My Time on The Drift - Day Four

With over 100 years of history behind me, and hopefully many more before, this is our journey on the Green River Drift in 2020.

Sunday, June 21 - Day four:

I have to admit that I was anxious to see if our prior days of hard work paid off. Normally, we dread the final sort because there is usually 600 or more head that needs to be worked. We gathered everything around Ross Butte, the rim and the flats, and trailed the cattle to the corner near the New Fork Bridge.

Rainy day on the river.

We had around 60 head of yearlings and pairs we needed to sort out of ours and that was it. Honestly, I think we could have screamed with joy since this day usually doesn't get over till O'dark-thirty as my Mom would say. Since our allotment is split into two sections we were able to move the cattle across the road to water and leave them for the day.

Our cattle will mother up or pair up quickly, but it has taken some time. We use dogs quite a bit for the work we do and that seems to help keep the cows and calves together. This helps keep cattle where you would like for them to stay and stop run-backs, usually. Nothing is more painful than a cow or calf running back when you know the other is in the herd.

Holding herd so the cattle can "mother up."

While the day was rainy we enjoyed a shorter day and actually took the afternoon off for Father's Day. It's rare to not actually do much which was a nice break since I am currently writing this at 4 AM.