Posts Tagged ‘cows’

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Summer Cow Camp 101: Living Situation

August 6, 2018
Jolyn Young

Every summer, hundreds (okay, maybe dozens) of cowboys head to cow camp. They leave headquarters to follow the cattle high up into the mountains for a few months. The air is cooler, the feed is taller, and the water flows more abundantly at these higher elevations, allowing the ranch to most efficiently use its natural […]


Have You Ever…

December 3, 2017
Savanna Simmons

Have you spent a day a-horseback with the person you love the most? Have you heard him utter those blessed four words: “I’ll get the gate”? Have you heard the clicks, pops, and scuffs of 100, 250, 400 cattle walking in unison as they are gathered and moved? Have you seen a jackrabbit jump up […]


Cowboy Skills: Reading Tracks

July 16, 2017
Jolyn Young

Reading tracks is an important skill for a working cowboy, right up there with doctoring calves and learning how to avoid driving a tractor. When a cowboy is checking his cattle and finds an open gate, he needs to be able to tell if any cattle passed through it. Chances are, he won’t see any […]


Do Like Mama Does

November 10, 2016
Jolyn Young

In ranch country, there are a plethora of jokes likening mama people to mama cows. When I was pregnant, I usually just rolled my eyes and laughed obligingly at  wisecracks of using calf pullers on a lady in labor (ouch!) or anything related to a “first-calf heifer.” Really, what pregnant lady doesn’t want to be […]


Life Between These Ears

November 2, 2016
Jenn Zeller

I ride Dino into the sunrise to ship calves at the neighbors. Since the First of October, there’s been only a few days that I’ve not had the view of cows between my horse’s ears.  October has been the stuff cowgirl dreams are made of. Catching horses in the dark, and on the road by daylight, […]


Making Good Working Horses

January 9, 2016
Erica Mannix

We talk all the time about ways to make good working horses. I have recently been pondering exactly what this means because everyone has a different definition. Here’s my take on how good working horses are made. A few weeks ago we moved a group of cows back home before shipping. The trip itself involved a […]


Wintertime Ranch Reality

December 27, 2015
Jolyn Young

It’s winter time in the Northern Hemisphere, and the weather is cold and snowy in central Nevada. My husband and I live on the RO Ranch, and he is taking care of a bunch of yearlings that are wintering at headquarters. I’m glad that he’s sticking around fairly close to the house, because I’m more […]


Fox and The Scary Mineral Feeders

December 4, 2015
Jan Swan Wood

I was riding on a big yearling deal years ago and in one of the pastures the owner had put out those mineral feeders that have the top that protects the tub’s contents and turns in the wind. One horse in my string was not the sharpest individual, plus he didn’t see very well, so […]


That Old Cow

November 5, 2015
Jenn Zeller

That old cow you see right there Well she ain’t much to look at now. She’s skin and bones and walks with a limp. Her glory days have come and gone. But look beyond the bony frame. The toll from miles out on the range. Look past the aged and crippled gait That slowly traverses […]


A Nod is a Nod is a Nod

October 22, 2015
Lynn Kohr

A nod, can be so subtle with so many meanings. Just the other day I was at The Adon Ranch, northwest of Gillette WY, where Don Hamm and his family ranch. I was helping gather, work their cows, sort off calves and ship. I noticed how many different, drastically different, things a nod means. Just a […]


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