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You are here: Home / fall / Fall Shots in Photos

Fall Shots in Photos

October 15, 2010 by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ 8 Comments

It’s no secret that fall is one of my favorite times of year. Maybe it’s the birthdays, or maybe it’s that the weather has cooled down or that the colors are changing as the earth prepares to go to sleep for the winter. Regardless I can also add “Fall Work” into the category of things that make me love fall. We gave our fall shots a couple weekends ago and while I didn’t take the camera with me for the gather- which ended up to be a good choice, because Gump and I had to do a lot of galloping and changing directions due to the fact that a few cows were going everywhere other than where they were supposed to go, I did keep it on me in the corral for a couple of sorts (where we separate the mama cows from their calves for a short while). I will walk you through the day in pictures. Enjoy.

The first photo of the day, The Gump:

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Heading down the alley to help them sort:

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Saddle horses in the east corral; from R-L: Wyatt, Stitch, Dino, Ranger and Chachi (Dino’s daddy).

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Stitch thought he’d eat or at least sniff Sharon’s Jacket:

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Hey there Mama!

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Gump watching intently, like a good ranch horse should:

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Well hello there #172!

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For those of you wondering, we haven’t pulled our bulls yet. They wish we would. And for those of you wondering what that is all about, I’ll explain. The bulls are really all finished with their work. Every cow that can be bred should be bred by this time, and the bulls have traveled and worked hard all summer and they’re ready to be done. Never thought testosterone worked that way, eh? Well when it comes to bulls it does.

Find the hole, Buddy!

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Here’s some misfit calves- these are the non-black hided calves that won’t make the load. Sometimes when you raise angus calves you get a red one once in a while. And there’s some older cows that aren’t black, still in our herd from past days; plus we have some new angus cows that were crossed with herefords, so there’s a lot of red, bald faced calves in the herd this year.

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Here’s the chute we’ll run the calves down to doctor them.

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Here they are going down the chute:

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Burt, our helper and Zach’s cousin, will hold the calves. I’m the back up, sitting on Gump.

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Then the real fun starts:

They get poured with a de-wormer (an anti-parasitic), then they get the same two shots that we gave them in the spring. Those shots are given subcutaneously- so under the skin they go. Typically they’re given in the neck area.

I love that man!

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Zach and his youngest brother, Bud.

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Handsomest cowboy ever:

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Zach’s other brother (there are three of them you know), Guthrie, has finally showed up with the pour on. Not that he was slacking. I’m not sure where he was to be honest. I was too busy taking pictures to pay that much attention.

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I love this next series of photos because it’s three of the four boys in this family working together. And please pardon the photos. These are not my best work. I was having major issues with the lens that morning.

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We got done working the first set we’d sorted, so it was time to bring more cattle down the alley.

Here’s JuJu, Guth’s daughter, riding one of the ranch’s studs, Banjo; next to her is Jim.

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We sorted off about half of the cows that were left, and drove them down the alley, into the pen where we’d sort off the mamas.

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You can see our house on the hill in the background here:

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Zach is riding DX Iam Nuked, also known as Dozer. He is heaven in horse form. And is for sale.

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Where this Charolais calf came from, I have NO idea!

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Hi Wyatt, Festus and Dino (both the latter are Gump’s Brothers)!

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Hey Girl!

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There were flies and dust everywhere. It was a cool morning, but it warmed up the later into the afternoon we got.

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They looked like they’re packed in this corral like sardines. I assure you they’re not. We really do as much as we can to keep the cattle and calves from stressing.

There’s one lone red cow in this photo. That cow belongs to Kelsey. She has quite a colorful herd.

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This heifer calf has lost her fly tag from her right ear.

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Mama! Where are you?

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Have I mentioned it that it is loud when you give fall shots, or do any sort of doctoring, or sorting, or branding on your calves?

And finally, a photo of yours truly:

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That’s about how fall shots worked this year. I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my life. I’ll be giving more fall shots this weekend as we help Jim and Sharon, who helped us this day.

I hope that whatever y’all have planned for the weekend is just as much fun as what I’ll be doing!
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Filed Under: fall, horses, ranching, the spin cycle Tagged With: horses, ranching, the spin cycle, Western Lifestyle

About ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Jenn Zeller is the creative mind and boss lady behind The South Dakota Cowgirl. She is an aspiring horsewoman, photographer, brilliant social media strategist and lover of all things western.

After a brief career in the investment world to support her horse habit (and satisfy her mother, who told her she had to have a “real” job after graduating college), she finally took the leap and stepped away from a regular income; trading the business suit once and for all for cowgirl boots, a hat, and jeans. She has not looked back.

When Jenn first moved to The DX Ranch on the South Dakota plains, she never imagined she’d find herself behind a camera lens capturing an authentic perspective of ranching, and sharing it with others. Jenn has always been called to artistry, and uses music, writing, images, home improvement, and her first true love of horses to express her ranching passion.

Horses are the constant thread and much of her work centers around using her unique style of writing to share her horsemanship journey with others in publications such as CavvySavvy, the AQHA Ranching Blog, the West River Eagle, the family ranch website, and her own website.

Using photography to illustrate her stories has created other opportunities -- Jenn’s brand “The South Dakota Cowgirl” has grown to the level of social media “Influencer”. This notoriety has led to work with Duluth Trading Company, Budweiser, Wyoming Tourism, Vice, Circle Z Ranch and Art of the Cowgirl, to name a few. She also serves as a brand ambassador for Woodchuck USA, Arenus Equine Health, Triple Crown Feed and Just Strong fitness apparel. Her photography has been featured by Instagram, Apple, TIME Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Oprah Magazine. Jenn’s work has been published internationally, has been seen in several books and has graced the covers of several magazines.

Jenn became a social media influencer by accident when she started to explore Instagram as a way to share her life on the ranch with folks that don’t get to experience it. It’s grown into an incredible platform that she uses to empower women, create an environment for self improvement and share life on the ranch.

When she’s not working, she loves to drink coffee, play with her naughty border collie named Copper, start ranch colts, and run about the country chasing cans. Her mother still thinks she doesn’t have a “real” job.

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Comments

  1. Laufa says

    October 15, 2010 at 8:17 am

    Wow, that looks like busy work! Love the shot of the horse ears and the one before the horse ate the jacket and is looking at you.

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  2. unmitigated me says

    October 15, 2010 at 9:18 am

    I have so many questions! What was the term you used to describe the white calf? Is it an albino? Once you let the first bunch go, how do you know they’ve already been tended to when you are looking for the next set? Why is the hide color important? Does it mean the calf isn’t all black-Angus? This looks like a wonderful life.

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    • ~the south dakota cowgirl~ says

      October 15, 2010 at 10:39 am

      Thanks for the questions!

      The white calf is called a Charolais. It’s a french breed of cattle pronounced, Shar- o-lay. They are typically very big boned and have not as much meat as a black angus cow. This calf would be what we’d call a cross- a black angus mama cow, crossed on a Charolais bull.

      As to how we know what has been tended to and what hasn’t:

      We run all the mama cows that we separate, down the same chute that we use to doctor the calves. Once out of the chute, they go into a pen that is separate from the remaining herd of calves and cows.

      The hide color is only important if you’re selling calves to a finisher. We don’t get to keep ours and finish them out to butcher. We sell them as weaners (off the mom and on to the truck), so they will often go on to a winter wheat pasture for a few months, and then to a feed lot where they are finished and become commercial beef. Sometimes, I believe they are sold to grass finishers as well, because we are drug and hormone free, so the calves are all natural beef calves. The calf buyers are typically looking for uniformity in frame and weight of the calves, and often the calves that are the misfits don’t fit into the uniformity of the rest of the herd.

      Angus is the breed of choice these days, so that’s why the hide color matters.

      Hopefully that answers your questions. 🙂

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  3. Sprite's Keeper says

    October 15, 2010 at 11:12 am

    I just want to spend one week on your ranch so I could live the experience. Great photos, great captions, LOVE IT!
    You’re linked!

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  4. Linda says

    October 15, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    Looks fun, wish I could come out and help!

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  5. Meg says

    October 15, 2010 at 5:34 pm

    Love it! You’re such a great story teller Jenn 🙂 Keep up the great work! (And PICS!)

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  6. Heather says

    October 18, 2010 at 3:36 am

    That was soo cool! Thanks for allllll the pics! It looks so exhausting, I feel like sleeping.
    My favorite photos..1,5,10,39(great pic),45,48.

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