Livestock meeting at headquarters started day.  We watched the drone video of gathering and sorting Mannys herd on Tuesday.  It was an amazing way to see it and really showed what position did when gathering and showed how effective different styles of sorting worked.  We had some real lively discussion, and Keoki Wood and I had the most lively.  I really admire how passionate he is about the ranch and getting the most out of the crew.  I even named a gate in the lead up at Wakii pens for him.  It is always there to help, sometimes gets in the way and is a pain in the behind, but it would not work if it wasn’t there.

It was a good meeting and it did what Keoki, Jason, and I wanted in engaging everyone in talking and working on what will improve cattle handling.  Manny Souza whose herd we worked really thought it out before work day, and set it up for the crew to learn from the drone video and work his cattle effectively.

After the meeting we were surprised with a breakfast at “Hawaii Style Cafe”.  Great place to eat and we all laughed and had fun.  I had “loco moco” which is a bed of rice ,brown gravy, two hamburger patties, two eggs covered in rich brown gravy.  A real stick to your ribs breakfast.  Brian and Isaak had Oxtail soup, and I am having it next time.  If you are ever in Waimea, you need to go to Hawaii Style Cafe, but bring cash because they don’t take credit cards.

Time to get to work.  Saddled our horses and Jason picked us up and. We met Brandon and Neal and we went and got some big finishing steers out of the neighbors.  The grass is greener on the other side of the fence in Hawaii too.

Jason is in charge of the Grass finishing enterprise that Parker Ranch.  This is a big reason they have us come over and spend time.  They need these cattle gentle and handling proper to get the kind of performance they are looking for.  The biggest challenge the Hawaii cattle industry has is marketing.  They have to ship cattle to the mainland, and that is very expensive, or they can finish and sell on the island.  The problem with that is harvest capacity.  They have lots of demand, lots of cattle, but very limited harvest capacity.  Even paradise has challenges, but Jason keeps working at it.

Went back to breaking pens, switched horses and headed to Isaak’s to turn calves out to pasture.  I having been riding a horse for DeeDee Burtleman, who from what I can see is the one thing that keeps the whole livestock department at Parker Ranch together and working as a team, came up to help us, and see how her  Munstah was doing.

I made a  mistake putting the heifers out the gate into the pasture and the ended up going the wrong direction.  I got that stopped, but then it put me out of position to get to the lead and they got movement and I couldn’t get them shut downs so they walked instead of grazed.

We then went and took the steers out.  They had to be trailed for about a half mile to the gate through a pasture. I took them out of the pen and Tammy, Isaak and DeeDee toook the lead.  They got them to the corner and held up without much trouble, and some things were learned about checking up movement before it gets started.

Just as I got there with the back of the steers, the heifers were coming around to the corner of the pasture so I went and got them stopped and held the up and got some of the movement out.  They started grazing and stayed pretty good, but as soon as I left, they were on the move again.  This is why it is so important to keep that movement checked up.

The steers we’re grazing happily and some were bedding down, so Isaak and I went and opens the gate and as the started through checked them up and stopped movement before it started the whole bunch grazed their way into the pasture and we stayed in front and kept the minds on grazing and not walking.  That’s the key.  If they pick their head up and start walking the whole bunch wants to walk and the forget about grazing and it is very difficult to change there mind back to grazing.  This is why working with them to get them to hook on and slow the feet down and stop is so important when working with calves.

It was also nice that right where we placed them was some real nice grass and water was just in front of them.

It was real rewarding to look back as we rode over the hill and to see every calf with is head down grazing and a content as could be.  Four days ago their world had been turned upside down.  Every thing changed for them.  The cow is gone, their diet is changed, they went from wide open space to confined in a pen, and intensive interaction with humans than ever before.  We owe it to these wonderful creatures to do the best we can.  This is why we do what we do.  For these calves to go through this change in there life, and to expect them to stay healthy and content, we owe it to them and ourselves to get better at everything we do with them.  As I looked at those calves and thought about how we helped them through the last four days, I feel good about what I do, the great people I get to work with, and the great industry we call Ranching.

Today we finished processing for the week.  I worked right behind chute.  It was tough getting the calves to want to step up into that pressure.  They have been installing Silencer chutes and the louvers (rubber flaps to hide movement)seem to really help.  Isaak is set to get one next.  They have them made with galvanized metal or they won’t last. After we finished we had, you guessed it, Bento box from Earls.  I really enjoy them, and today we had some great conversation to go with.  We laughed and told story’s about horse clinicians, and I told some about Craig Cameron and the fun we have had.  We discussed dogs, pigs, cattle behavior as well as human behavior, and we spent a lot of time talking about M and R and it’s value on the ranch. It was a great time and I think we all agree that we believe in good Stockmanship and getting better, so it wasn’t all laughs and giggles

We decided the calves were ready to go to pasture tomorrow, so Wife Tammy and I took them out of pen to a training pen and worked on getting them to slow down and stop. I’d like to have them handling a little better, but we will make it work.

I am not as satisfied to day because of the pressure I had to use to get the calves in the chute.  I don’t like it.

I think it would be best to work calves through chute with it open while settling calves.  They would learn to go through without the pressure and then when it was time to process they would flow to the pressure better.  I don’t know if it’s feasible, but it would be the right thing to do.

There are a couple videos on here but you might have to go to website to see.

Processed and settled steers we weaned yesterday.  Then worked with heifers by moving them from pen to pen and put them through lead up to chute to help prepare for processing tomorrow.

We had a great visit with the guys while eating our Bento Box lunch.  These calves are very different in temperament than they we last year.  These calves had lots of movement, but it wasn’t panic movement like last year.  They wouldn’t say it, but it is because of them and the way they are changing the way they pressure these cattle.

A good example is the counting video.  Last year the calves were bouncing off the fences and really scared when they went by the counter.  This is a completely different movement.

It is a team effort that is doing it.  The bosses, Jason and Keoki for making it a priority, and the guys for trying to do it.  They all have different personalities and skill levels, but everyone is trying and it is making a big change.

I worked horseback in the back with Tyler Cox.  He is one of those young people that gives me a lot of confidence in the future of Stockmanship.  He has no idea how good  his timing and pressure are, (when he’s not showing off) and I really enjoyed working with him.  I am real sure he will just keep getting better and refine his skills.     Being a stockman is in his genetics, like most everybody that works for Parker.

I was pretty physically tired when we got our horses taken care of, and took a little time to relax and think.  I thought abought some of the things I have done this week handling livestock.  I really feel like I understand how to pressure cattle and horses in such a higher skill level than I could a few years ago.  The reason is I learn things, then get out and do them.  I am not trying to be someone else, but simply to see things and get better.  You can’t perfect these skills from reading  or watching videos.  You have to get in the middle of it and do it.  The other things can help you speed up the learning, but you have to do it and stay committed to it until you see the improvement and keep building it.  The crew here gets plenty of opportunity to try to figure it out, and they are.

This is so rewarding for us, because we are part of the teamwork to make the change, and we are getting to really test our skills at settling and preparing cattle for grazing.