a few railway crossings.
This day, some of the younger cows were leading the pack and it took a little convincing to get them to cross the tracks. However, with some persistence, one finally ventured out and took those first steps...
...and the others soon followed.
As they all settled into their new digs, there was a chance to get a good look at some of the calves and see how they've grown. You may remember little raccoon eyes. Well, he isn't so little anymore!
It's alway satisfying to head home after a great morning ride
and a job well done.
I've been caught behind a few cattle drives in my time: there was one on the gravel road to camp and from far away, I could NOT figure out what was going on. Then I had to park my car while the cattle surged around me. It was kind of cool. Less cool? The time I was sonearlylate to my friends' wedding because of a cattle drive!
ReplyDeleteThere is a bit of a trick to getting through them but it also helps when those moving the cattle help vehicles through by creating a path. Did you end up with a dirty car by the time you reached the wedding?
ReplyDelete