by erictknight | Jul 16, 2021 | Uncategorized
A view of the old barn By the time I was older, around 10 or so, I was heartily sick of riding the nags we had at Date Creek Ranch. Mom and Dad had good horses. My older sister, Kim, had a good horse, but I was still rotating between Lady (who, as I’ve mentioned...
by erictknight | Jul 7, 2021 | Uncategorized
The Upper Windmill at Date Creek Ranch The first calf I ever raised with a bottle was a little heifer. I was about nine or so and we were driving some cattle back to the corrals. As I recall, I was riding in the drags (that’s at the back of the herd) with Dad and...
by erictknight | Jun 10, 2021 | Uncategorized
This isn’t Junior. Junior had devil’s horns. At one time or another, we raised all manner of animals on Date Creek Ranch. Chickens, ducks, geese, wild turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs. If Old MacDonald had it on his farm, at one time or another we had...
by erictknight | May 19, 2021 | Uncategorized
Another major part of corral work was separating, or “cutting” the cattle. Yearlings and cows that were not producing were cut out to be shipped off and sold. Sometimes there were cows that were slated to be moved to a different pasture. Some cutting was done in the...
by erictknight | May 12, 2021 | Uncategorized
Once we got the cattle into the corrals, then the real fun began. And by fun I mean a couple days of hysterical bellowing. Oh, and I imagine the cattle were frightened too. (For part 1 click here.) A view from the main corrals, looking at the barn The first thing we...
by erictknight | Apr 23, 2021 | Uncategorized
I want to try and explain what roundups were like on Date Creek Ranch. Everyone’s watched Westerns and so everyone has some idea of what roundups are like. Lots of cowboys dressed in proper cowboy hats and other cowboy-related attire. Chasing down cows and roping...
