Funny Story, that would have stressed most people out but Justin and I (Ashley) really just felt like it was God sent, and truly felt more connected than ever!
Every day on our ranch before this day was about horses, chickens, and our crazy goats. We didn't really set out to purchase cattle and certainly weren't ready to start a beef business. But we found ourselves in one of those moments where you just know it's where you're meant to be!
Cows were being sold and we were the ones buying. Next thing we knew we had 6 heifers to bring home and put somewhere... I have a soft spot for tiger-striped cows and Justin loves his Baldies (Braford cross cows with solid color and white faces)!
So we ended up with a mix of them both. We already had our net wire and cemented poles fencing up on a small pasture and had a larger electrical fencing pasture for grazing. Of course, the net wire and cemented pole were the stronger of the two choices at the time. But we were smart and thought that since the horses stayed in the electrical fencing and we have seen cattle kept safely in electric fencing on many farms around us—so we brought our cows home and let them into the net wire fencing, it was dark by this time and all our animals go into a smaller pasture close to the house at night.
The cows unload easily and began to leap, run, and be merry inside their new home pasture. They spent the night eating all of our grass and making new friends with other animals. The next day we let the animals out into the electric fencing to graze for the day.
Remember how we thought cows would stay inside of the electrical fencing? Remember how smart we were and how prepared we thought we were? Sooo far from the truth!
Turns out that staying safely in electric fencing isn't something that comes naturally to cattle. They don't give a hoot. These new cows who really didn't know yet where home was or frankly what the heck was going on...decided that it was adventure time!
The smallest cow left the fencing first and we thought,
"Oh that's fine the little one won't stray to far from the 'herd' and will come back into the fencing shortly."
But not too long after that the rest of the cattle joined this little rascal. We were in a mad dash to try and redirect them back to the net wire and cemented poles fencing so they didn't get hurt or lost. But that didn't work...
They run into the woods, we were in a mad dash to saddle our horses. Justin followed them on the four-wheeler trying to keep an eye on them while I went to the house and saddled up two horses. I rode Meredith and dragged Cookie along to bring to Justin in the backfield—where the cows had traveled to by this time.
We rounded them up and what a mess that was! We had to call my cousin who had a coyote pin close to that field and ask him if we could put the cows in there so we could go get the trailer. It took a few attempts but they all made it in. By that time I finally had a moment to think and we looked at the clock, it was almost Church time—we can't miss Church! So we'll just leave them in the enclosed pasture, right? Nope. There are coyotes in there, these cows are for dinner, they are for making babies who become dinner :P
We realized we needed a way to corral them into a safe enclosure. So we decided to go and break down our panels that were set up for horse stalls, put them on a trailer, and reset them up in the coyote pin, then we could guide the cattle into a safe place while we go to Church. That part went as planned, we were a little out of breath but those 12ft metal panels aren't light. We weren't even late for Church!
We go to a cowboy Church so our Church is at 4 pm. By the time we were out of Church it was dark.
Have you ever tried to load cows into a stock trailer in the middle of a dark field?
Well, we hadn't—YET. But what a blessing it was to have such an eventful first day of our cattle journey! Both Justin and I took a huge sigh of relief once the cows were back safely in our "stronger" fenced pasture. We looked at each other and both said it was one of the best date nights we'd ever had, growing up we both wanted the Ranch life and now God had blessed us with a loving partner that had the same passion and goals in life. We stay thankful no matter if it's cleaning stalls, shoveling poop, or sitting in manure nursing a bottle calf back to life, we love it all and balance each other out so perfectly.
At the end of the day to look up and see such amazingly clear skies and stars, we know God has a plan for our family, our Ranch, and this beautiful journey we have begun.
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