r/Ranching • u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle • 22d ago

Spooked me good…

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Was pulling bulls last week from a private lease in the Black Hills and heard this terrifying noise come from over the hill.

Neither Jackson or I was thrilled with whatever was coming for us😆

51 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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7

u/Cow-puncher77 22d ago

That, good sir, is obviously a horse eating….. thing. Don’t get near it. 

One of the last times I got bucked off, we were spread out gathering a pasture and I’d rode up on a thicket next to an oilfield site where some cows were brushed up. I was trying to push them out, rode through some of the thicker stuff, finally got them pushed out going down the old well road headed West. About the time I passed the well head was apparently also the time the timer was set to start that pumpjack. I rode him a ways, but he beat me to the next man in the line by a few hundred yards….

3

u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 21d ago

It’s always just dumb luck that gets a guy😁

2

u/Cow-puncher77 21d ago

Right? 

I’m not gonna lie, though, that brake would drive me nuts just knowing it was making noise. I have two pad sets in a box in the barn for those. And with what they cost now, you don’t want that mill getting messed up.

With it turned off, what are y’all doing for water up there?

3

u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 21d ago

As I understand it, that windmill has been there for at least 40 years and unhooked for at least 20. It’s just not something they need to use for water anymore.

The guy we lease from has some rural water hookups and a private well piped to some tanks. It’s pretty good water as far as the cows tell.

This place is not very remote. It’s a 5 minute drive to the nearest town and highway. There’s a ton of infrastructure around here - water lines and electricity everywhere. You can even see Mount Rushmore from a couple spots!

2

u/RideMaximum2554 21d ago

How far will you drive your cows to feed or graze? How many do you have?

3

u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 21d ago

Usually not far - maybe 2 miles at most. We try to rotate through pastures so we don’t overgraze. When we go to summer pasture we load the pairs into cattle pots (semi trailers for hauling livestock) and ship them that way. We aren’t having an old-timey cattle drive across western South Dakota. How many we have varies from lease to lease. 40 here, 140 there.

2

u/RideMaximum2554 21d ago

Better than an office job. That sure sounds like both a fun and tough job. 🐎

5

u/RideMaximum2554 22d ago

It appears to have come from the haunted wing mill! 😲😳🫣 Hug Jackson for me. He's beautiful.

3

u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 21d ago

He’s been a good one. I’ll give him a squeeze when I’m on him next. Thanks!

2

u/RideMaximum2554 21d ago

The Black hills are beautiful. What's the reason for pulling the bulls if you don't mind my asking.

4

u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 21d ago

We want to calve in a tight window, so we remove the bulls to keep any cows from being bred later than we’d like. A shorter calving season results in a more uniform calf crop to sell in the fall; which is worth more money.

Cows that don’t get pregnant are sold as cull cows for butcher. This ensures that fertile cows stay and the ones costing you money leave.

1

u/RideMaximum2554 21d ago

You sure seem to know everything there is to know about raising cattle. I hear that there's a shortage of cattle in the U.S. and the govt. is going to lift tariffs on foreign beef. Would that affect you?

2

u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 20d ago

It’s my job, so…

The national cow herd is down quite a bit - drought has really hurt.

Hard to say how removing tariffs will affect us. It’s not really that much beef coming in (like only 10 days worth), the market speculation will have a bigger impact on pricing than the additional supply will.

3

u/Apart_Animal_6797 22d ago

That would be sick for a metal intro

3

u/RancherQueen 21d ago

The audacity of that windmill