hi I'm Mike nothing on the ranch lasts forever
tractors eventually will have to be replaced cows will come and go in fact
someday it'll be my time to leave the ranch and better and more capable hands
today we start the process of updating a piece of the ranch that's essential in
making sure that every cow has the care they deserve so that we can do it safely
not only for the cow but also for us today we dive into the Corral's on our
wyoming life
what do we think about a farm the first thing that I usually picture is rolling
fields ripe with corn or wheat or soybeans I see a combine maybe a cedar
but when I think of a ranch one of the first things that I picture in my mind
is not cows or horses or Cowboys or even calves it's a set of Corral's Corral's
simply put our a pen or an enclosure for confining or capturing livestock
occasionally our claws on the ranch are used for just that a place for cows or
calves or even pigs to call home and stay close to where somebody can keep
them under direct supervision we use these pens in our Corral system to keep
heifers that we know are gonna calves soon they're first-time moms they're
notorious for having trouble and also not even really accepting their calves
sometimes so that's why a Corral system is actually connected to our barn where
we can take those new moms and pin them up in a stall with their new calf for a
bit of forced bonding or we might keep a sick cow that we know we're gonna have
to give medications to or maybe just the Pens become home to a bunch of orphan
calves who need a place to stay pens are really just the beginning of a
good Corral system and saying that the Corral's are like our pens are like
saying a car is just somewhere to sit it's true but there's much much more to
it than that Corral's for us are all about cattle
handling and working facilities these Corral's are where we brand and
vaccinate all of the calves that are born on the ranch we also take care of
their moms here each year they're all brought through multiple times for
vaccinations medications soundness exams and of course preg checking where every
prospective mom is given an ultrasound to not only check and see if she is
pregnant but also how healthy her reproductive system is and if she may
have twins or sometimes we can even tell the sex of the calf
these Corral's are the second set of Corral's at the ranch's scene and over
its 100 years the original Corral's were built in the late 1920s early 1930s
and lasted for years until I replaced them about seven years ago now it's time
to update this Corral system once again as we incorporate the air equip portable
chute alley and bud box tub system into it in order to make it safer and easier
for both us and the cows now before we get to that let's take a look at our
Corral system of the past and how we've modified them over the years to get to
this point the earliest satellite image that I can
find at the ranch is this one taken in 1994 the year I graduated from high
school and also the year that Tonya Harding smacked Nancy Kerrigan and OJ
made a run for it and what has become a famous white Bronco and while I remember
it just a little bit clearer I guess satellite imagery was a lot
grainy ER and Corral's were a lot bigger back at that time Gilbert my
father-in-law was only running steers and bulls he would raise them for about
a year fatten him on the ranch and then sell him off he really didn't need a
Corral system and so he had a series of pens to hold different livestock and a
short alley that led to a loading chute that was all he needed later in his life
Gilbert changed the business model of the ranch away from feeder steers to a
cow calf operation he purchased a few cows that were already pregnant and had
his first cows on the ranch that spring still though Gilbert kept the same
Corral system when we came to the ranch we used it and we didn't know there is
an easier way to do things and when Gilbert passed away in 2011 we decided
to make a change and create a cattle handling facility one that could be ran
with as few people as possible and done safely
the University of Saskatchewan helped us out by providing a set of plans for a
new set of Corral's that would tie in to what we already had eliminating a number
of the large Corral's and adding a curving alley to lead cows into a chute
and tubs that we could use to move cows into alleys for loading or calves onto
the table for branding all in all it worked pretty well although we still had
an old chute in fact it was the same one left over from our very original
Corral's and pens and because of that we didn't use our own chute to work our
cows we would have the vet bring his own which meant that we had to call a vet
out each time we wanted to work cattle or had an issue with a required putting
a cow into a chute enter the arrow clip Corral system we had a chance to use
this portable system out in the field and now we're gonna upgrade our cattle
working facilities by tying it in to our existing Corral's upgrading what we have
and creating a better and safer along with a more economical way to manage our
herd and only a few weeks we'll be selling this year's cows which will soon
be followed by Prague checking the cows to see who's pregnant and who isn't our
existing Corral's were built specifically for this function although
we've never had a chance to use them for Prague checking in theory we should be
able to bring a cow into the chute and if it wasn't so hard to operate in
awkward then we would find out if she was pregnant or not we can sort her into
one of four different pens just by swinging a couple gates
this is what sold me on this design and I can't wait to be able to finally use
it as it was meant to be used for that to happen we're gonna have to remove a
good sized chunk of the corrals as they stand now once we have a hole opened up
then we just drop in the arrow clip chute alley and tub of course that's if
we had a giant crane or a Chinook helicopter at our disposal we don't so
it's gonna be a bit more involved than just dropping it in we have to remove a
lot of boards and then take out some posts but first we need tools an impact
driver a bucket for screws and the perfect song for a montage okay maybe
not that one how about this one
when you're mavin you're traveling Kevin your thrift store shoes I'll go get my
cowboy loop we'll go
speak to a real us Oh
true it's
the countryside is just fun by the sold window
oh it's looking like an Irish deer oh it's green it's great
just keeping them
I can see
after tearing down what took probably weeks to build we're now ready to head
on in with the arrow clip system obviously I can't pull it into place
with my pickup what with a ball fitted on it the forks of the Bobcat we can
start moving it where it needs to be which turns out to be a bit trickier
than I thought it would be
but with some fancy footwork and a bit of back and forth we end up right where
we need to be
everything on the ranch has to be versatile but it also has to be
adaptable me included and being able to do this to some Corral's that I spent an
entire summer building just seven years ago kind of breaks my heart but at the
same time I know that it's better for the ranch I know that it's better for
the cows and it's better for us in the long run thanks for coming along with me
today we still have a lot to do here obviously we have some gaps to fill in
we have to figure out how we're gonna get the cows into the new tub and the
bud flow system but that's all to come still some leveling to do dirt work I
mean it just goes on and on but I can guarantee you that when it comes time to
Prague check this year we will be using this system and using it to its full
extent like it never has been before again thanks for coming along with me
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times per week right here on YouTube until I see you again have a great week
and thanks for joining us
you