Day 20 - Checking the Cattle

Today's task was to check the cattle. We didn't know exactly what we were getting into, but we were up for anything. Alan explained to us that "checking the cattle" meant going around to the designated watering holes and making sure all the cattle had enough food and water. Their food is a combination of the grass in the fields and mineral feed that we provide. Part of our job is to make sure they have enough mineral and the windmills are pumping water properly.

Alan, pouring more mineral for the cattle.

I learned a lot about opening fences (and closing them) . It took all my strength to budge the barbed wire latch an inch. So, eventually, Melodee and I could join forces (and biceps) to open and close the barbed wire gates.

Skeeter rode in the back of the truck. We could see a war going on in her. She saw all those lovely cattle and wanted more than anything to chase them across the open field. Only problem being she had not been told to "go get 'em!" So, every once in a while, she would look at us and may as well have said, "Please can I go chase a cow -just one- please!" But, we didn't let her, so she just watched them from the truck.

More fences...

Another part of our job was to check the windmills. The wind (an unending natural resource) causes the wheel to turn, making the well pump water into a storage house. Underground piping fills the water containers the cows drink from.

Since we were checking the windmill, we decided to mend the fence while we were at it. We put up 2 new lines of wire.

As we were driving through the fields, we talked about God's awesome creation. We saw antelope running through the fields, the sky bigger than ever and the grasslands stretching as far as eye can see. Alan asked us if we liked poetry and of course we said we did. So, he quoted for us all the poems he knew and there we were in the middle of Wyoming listening to a soft spoken cowboy quote poetry.

We checked about a dozen watering holes and toward the end of our ride, Alan asked us if we were up for a bit of adventure. Who are we to turn down adventure!? So, we hopped out of the truck and followed him through a field.

He gook us to a special family treasure. It was a pillar shaped cavern of sandstone.

For generations, the family has carved their names and date into the sandstone. Because the cavern is protected from wind and rain, the names have remained intact.

This is the oldest engraving we found.

Climbing up into the cavern.

Melodee carving her name into the stone.

The opening of the cavern.

Looking up into the rocks.

Walking back to the truck.

On the way back, Alan made a few stops for us to see. This is an old corral for cattle.

He took us by the first family homestead on the property, built in 1893. If a family wanted to homestead, they were given 300 acres of land on the agreement that they would cultivate 16% of the land. This was the original home and outbuildings.