Shipping Day

October 20, 2010 by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ 2 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year
The cattle are lowing,
And everyone’s telling you, be of good cheer!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
With those calves getting fat and getting on the truck
And friends and neighbors near,
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Fall is my favorite season and it’s one of my favorite times on the ranch. Next to spring and branding season of course! Fall is when we get to bring the calves in for shots, and a few weeks after that we bring them in to ship them to the sale barn for auction, or in our case, we ship them out to the folks that have already bought them! Fall means seeing the neighbors and getting to ride- a LOT! It means my horses get handier and life is good. It’s means payday time for all our hard-work this year!

Today, is our payday! We’ll gather a pasture-full of mainly heifer calves and get them sorted off. We’ll choose some to keep as replacement heifers (which means that we’ll keep them to add to the herd since we will need to cull some of the old girls) and then some will be too small to make the load (because we want as even a pen of calves as we can make.

Then we’ll gather up a bunch of steer calves that are in a separate pasture and we’ll sort off the ones that are too small, or the wrong color, and we’ll send off two loads of those.

This time of year means lots of riding and generally lots of fun. But it’s also a very busy, tiring time of year. People that don’t live on a ranch don’t always understand that. When I say busy, I mean busy. Usually you just want to come in after a day like that and relax- not because the work is stressful, but because you’ve had a long- in-a-good-way-day! And it’s not just our herd we worry about shipping, we go help the neighbors too and that’s what we’ll be doing most of next week!

I hope to have the camera with me today, as I’m sure there will be some awesome photo opportunities.

I hope everyone has as great a day as I plan to have. I’ll be riding a pretty gray mare, smiling and thanking the Good Lord for the best office on earth!

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.

Comments

Heather says

October 20, 2010 at 10:41 pm

I can just imagine how tiring that hard work can be. After a big long day of fun, who cooks for the weary? Last time I went to a round up (I didn’t go any where near no cows or horses), all of us women were in the house cooking and preparing for the cowboys to come and eat. Sorry excuse for a round up experience, huh? LOL!

Hope ya had a great day!

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