The Ranch is a cattle ranch. They raise cows naturally for healthier beef. TM's family has been doing it for generations...like since America was created out here.
So as part of my "initiation" into TM's family, I had to do some work on the farm. The mission of TM, his mom, and I was to move at least 100 cows and calves from a very huge field into a pen a half a mile away.
It started out great. The cows were really funny. They would stare at me all tough, but as soon as I walked toward them and said, "HAH!" they went running. I saw a calf one day old, with its umbilical cord still attached.
When the cows were moving, everything was all good. We all had to spread out to keep them moving in the right direction, so there were times when I was handling a whole side of the herd by myself...which was fine when they were moving. But there was one time when the herd wasn't being pushed. Then they started to get rowdy and I started to get nervous. I actually started freaking out and was screaming across the mooing cows for help. You have to scream because the sound of 100 mooing cows is VERY loud. It also didn't help that some of the bulls were trying to hump the ladies and would break out of the herd. This is normal, apparently, but no one told me that, so I kept yelling at them to stop and break it up. This didn't help my freaking-outness.
I am still a bit shaken up by the whole experience, but I don't think it would benefit me to share how scared I was. In fact, that I tried to break up some cow loving will probably become a funny tale to tell around the dinner table. You have to have a thick skin to live on a ranch, that's for sure.
We aren't done with our work with the cows, so I'll have another chance with them.
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