03/13/08 Wild or gentle II

Yesterday I told you how my thoughts of needing easier handling cattle coincided with a magazine article I read. I'm Jeff Keane; today I'll relate some ways to train a cowherd. Tim O'Byrne's article in Working Ranch magazine discussing well-trained cattle was really entertaining and his writing style made even a list of how to school cows fun to read. His list of how to train cows was actually a list of how to spoil cows. First, let your fences go into total disrepair. I know this will work since our fences took a pretty bad hit when we were eradicating sagebrush with more or less controlled burns about thirty years ago. Next, dog your cows until they totally hate dogs, that way they spend all their time looking for a dog instead of trailing along. Be sure to yell at your cattle at all times. Gather the cows fast, move them fast, leave them where you want them and ride home for a little R&R. You'll need it because tomorrow you'll make the same ride to gather all the cows that lost their calves and had to go back and find them. Number five  poke and prod your cows any chance you get when you're on foot, especially when they are moving correctly while in the working chutes. And finally, bother the cow and calf pair three minutes after the calf is born. Sounds easy to spoil a bunch of cows, doesn't it? Well, it's almost as easy to train them to be good handling cows  Mr. O'Bryne says just do the opposite of the "how-to-spoil-them" list. I'm Jeff Keane. Working Ranch January/February 2008