Monday, November 19, 2007

Ranching Tutorial

(Come an' listen to a story 'bout a....)


The Bag Lady wants to share a small portion of her workday with you (hope you’re interested…if not, you are excused!)
She ordinarily does not take her camera with her when she feeds cows, but she did just this once so she could give you a better idea of what she is talking about. She tried not to make it too realistic…if there is poop in the photos, it was unintentional, really! (Unfortunately, it is difficult to avoid in the pasture!)
So, slip into your rubber boots and grab your coat; here we go!
Here we have picked up the bale with the loader and are ready to transport it to the pasture.

This is what the inside of the loader looks like (do you feel like you are driving?)


Here we have to get out and cut off the strings.

Like this, see?

Okay, let’s dump this bale into the feeder.

Mission accomplished:

Most days, the Bag Lady spreads the hay out on the ground for the cows, but the loader has been a little balky lately, so she filled a couple feeders for insurance. Here is what it usually looks like. (the Bag Lady did this just before you got here so you wouldn't have to deal with the cows milling around! It can be scary if you aren't used to it.):

This calf has decided this looks like a good place to lie down.

Make sure the gate is shut when we’re done, would ya?

Hope you all enjoyed your foray into the ranching world!

(Ya'all come back now, ya hear?)

7 comments:

Hilary said...

Thanks for the fun post, Baggie. Felt like I was actually there.. in fact there's something on the bottom of my boot..

Do you and the cowboy also make those bales yourselves? I'm thinking that whomever invented the machine that forms them has probably made a bundle... ;)

the Bag Lady said...

Hil, you are Hilary-ous!!

Yes, we put up those bales ourselves. And you're probably right about the baler inventor making a BUNDLE, too...
(Oops, didn't I tell you not to step in that...?)

Reb said...

Cute, good pictures, I'll leave the ranching to you though.

Crabby McSlacker said...

Holy Cow that looks like a lot of work!

In our house, I'm the baler, only it's spelled 'bailer,' because I pretty much 'bail' on any chore that takes more than five minutes.

Thank goodness the Lobster has more of a work ethic or nothing would ever get done.

the Bag Lady said...

Gee, gals, it's not as hard as it looks...unless it's a miserable day, or we've had lots of freezing rain or tons of snow, or freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw...then it's kinda hard to get the strings off the bales. In other words, yeah, it's not an especially easy task, but ya' know what? At least the Bag Lady has a machine to use to handle those big bales, and doesn't have to throw square bales by HAND like my mother-in-law used to have to do!! Now there is one tough little lady!

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Bag Lady,

I am so ignorant of farming. I love your posts about life on the farm and the pictures are just a great bonus.

Terrie

the Bag Lady said...

Terrie; so glad you enjoy the ranching posts. The Bag Lady was pretty ignorant about life on the ranch, too, at one time...she thinks there are some people who probably think she still doesn't know her ass from a mule :)