Author’s note: This blog is about a real cow – “Old Number 5” – on my family’s ranch northwest of Kaycee, Wyoming. While the cow’s “thoughts”and feelings are obviously conjecture, the day-to-day activities and movements of this cow are real. We will follow her throughout the year to all of the pastures she grazes, and she will give her “opinions” about all of them and the happenings within her herd. My family and I expend a lot of time, energy, and resources to make sure the cattle have plenty to eat, fresh, clean water to drink, and are, for lack of a better phrase, Happy Cows. Please keep in mind that my intentions for this blog are not to “humanize” cows – or any other animal – but merely to provide a look into what a typical cow here at Brock Livestock Company goes through in a given year, and her possible “opinions” about things.
Hello once again from the beautiful state of Wyoming! I hope that the month of June was as good for everyone out there as it was for my herdmates and I. The month started off unusually cool for the first couple of weeks; in fact, on the 5th of June we woke up to see snow on the tops of the mountain ridges in the pasture where we would be spending part of our summer. After seeing that, all of us were glad to be down in the “flat country” by the North Fork of the Powder River! The cool weather doesn’t bother us a bit – in fact we thrive in the cooler weather. My black hide and fat layer keep me warm and toasty even after the water in the creek starts freezing. Sometimes I hear my ranchers saying that they think they are putting on too much fat, but for a range cow like me, there is no such thing as putting on too much fat!
A couple of days after we saw the snow on the mountain, my ranchers began moving us through some of the irrigated parts of the ranch. In the past they have always used machinery to harvest this grass, but I must say that I sure like their choice of letting us harvest it for them instead! The meadows are adjacent to North Fork so we always have live, fresh water to drink, and I have never seen so much grass to eat in my life! My ranchers check on us every day and move us every 5 or 7 days to fresh pasture so we constantly have tall green grass in front of us. I heard one of my ranchers remark that they were giving us a “fresh salad bar” every time they move us. All I know is that it sure is nice for me and my herdmates to have fresh pasture to go to every few days. We are all glad that the moves are short ones – just through one fence – because some of the momma cows have some pretty young calves yet. It didn’t take us all long to figure out the routine, and when it’s time to move, we all just gather up our babies by our side and walk through the gate to the fresh pasture.
My little baby girl is just growing like a weed, if you’ll pardon the expression. She is eating more and more grass every day now and little by little I am teaching her the little “tricks” of being a good cow: the best kinds of grasses to eat, the times of day to be out grazing and the times to rest, the best places to bed down for the night or to get out of the wind, that kind of thing. She is still relying on me and my milk for most of her nutrition, but it sure is fun watching her try new grasses and discover the world.
-Jason Williams, Brock Livestock (Jason is one of the valued partner ranchers raising cattle for Tallgrass)
