(car engine whirring)
(wind blowing)
- The spring time is a busy time of the year for us.
And it's time of the year that the calves have been born.
And it's time to identify the calves as our own,
by branding them, earmarking, vaccinating.
(gate unlocks)
Made it to camp, all right.
- [Narrator] Glen Shelley has been manager
of the Rattlesnake Creek Ranch
near Burns, Oregon since 1989.
(metal noise) - Come on.
Go and grab that other horse, James.
(clicking tongue)
- [Narrator] This weekend, Glen is leading a small crew
of friends and family to the foot of King Mountain.
Here, they'll round up and ground this year's calves.
- Let's put this cooler over here in the shade, dad.
- [Narrator] But just as important as doing the work,
is passing on the tradition.
- My dad and grandfather and his grandfather, were Cowboys,
Buckaroos, brought up with this lifestyle.
And I pass it on to my daughter and my son, Manel and Wyatt.
We're just trying to stay as much tradition,
as we can from the gear to the way we handle the cattle,
- The hand braided rawhide reins and
and reatas, silver bridles,
and highly individualized neckwear,
are all part of the Vaquero or Buckaroo tradition.
(car engine humming)
- Hey, hey Hattie Mae!
Ain't seen him long time.
We really like to encourage the kids to come along.
That's that's how they learn.
It's important to me because it's vanishing
(wind blowing)
- [Narrator] For ranch kids like Hattie Mae and Noah Mort.
This is a way of life.
But there's no guarantee they'll stay.
- It's hard to get young people now to come
and work on a ranch, for instance,
because of the high paying jobs.
It's something that you have to have a desire for,
because it's not the money.
- You hold that side James, and I'll hold this side.
Okay, hold on. (metal clangs)
- [Narrator] This spring, Glen has an eager student,
a 14 year old James Male.
- James is from a town, but he's a real hard worker,
and he showed a lot of interest in wanting to be a Buckaroo,
and learn how to do things.
We've kind of taken him in and helping him along.
And we're gonna to teach him.
- There you go, just right.
(metal hammering)
- [Narrator] Every Friday for the last few months,
James has been making the trip out
from Burns to rattlesnake Creek.
- When I first started with Glen, I was sort of scared,
because I didn't know the place,
I've never been out this way before, so,
pretty intense where I first started.
(metal chiming)
- Okay, turn this way...
- [Narrator] With camp set up,
the work of rounding up the cattle begins.
This is Noah Mort's favorite part.
- I like rounding up the cattles,
because I get to ride my horse.
- Gonna send Jason and Carrie
and Jana and Hattie Mae and Noah.
You guys are gonna take the outside to the West.
All right.
- [Narrator] For Noah, Hattie Mae and the others.
It's time to get to work.
But for now, James will have to be content to watch.
- I like to ride, but Glen won't let me because
I'm not that good of a rider.
When I see little kids riding horses just like that,
I think, wow.
I'm really proud that people like Hattie and Noah,
that live on the ranch that could do that so,
hopefully I get to, where I could ride.
(cattle mooing)
(metal dinging)
(cowboy whistling)
(cowboy shooing)
(cattle mooing)
- [Narrator] At the age of seven,
Noah's not only a good rider, but also
well on his way to mastering
the fundamentals of the roundup.
- The cows are in front of you, and you, on your horse,
behind them, and
your horse pushes them over.
(cattle mooing)
You push the cows to wherever you want.
(cattle mooing)
- [Narrator] In the fall,
these cattle will be rounded up again,
sold at auction and then processed for the beef industry.
But for now, they range in relative freedom.
(cattle mooing)
(cowboy whistling)
It takes the crew a couple of rides to find them all
on the timber.
(wind blowing)
When the count comes up full, work is done for the day.
(wind blowing)
(indistinct conversation)
- We have a good day today.
We looked out for weather, it didn't rain and snow on us.
It's a little cooler right now,
but we'll just have to snug up
a little closer to the fire tonight.
It'll be nice by morning, hopefully.
- [Cowboy] Somebody like their steak, well done?
(laughs)
- [Glen] You want a potato?
- Yes please.
- All right, that's gonna be hot.
(munching)
- Now, all we gotta do is try and knock each other down.
(laughs)
- [Glen] Oh, come on, hang on James!
(laughs)
(country music)
- [James] Bill West is actually one of my favorite things.
The way they ride their horses and the way they teach people
or the way they like the Old West.
(country music)
I wish I could have (indistinct)
(country music)
(cattle mooing)
- Whenever you're ready yet for breakfast?
- We're on it.
- [Glen] It's time to get ready.
- [Narrator] Everyone's up early on branding day.
Even if the sun isn't.
- Looks like it's gonna be a nice day,
it's a little cloudy, but that's fine.
We'll take anything but rain.
- [Narrator] Doing this work the old fashioned way,
means the burn barrel will have to stay hot.
(cattle mooing)
A corral is fashioned from what's on hand.
- We've got a two-sided wire lot.
And then we, I call it a portable corrals.
We use pickups and horse trailers to do the other two sites.
(scratching metal)
(banging metal)
- [Glen] We're ready.
(cow mooing)
Where's the beef?
- [Narrator] Jame's job will be
wrestling the calves to the ground
- I've been to brandings before,
I haven't done it lately.
I might be doing a little fit today, so pretty excited.
(cattle mooing)
- [Cowboy] Ready?
- [Glen] Good job James, keep on holding, keep it tight.
(cattle mooing)
- You gotta have to grow a couple of inches.
- Yeah.
- [Narrator] Nine-year-old Hattie Mae,
shows us that even a working cowgirl has time for fashion.
(indistinct)
- Pink!
- [Narrator] But don't let that Hello Kitty scarf
and all the pink fool you.
Hattie Mae is here to work.
- There you go, good job.
- This is usually my main job.
Sometimes I cook them, they're actually very yummy.
- [Narrator] On the range,
they're called Rocky Mountain oysters.
(cattle mooing)
These cattle are being raised for beef and turning the bulls
into steers is all part of the process.
- If they're steers then,
they are built that way to put on weight.
And that's the name of the game,
because we sell pounds of beef.
- [Narrator] A full third of Harney County's jobs
are generated by ranching and agriculture.
But the economy here often runs in a less formal way.
- In a community like this.
Neighboring is a very important thing.
It takes from six to eight ropers, plus ground crew.
And it's hard to employ that many on the ranch, at that time
So it's important to be neighborly
and have a fun time doing it.
(cattle mooing) (laughing)
- [Narrator] The fun is not without
a little friendly competition.
- The least amount of misses,
the most with cattle is the best roper.
(cattle mooing)
Oh man, like, he had him, he let him go.
- [Narrator] This is also where a Cowboy's
or a Cowgirl's skill at handling the calves
makes all the difference.
(cattle mooing)
- Sure, they're a little stressed
because they're away from their mother for a time
but you know, you'll hear the calves balling
(calf balling)
But the guys that are roping had been doing it for years,
that's their job, is to take care of that calf first.
And once we get him on the ground,
and he's only there for about 30 seconds
and he's up and he's back, so.
Hey, we're good here.
In about a day's time, they've totally forgot about it.
And they're on eating grass,
and doing what they're supposed to do.
(cattle mooing)
- [Narrator] In a few hours,
some 175 calves have been processed.
In a time honored tradition,
passed along to another generation.
- Getting a little tired.
Hard work.
I just like ranching.
The best because being outdoors
and riding and stuff like that.
I think I might be a rancher when I grow up.
(cattle mooing)