Tag Archives: stockmanship

Mothers Are Stockmanship and Stewardship

Mothers and wives are the real foundation of most family livestock operations. They are instrumental in keeping things organized, from book work to knowing what cow belonged to what calf, and could most likely point out the cow’s mother. Cooking for a crew is no problem.  Serving as a counselor, bookkeeper, bill payer, nurse for man, vet for beast, driving truck, tractor, or riding a horse are just part of the deal.

I feel most women have more compassion for animals, and seem to get along better calving and lambing when it comes to mothering something up, grafting and suckling calves and lambs.

They probably are not willing to pressure animals as much as some of us men folk (I am not aware of any negative undercover video involving females). Most try to figure out a better way to work with animals, and very seldom lose their cool when working with them.

My mother Bobby Wegner kept our outfit together. Three good meals a day for family and crew. She always had a huge garden, canned vegetables (I love her pickled beets.), and got a big supply of groceries every fall. She was very good with horses, would wrap meat all day at the slaughter house, and still manage to do all her other duties at home.

She could drive truck, bale hay, cuss with the best of them when she was mad, get over her mad just as quick as she could get mad, and would take in any stray, animal or human.

She and My Stepfather Ralph Wegner, worked hard, played hard, went broke in the early 80’s, made it all back in the 90’s, and had a great time doing it.

I think my mother is the reason for my passion for animals. She had me horseback before I was born. Shortly after I was born she kept me riding horses, taking my sister and I to ride in parades, drill teams and rodeos. I always had chores to do, and she was real strict about doing them the right way at the right time.

I have many things to thank my Mother for – strong work ethic, compassion for animals, taking care of the land, taking me to bible school, and all the great fun things I got to do growing up on our place in the Helena valley of Montana.

The greatest gift my Mother has is her ability to make people feel good. She never met a stranger, always treated everyone the same when they came to our place, from sheep herders to bankers to movie stars.

I sure hope some of it rubbed off on me.

Take some time to think about what your Mother has really done for you, and take even more time to figure out what you can do for her. I’m not sure flowers will be enough.

 ~ Curt Pate

For the love of animals

Since birth my life has never been without animals, and most everything I have been involved in has had to do with the care or handling of livestock.

We had sheep, pigs, cattle, horses, and chickens on our place. It was a great way to grow up.

My step-father, Ralph Wegner was college educated and used all up to date farming methods. From a 90 sow farrow to finish hog operation, custom slaughter house, wheat and hay farm as well as a couple hundred cows, I learned much about production agriculture.

My grandfather, Len Frank went to the 6th grade and was a butcher, cattle trader, rancher, and real estate speculator. He was very frugal and understood cattle from the inside to the outside. He was the biggest influence on me in my passion for the livestock industry. He was good at dealing with people, livestock, and took excellent care of the land. He was always upgrading quality and a master at making a deal work out for everyone involved. He taught me that big was not always better and how important it was to do things right to make a profit.

My other grandfather Ed Pate, was a stockman. My grandmother told me when he was young he went on 3 trail drives from Texas to Kansas City, Missouri. He was an excellent sheep and cattlemen, and trained horses until he was well over seventy. He was in charge of the cattle on a large feedlot when I was a kid and I spent part of my summer riding pens, processing cattle, and riding on outside cattle with he and my uncle. They were great cowboys and could get ‘er done.

My father, Tex, and my uncle, Wilson, were rodeo cowboys. They got me started riding bucking horses and bulls. Most rough stock riders have a great respect for livestock they compete against and I feel fortunate to have learned this respect of animals from the rodeo world.

To me, it seems so important to understand why we do what we do. We can’t change the past, and I sure would not change mine, but it has created where we are right now. It will help you understand what you need to do to improve the areas you would like to improve upon.

It is important for you to know a little about my past, to understand why I feel and do the things I do. For me, I had the best upbringing possible. We were not rich, we were not poor, but almost everything in my life had something to do with animals, and that is the great gift that has always been in my life.

~ Curt Pate