Sorting, Weighing, and Snow!

 

September 28, 2019, Volume 14, Issue 37

Well Howdy,

Another week at McGinnis Meadows in the books. A good week. A productive week. And a fun one to boot.

This time around we continued to gather our herd of steers off of Davis Mountain and take them to the Belgarde pasture. For those of you that have not yet had the experience of driving cattle across our many mountains and pastures there is really nothing like it; exciting when you think of how far you’ve come with the steers and how far there is to go. A little bit of pressure is taken off with every piece of land you get through successfully. It is also admittedly frustrating at times when the steers start to stray from the path they’re meant to take. But goodness, what a rewarding experience to have moved so many steers so far at the end of the day.

Perhaps one of the best feelings at the end of the day, as well, is to come in to find a delicious hot meal prepared and waiting for you to enjoy. We are so blessed to have a great and conscientious kitchen staff that pour themselves into making each meal wonderful.

This week we got to welcome back a number of friends as well as some new faces. The Greenwoods and the Mackeys found their way back here for some cattle fun. Arnold came back, too, and brought along his wife Sabrina and friends Evan and Jessica. And then we got to see such wonderful friends as Wayne, Bob, Carl, and Ray. First time guests, Angelo and Laura came all the way from Italy to ride with us- the two of them as well as Ray spent the week in horsemanship with Shayne and Des and did absolutely wonderfully! Their dedication is truly appreciated and we hope they come back soon!

To be honest, the week went by far too quickly! On Friday a group of us went out to sort the cattle that we had holding in the Belgarde pasture. Roby went out there and led the charge. Sue and I both were armed with sheets of paper that listed the ear tag numbers of all the steers that we had already weighed. The goal of the morning was to gather out a sample for reweighing and then to gather out a specific 19 head that had yet to be weighed. It was a lot of fun! Especially with Roby there to show us the ropes. And once we got those steers we took them straight to the scales- some of those hefty boys clocked in close to 1000 pounds!

For a word of horsemanship wisdom, please enjoy some words from Des:

“Last year I started Buzz and Chupa, two of Shayne’s personal horses and the last pure colts on the ranch.  I prepared them to the max, and Shayne and I had a goal that neither horse would ever see trouble from horseback.  The colt starting then, as you can imagine, would have been pretty boring to watch 😉

As things go, I got super busy and after last fall I was not able to ride them again until this month.  I wondered how much of their short education from a year ago would carry.  The short answer is, all of it!

It’s been such a pleasure the past couple of weeks to get on these horses and pick up where I left off last year.  Both of them are very different, but so much fun.  This week, I was able to get both Buzz and Chupa on the cutting machine for the first time, and I was able to ride out on Buzz to gather cattle and he worked his first steers!  He LOVES cattle…or he just loves to push them around!

Roby has also been able to start camping on some youngsters.  He started a colt named Monty last year, and another named Leroy.  Both of them also picked up right where they left off and Leroy is nearly ready to start heading out to graze!”

Well folks, that’s all we’ve got for now. The week has come to an end and the snow has started to fall. Coming from a girl who has longed for a true winter for the past 10 years living in southern Virginia, it is a great excitement. Although it may not stay long, this brief winter wonderland is a glimpse into what the coming seasons
could bring- and it is beautiful.

Happy trails,

Anna