We are the proud people parents to 8 Hanging tree pups out of Red, who actually belongs to the “Art of the Cowgirl” and Spur who actually was given to our son Rial by Charlie Trayer.

Tammy was going to work with Red and put him in the cow dog sale at Art of the Cowgirl but we seem to just buy around here and don’t do much selling. I like him and enjoy working with him so it’s fine with me.

Rial has no permanent address or work for a dog so I ended up with Spur.

We had another litter of puppies before and the folks that got those dogs seem to really like them.

I ended up with one I call “Line” and I really like the way she is working. She is lots of fun and really understands how to move stock in the way I think is good stockmanship for a dog.

A few of the puppies are spoken for, but we have several to sell. They were born on April 2nd. Their tails are docked in the hanging tree style, I will keep them up to date on shots. They have started eating exclusive dog food that I wet and put an egg with. They will be registered hanging trees, and are going to be good looking short haired dogs, and I think all their ears will stand up. Price will be $500 as weaned pups.

Moving horses is a great thing to do for the horses mind to learn how to take and respond to human pressure, and it is a great way for a human to learn how to get better at moving livestock.

The reason it is good for the horse if done right is that they learn how to get the pressure released by moving away from it while also learning not to get themselves in trouble with other horses. They have to think ahead and set themselves up not to get in a tight spot. They get used to having a human in all different spots around them and learn they can switch eyes and ends without panicking. All real good things if they learn to think their way out of pressure rather than react or panic out of pressure. One of the real important things to try to figure out is putting enough pressure on so the horses are challenged but not so much that they just react rather than think.

The benefits for the human is that with horses it is easier to recognize and remember how a horse reacted to your pressure and to the other horses pressure, than it is with cattle or sheep. With the way a horses neck are so long and they swish their tale they tell you when you are out of position better than a shorter necked animal, and they show their feelings towards other horses and when you are creating the wrong pressure more.

Horses will sure show you if you are stopping or slowing movement, pressuring in the wrong spot, or using to little or to much pressure. You will learn from it if you think about it.

Remember, if they get easier every day you are doing the right thing(it can always be better) and if it gets harder every day you are doing some things wrong.(it could always be worse).

The nice thing about having cattle and horses coming into the same spots at different times is the horses will really teach you how to get better at pressuring the calves to get a better flow with out making mistakes that you don’t even see.

Good husbandry is part of being a good stockman

Fresh clean water.  Nothing better.  We are so fortunate to have the best tasting sweetest water I’ve ever drank in our little cabin home.  I love it and drink a lot of it and feel real good and healthy when I am home.

Our livestock need good clean water that is easy to access, and is close enough to the main herd so they feel safe and get plenty before they need to get go back to the herd and end up dehydrated.  This is an important part of animal husbandry to understand and monitor.

I only have one tank in my corral and it services three pens and there is not much volume or space, but it has good flow.  I really have to make sure my livestock are getting their hydration need met.

I try to clean it every week.  I also have some other water spots on the place, the main one being the Musselshell  River, and I like to take cattle to it and let them get a good drink.  I have observed cattle like to have a big first drink, then after they do what they do in the gut, they come back and drink again.  If you are trying to get cattle to stay somewhere and be content, this is important to understand.