Farm Fresh Blog

"Anything you can do, I can do better!"

Over the weekend I was reminded of this song from the musical "Annie Get Your Gun," when I was informed that my husband had little or no faith in the ability of a group of women who came together to work some cows.

(Pause for the collective shouts of outrage. I KNOW, huh?!)

It began like this:

Dear Friend Clyde had a hip replacement three weeks ago. Dear Friend Kim announced to her girlfriends that since her hubby was currently out of commission, and she had some cow work that needed to be done, she needed some help from the girls. Well duh! That's really all women need to do. Girlfriends do not need the promise of beer and emergency room visits to entice us to help each other. (Although there was one ER visit when a green mule announced rather vehemently that she DID NOT want to work cattle today. And this would be why I like my horses old and short.)

Apparently Other Half and Dear Friend Clyde had a conversation about our ability or lack thereof to complete the task without the aid of testicles. (I know!) Under interrogation, both men pointed fingers at the other one. I have no doubt that my own husband, (who should know better by now, but I've always said, "It's easier to train a dog than train a man"), took a very active, if not dominating, role in this conversation. Alrightie then.

Few things will entice a group of strong women into action like telling them they can't do something.

Take that! No testicles needed, Boys!

The day was cool and windy. Not a good start for green horses and mules. One mule opted not to participate, and another lady made the wise decision to exchange her youngster for her tried and true, old steady horse.

Trust me, the older I get, the older and shorter I like my horses, so I strongly approved of her decision to ride this old girl instead.

Rather than carting my Steady Eddie Horse, Joe, back up to North Texas, I borrowed Dear Friend Clyde's horse, Leo. Leo is a mountain of a horse, but he's calm. Leo is Joe on steriods.

Dear Friend Kim rode her mule. I just love saying her name: "Jelly Bean!"

We rode out with Dear Friend Clyde leading on the 4Wheeler with a sack of cattle cubes. Once we got the cows gathered, the chowhounds followed the 4Wheeler, while we used the horses to keep stragglers, doubters, and calves with the group.

After the cows were gathered, we sorted calves and mommas, and popped a calf with a shot and a sporty new ear tag.

Weaned calves went in one pen. Mommas went in another. Everyone else returned to the back pasture. The bull calf that needed to be banded (castration) turned out to be a heifer, so outside of husbands, no banding was necessary.

I took some pics of the ladies working.

This was such a solid working pair. This girl and her horse made sorting cows look easy.

I wanted to steal this mare tied to the fence. She's a 'been there, done that' horse.  If I didn't already have Joe I would have tried to buy this mare.

That mare came from the farm of the lady who owned this stallion.

She's got some really nice horses. He's a four year old homozygous liver-colored paint with the most level head I've ever seen. I watched him get his horseshoe caught in the fence.

He patiently waited for his mommy to rescue him. This could have been a catastrophe, but the horse was only mildly annoyed that his foot was caught. He was also ridden easily with mares. Loved this stallion!

After the work was completed, we returned the herd to the back pasture and then went to the house for beef stew. As the sun was going down on the drive back to my place, I had the great pleasure of calling my husband to report our success. Making that phone call felt good.

So men, remember this:

Never underestimate the power of a group of women on horseback.