Evening Roundup

These days, the weather has been nice enough that we can graze our cows back out on the stubble of our crop fields. This is also possible because there's no snow cover on the ground. It's great that they can graze because then we don't burn through as much hay, and there's plenty of stuff for them to munch on out there. 

Because the only water this time of year is back in the corrals, the cows have to be driven back in each evening. They go out during the day to graze, then back to the yard for overnight water access. Those of you who follow my blog and read regularly, will remember me discussing this a few weeks ago when I had the task of letting the cows out in the morning to their day grazing. Yesterday, I got to ride along with Jeff for the evening portion of this twice a day chore. 

But first, I took Harvey and Abby for a nice little three mile run! We did a short out and back route from Tom and Carol's house and had a great time. Here are a few photos from our little jaunt:

View of the Sweetgrass Hills from about a mile north of Tom and Carol's house. 

My running companions, Harvey and Abby.

Looking out toward some of the cows, grazing on crop stubble and winter wheat.

Headed back up the hill toward home.
Harvey likes to run ahead, but he always turns around to make sure I'm still coming!

After our little run, Harvey, Abby and I went back to the house for a drink of water. It was about 4:00 p.m. when Jeff and I were ready to head out and start moving the cows in. Harvey came with us in the pickup and Abby stayed home. By this time of day, this time of year, the sun is just starting to set. We have been having some really beautiful skies lately, primarily in mornings and evenings. This is why they call it the Big Sky State I guess. :)

A few cows, starting to head towards home.

 By 5:15 or so, it was pretty dark. We were really having a hard time trying to see cows. And then, I saw something that looked like it was too small to be a cow and moving much too quickly... it approached the vehicle and we saw that it was Abby! She had run back out from the house to join us, even though she must have been tired from our run earlier (she's getting kinda old...)  So Jeff loaded her up into the tailgate and she joined us.

Not long after that, we heard the sounds of another dog panting outside our window. This time, we looked down and it was our neighbor's dog, Bella! You might remember her from THIS POST. Even though she lives over three miles away from where we were, she ran all the way out to see what all the commotion was about! She has BOUNDLESS energy. Harvey and Abby, not to be outdone, had to get out and run around with her!

So, we continued on with our cattle roundup, driving them towards home, with the three dogs "helping" us out!

Can you see three dogs and one cow in our headlights?

I know it might seem silly to wait until dark to get the cows in, so here's a bit more explanation. We like to maximize the time the cows can graze during the day before driving them back into the corrals. This time of year, the days are really short, and especially when you live as far north as we do. Typically, we do start during daylight hours, but sunsets seem to not last very long either sometimes and it's dark before you know it! This particular evening, the herd was really spread out, too, so it took us longer than normal to get them back in. 

After we got the cows in, we left Abby and Tom and Carol's, then dropped Bella back off at our neighbor's place. She's quite the country traveller! Who knows who we'll have next time we bring the cows in?!