8-T

Fourth of July weekend we packed up 3 of our cows and drove to the moutains. (3 July 2009) Ryan got Cocoa in the trailor and was working at loading the other two. Our neighbor Fran saw Ryan with the trailor and came over to see what was going on. She has animals of her own, so she helped Ryan and I trailor Karen and Big Red.

All went really smooth. The bull (John) wasn't too happy about being left, but they secured the front gates and pulled the trailor to the front. Ryan went to go and shower and get ready to drive them up to the mountains where we were leaving the cows on a ranch up in Pinedale that is owned by my brother's wife's family. The plan was to keep them their till winter to fatten them up. I was still packing and dealing with the kids when I see the bull (John) jumping over the back ditch fence at the back of our property. At this point I am screaming to Ryan that the bull is out and in the ditch area and that he is angry. The other cows are mooing in the trailor and it is making this bull so angry. He was tearing up my neighbor's garden. Ryan had his pants and one boot on and one boot was in his hand and no shirt on yet. He goes running out the front door to our neighbor's house where he ran to make sure that their side gate was closed. I am watching as John is jumping over the second ditch fence (5 feet tall) as though he is skipping and heading to the gate at our neighbor's property that leads out to the road. Ryan managed to get over there and luckily the gate was shut. Our backyard neighbor was outside watching it all and grabbed a panel of fencing and ran over with Ryan. They were able to block a little 3 foot picket vynl fence. The bull then turned around and headed toward an apple tree (his serious weakness, this guy LOVES apples). They were able to guide him and then all of a sudden John turned and jumped back over the first fence and then the other back into his cage. At this point Ryan is yelling to me to call our Bishop (who had just left a few minutes earlier) to come and help and that I needed to move the other cows down the street so that the bull didn't hear them anymore.

(the cows in the trailor) So I grabbed the keys and drove the trailor full of mooing cows down our street and parked them about 3 houses away. Our bishop and some of his boys came over and they secured the entire fence perimeter. John had calmed down significantly now that he couldn't hear the other cows. So that was the start of our morning... We finished packing up and drove to Pinedale. Heather, my sister, drove with me and Ryan drove his car alone. We got to the ranch and they got the brand hot, put the cows in the pen and then the fun began.

My brother Todd branded the first one (Cocoa).

Then Ryan branded Big Red

Then I got to brand Karen.

She is so little and the cage hardly fit her. The stench was so nasty, but it was some good times. Karen hardly flinched so the brand turned out really clear. So our cows now have a new little brand of 8-T (pronounced "eight bar t"). After they were disinfected we put them out in the pasture and watched them go...

It was fun to see them and fun to play cowboy for a little while!. As for the cows- go and get fat and eat lots of yummy grass. (How is that for organic!) After our exciting morning we drove up to Pinetop hung out and rested.

All the family who was staying in pinedale came to watch the action. My sister-in-law Melanie's grandpa who owns the ranch even came out and put some lawn chairs on his yard where he and his wife watched the action... it was so fun!

Heathen, Erin, Haylee, Austyn, Addilyn, Sophie, Melanie

The boys watching the action (Dallas, friend ?, Kash, Bryson, Blaise)