hi I'm Mike a few weeks ago we got to deal with a cranky cow with a sore leg
and today we're gonna head out and check on her and I'm gonna take the chance to
show you around the barn where we nursed her back to health it's all coming up
today on our Wyoming Life
hi there and welcome back each and every cow on the ranch is
important and those who live here now are part of our breeding herd these are
the cows that will continue to live on the ranch for the rest of their lives
without them there is no ranch so we treat them the very best we can and yeah
they're a little bit spoiled please subscribe come to get to know the herd
and explore the ranch life while you escape the ordinary back in December you
may remember I ran into a bit of a problem I was at first I was afraid the
number 27 had broken her leg turns out it was just a bad sprain
but even so she needed some help we brought her into the barn and although
cows are herd animals they they like to be together we had to separate her off I
could have brought her in with another cow but I've learned through experience
but having another cow around really wouldn't have calmed her down any we
also have to think about her safety and our safety if we had another cow with
her she would have instinctively wanted to be next to that cow
we couldn't have them together while we worked on her so you know that would
cause a dangerous place for us to be so the choice was made to bring her in
alone we brought her into the barn where we could try to control her better so I
know that sometimes it looks like these cows are tame but believe me they're
still wild animals we never know what exactly they're thinking and every day
my my goal is to go home safe and in one piece each cow can weigh up to 1,500
pounds that's heavier than a polar bear or a grizzly bear and I think they can
kill you just as fast so no chances were taken which the cow was brought into the
barn even so she was in pain and agitated and she managed to get her foot
stuck in the gate and I had to cut the post to get her out but all that is
behind us that's not her fun she's received a
course of anti-inflammatory medication and soon after being separated from the
herd she was slowly integrated back in
starting with some time with some older cows that were being held in the
Corral's and eventually being put out with the cows who were at the time
living in another set of Corral's and enjoying their last days on the ranch
soon we'll head out to find her because she's now back out there with the rest
of the herd and since I've been on the road for the last few days I haven't had
a chance to check on her I don't know how she's doing I don't know I do know
that she was better when I put her out but she could have hurt herself again
seems like once they hurt themselves it kind of reoccurs occasionally and
depending on what we find today might directly affect how long she stays on
the ranch and if she stays or if she goes but first from that video with
bringing her in we had to handle a lot of questions about our
barn now it's not a traditional barn that you may see on a farm or ranch so I
figured I'd give you a little bit of a tour
I'm standing here at the back side of the bar and I'm not really sure when our
barn was built I'm not even sure if it's really actually a barn originally this
structure was used when the ranch had a sales barn incorporated into it
beginning in the 1930s this ranch raised Hereford cows and was known across the
West for their cattle specifically their Hereford bulls registered Bulls that
each year were featured in the Western stock shows by the truckload and then
they were also sold right here in this building where bleachers and one once
upon a time a sales rank stood cows and bulls were brought up through one side
of the barn sold in the ring and then brought out the other the exit side of
that barn and that operation is at least the indoor portion that's what became
our barn a barn by definition is an area where you can house livestock and we've
done a lot of that in here
it may not look like a traditional barn but for us it gets the job done inside
our barn we have five separate stalls at least one is ready to go at all times
and during calving which is coming up very soon they're all going to be
cleaned and prepped every year the entire barn is sanitized using a
disinfectant for agricultural applications which will get rid of the
germs the virus viruses and the fungi in order to minimize the spread of disease
also in the barn is our head chute or our head catch which we can use to hold
a cow stationary if we have to perform a procedure or sometimes just an
examination on her the barn also allows us to be in and out of the weather and
it's also been a birthing area for a number of calves on the ranch
without the barn or whatever you want to call it we would be in a lot of trouble
but no cow can live in here forever so a couple weeks ago we took number 27 and
she was released out to head out with the herd once again and she still had a
little bit of stiffness at that time but I'd given her all the anti-inflammatory
that I could she had no infection so that's good
but still there's the fear that she could reinjure herself so as much as she
may not like it she does get a little bit of extra attention every once in a
while so it's time to go out and give her a little bit of the extra attention
and find number 27 so we're off to find number 127 at the time though I still
had the number 27 stuck in my head finding a single count when a herd of
cows can be hard enough finding one it looks exactly like the all the others is
like trying to find a needle in a pile of needles and it's even harder when
you're mistaken on the needle you're looking for I didn't realize I was
looking for the wrong cow or at least the wrong number for almost a half an
hour I drove around and around looking for number 27 and there is a number 27
out here but she's a Red Cow and I was looking for a black cow so she wasn't
even on my radar back and forth up and down the pasture I drove double checking
the same area over and over again cows are always on the move so there's
that to deal with but my mistake was making my job way harder in fact I even
drove right by her making myself look even more foolish I could have went back
and refilmed this entire episode or at least two parts where I knew I had her
number wrong but I thought that this whole experience might make a good point
none of us are perfect we all make mistakes everywhere and the biggest
mistake you can make is assuming you don't or that you're better than someone
else because they did for me making a mistake is the best way to learn a
lesson you can read a book or watch a video but it's until you're in the
moment that you realize how the mistake happened
and how it can be corrected it's easy to judge without being in someone's shoes
trust me I know but when I slowed down thought through the problem it was then
I realized the solution it's okay to be wrong just don't make a habit of it
today it cost me a little bit of time maybe a little pride but in the end
there she is looking good spry as ever and on the move her injury is obviously
better the swelling has gone down and she's healthy ready to have her calf
very soon and continue her life on the ranch as number 127 all right that's
that we found her number 127 not number 27 not bad to be off by a factor of 100
but she seems to be doing well she's up and moving and of course about a hundred
times better than when we saw her before thanks once again for coming along with
us as we continue to explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary I'm happy
to be back here on the ranch I was out back east for the last few days I got a
chance to visit Virginia North Carolina and South Carolina as we got to take a
little tour visit some friends at Michelin and of course meet some of you
guys in winston-salem that was awesome I'm really completely
really excited about the folks that came out dang out with us that was a lot of
fun and if you were one of them thank you very much we'll be doing more
stuff like that as we move on through the year here on our Wyoming life so be
sure you subscribe hip a little Bell button make sure that you get all the
notifications and until next time have a great week and thanks for joining us in
our weilman life hi I'm Mike a few weeks ago we got to deal with a cranky cow
with a sore leg you can join us on Sunday on our sister channel beyond the
wrench for our live stream that happens on Sunday
7:00 p.m. right here well right there hi I'm Mike and I just flew in from
South Carolina and boy are my arms tired Wow okay whatever today we get to check
on her and take a chance I'm gonna take it Rob when I do some stuff with boot hi
I'm Mike and today a few other things why can't I talk today think I've been
gone for a while all right