Payday on the ranch....

Today began early...well before daylight. Actually, it began last spring when the cows had their calves. The men nursed them through their birth, gave them shots and marked them as belonging to the ranch in case they got lost, then watched that they were fed and stayed healthy all through the summer. They moved from the mountain pastures down to the greener, lower pastures in August, then trailed 5 miles down the road to the home meadows in October. The past few days they have been moving closer and closer to the corrals. Kacey got the horses in last evening so they would be ready this morning to ride out. The horse trailers started coming down the road in the darkness, and the men rode out before they could really see where they were going. The horses knew the way, and it gradually got lighter. By the time it was light, the cows were surrounded and moving slowly towards the corrals.

It is quite noisy when all this is going on. The cows are calling to their calves and they just make noise when they are being moved.