One fine, windy day in October, my husband needed to doctor a couple heifers. It was close to the house, and my mother-in-law was visiting, so I drove her out to watch her son rope stuff. 🙂 I parked in the pasture and snapped the shutter as my husband was chasin’ cows.
Gettin’ his eye on the sick one.
This heifer had foot-rot, (if I remember correctly) and in typical cow-fashion, the minute you start swingin’ that rope, the ‘sick’ bovine decides it is quite healthy after all! Off she goes, fast as her legs will take her… which isn’t really very fast, if you know anything about cows. (calves, on the other hand – those babies can make time!)
Heel trap.
Not every catch is picture-perfect. Sometimes he catches only one foot, other times he misses altogether. But that’s real life with pasture-doctoring. We don’t go to many rodeos, but when we do, we often remark: “hmm, would like to see him do a little pasture-doctoring on a windy day!” 😉 You keep practicing and improving, but you have to get the job done, whether it’s a windy day, your horse is feeling cranky, or the snow is blowing. Cattle health waits for no man. (or woman!)
Meanwhile, the rest of the cattle were just taking it easy… munch a little here, taste a mouthful there…
And just plain relaxin’! 🙂
Once the cow is down, my Man gave her a shot and a couple pills. HUGE pills, by the way, called bolus’s. Yuck. 
Then he let her get up, and off he went to catch the next sick cow. 
Hope your day is lovely, warm, and not windy — especially if you’re chasin’ cows!
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