First introductions. I am a fifth generation rancher. For the last 3 generations we have all had to have full time jobs besides ranching. Each previous generation divided up the cattle and land, to the point that there is not enough to raise multiple families. One maybe, but we ranch as siblings and cousins, and that is just to many mouths to feed.
I have ranched as long as I can remember. Always on weekends, in the heat, rain, snow, and wind. If you drive 3 hours to get a job done, you do it no matter what. I am grateful we where taught to work. This generation is about to take the reins. My dad, the last of the previous generation is 84 and getting tired.
I am a wife of over 27 years. A mother of five. A Grandmother. I learned to sew when I was young. Took up quilting and tatting just as I started to be a mother.
And my new love is training my English Shepherds to work cattle. A little secret here is that it is a three way street. I have to be trained to work my dogs. I know how to deal with livestock, but it takes retraining my mind to let my dogs step in and do it. My dogs have to have the desire to work and listen, the last believe it or not, the cattle have to learn that the dogs are not predators but an extension of me. It is a fast moving circus as we are just in our first year of this. But soon it will be a beautiful dance, coordinated and structured. With a little bit of vinegar thrown in just to mix it up. With my temperament, the dogs over eagerness and the cattle who always had just a tad too much fight in them. The dances will be hidden in the middle of plenty of chaos. With time and prayer, patience and endurance, I believe it will be a beauty to behold.
Come along and see how this goes, if ya want.
I have ranched as long as I can remember. Always on weekends, in the heat, rain, snow, and wind. If you drive 3 hours to get a job done, you do it no matter what. I am grateful we where taught to work. This generation is about to take the reins. My dad, the last of the previous generation is 84 and getting tired.
I am a wife of over 27 years. A mother of five. A Grandmother. I learned to sew when I was young. Took up quilting and tatting just as I started to be a mother.
And my new love is training my English Shepherds to work cattle. A little secret here is that it is a three way street. I have to be trained to work my dogs. I know how to deal with livestock, but it takes retraining my mind to let my dogs step in and do it. My dogs have to have the desire to work and listen, the last believe it or not, the cattle have to learn that the dogs are not predators but an extension of me. It is a fast moving circus as we are just in our first year of this. But soon it will be a beautiful dance, coordinated and structured. With a little bit of vinegar thrown in just to mix it up. With my temperament, the dogs over eagerness and the cattle who always had just a tad too much fight in them. The dances will be hidden in the middle of plenty of chaos. With time and prayer, patience and endurance, I believe it will be a beauty to behold.
Come along and see how this goes, if ya want.
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