Little Life on An American Ranch

oh! oh! oh!

With a loud rooster crowing, Jian Heng knew that the eastern ridge had begun to light up this hour, which meant that a new day on the ranch had officially begun.

In the past, Jian Heng still had to procrastinate a bit, and was a little angry to get up, but today, when he heard the rooster crowing, Jian Heng quickly sat up, rubbed his eyes and got out of bed, even the second time the cock crowed. There is no need to start preparing to wash up even after crowing.

In less than five minutes, Jian Heng had already appeared at the door of the stable with his harness on his shoulders.

Maybe because he heard Jian Heng's approaching footsteps, Heidou neighed passionately from his cubicle, and kept kicking the door in front of him with his front hooves.

Jian Heng happily walked to the door of Heidou's cubicle, and reached out to lift the hanging buckle: "Okay, okay, what do you do if you have nothing to do with the door? Wrapping cattle today, can you do it, kid? If not, I will change horses?"

While chatting with Heidou, Jian Heng kept caressing Heidou's nose and neck with both hands. After what happened yesterday, Jian Heng found that he still knew too little about Heidou, or maybe he knew it before. I don't have much confidence, and only discovered yesterday that Black Dou can actually become a very good riding horse.

After putting the black beans out, Jian Heng began to simply brush the black beans a few times, and then stretched out his hand to wipe its back carefully to avoid any small gravels, small clods of soil, etc. Maury, if you have these things, you may hit the horse during the ride, which will make the horse feel very uncomfortable.

If such a situation occurs, if the person is lightly thrown off the horse, if it is severe, the person may be thrown to death all at once. All old riders should check before putting on the mat. This cannot be just a formality, but a fixed habit should be formed in the heart.

After checking the horse's back, I took a look at the saddle pad, picked it up and threw it on the wooden post next to it twice, knocking out ashes and other things as much as possible, and then rubbed it with my hands again, and finally the pad is on. Black beans on the back.

In the end, the saddle was thrown, the girdle was tightened, and it was completed smoothly.

Riding on the black beans, Jian Heng came to the barn on the ranch, and before he reached the barn, he heard Zhang Jialiang's constant yelling.

Waiting for Jian Heng to walk to the side of the fence, he found that his grocery herd, which was a herd of deer and cattle, was still circling around the fence, and hadn't entered the fence at all.

Seeing Jian Heng approaching, Zhang Jialiang blushed a little. Looking at Jian Heng's face full of shame, he was ashamed to find reasons for himself. Zhang Jialiang was a little ashamed that he hadn't completed such a simple task as driving cattle into the pen this morning.

It stands to reason that at this time, Zhang Jialiang will drive the groceries into the fence, then pass through a crossing, drive in the cattle that need to be stamped, and then drive into the narrow passage.

At the end of the aisle is a big iron hoop for clamping the cow. Once the cow enters, the person just pulls the handle, and the cow is tightly clamped, and then the cow can be branded.

But now, not to mention the distribution of cattle, the group of groceries has not even entered the fence. Whether it is Daniel or Qianlong, the two goods have put on a posture that they will not enter the fence, and I want to go out. There is no way to enter the fence, block this and run that, anyone can take the groceries.

Zhang Jialiang was helpless for a moment.

As the saying goes, when you shoot a man, you shoot a horse first, and when you catch a thief, you catch the king first.

The same is true for driving cattle. First, the king of cattle must be driven in, and the whole herd of cattle will follow up honestly. Now that the king of cattle is putting on a show, he is not like Zhang Jialiang at all. How can Zhang Jialiang do anything.

As for the use of force, Zhang Jialiang hadn't thought about it, but he thought that the guy in front of him could kill an American bison with one blow, so he immediately stopped thinking about it, because he felt that he couldn't stand it all alone.

Heidou didn't know why, he seemed to like Daniu and Qianlong quite a bit, and he neighed happily when he saw them.

Jian Heng didn't say much, and directly rode the black beans to drive the big cow into the pen.

As soon as Jian Heng moved here, Daniel and Qianlong immediately became honest. Daniel took the lead and walked in. Qianlong even helped Jian Heng fight, constantly threatening the group of groceries with his huge antlers on his head, and ran away. Slow, almost everyone was pushed by it for a while.

"Boss!" Waiting for the last fawn to hop into the fence, Zhang Jialiang closed the fence door, and wanted to say something to Jian Heng in embarrassment.

Jian Heng waved his hands: "I don't blame you!"

When Jian Heng assigned this task to Zhang Jialiang, he didn't consider that Zhang Jialiang couldn't control the cows at all, let alone Zhang Jialiang, even if he came here for an old cowboy, he couldn't control Daniel and Qianlong, it was useless!

Can the old cowboy control it? Isn't that nonsense, if they can control it, they are the masters of the space.

"Is the stove fire ready?" Jian Heng asked.

Zhang Jialiang nodded and said: "The fire is ready, I just looked at the stamps and they are all red."

"That's fine, the task is done very well, it's not your fault if you can't catch up with the big cow," Jian Heng said, and then urged Heidou to start dividing the cows in the fence.

The purpose is to separate the deer from the cattle, and at the same time drive the cattle to the narrow passage on the left. This small channel is funnel-shaped, getting narrower and narrower as it goes in, and finally it can only accommodate a cow.

As soon as Jian Heng moved, Daniel and Qianlong immediately understood what the master meant. Daniel led the cows to the aisle, while Qianlong yelled and called the deer to come to him.

The herd of cows and deer that had been huddled together instantly split into two pieces like water and oil.

Jian Heng was scratching his head when he was supposed to be happy, because he originally had more than forty cows, but now there are about sixty cows in the herd, and the extra twenty or so are directly American bison. Bison.

"What about Huang Xiaodong and the others?"

Jian Heng has no choice now, so he can only make do with it, and stop poking the bison when he meets it.

"Here!" Zhang Jialiang was about to say something when he raised his head and saw Huang Xiaodong and Zhao Wei riding horses, dressed in standard cowboy clothes.

Jian Heng glanced at them, and found that Huang Xiaodong was riding well, but Zhao Wei was like a stake on the horse, so he couldn't help saying: "Why did they learn at the same time? It looks like a big horse monkey squatting on the back of a horse!"

Zhang Jialiang explained with a smile: "Huang Xiaodong practiced a lot. He was as tired as a dog after a day. Zhao Wei would catch up on sleep when he rested. Huang Xiaodong would practice for forty minutes to an hour every day. I only sleep when I'm equestrian, and I can help me from time to time."

"Oh!" Jian Heng looked at the two of them thoughtfully and said.

"Boss, what are we going to do?" Huang Xiaodong came to the outside of the fence and said cheerfully to Jian Heng.

Jian Heng said: "It's simple, you two don't need to ride horses, one of you will come in, and the other will stand on the edge of the aisle outside, and will be responsible for driving the cows in, a small stick for each of you will do without a horse." ".

This is easy to understand. The king of cattle has entered. As long as someone drives the cattle behind, the cattle can easily follow the narrow passage. The work is very easy and easy to do.

Another person came in, while Jian Heng and Zhang Jialiang got out of the fence and came to the end of the narrow passage together, which is next to the cattle gate.

The gate is made of two iron plates, which are not too thick, and are only used to block the cattle. The cattle are fixed mainly by the iron grid clips that hold the cattle. Each fence is welded by steel pipes with thick wrists. One piece, each in a half-arc shape, the cross-section is like a willow leaf when closed tightly, just enough to hold the cow motionless with no room to struggle, and when released, it is easy for the cow to pass through.

Snapped! Snapped!

While demonstrating how to use the gateway, Jian Heng explained the essentials to Zhang Jialiang.

It takes a little strength to use this thing, because although lever gears and other principles are used in it, this thing is very primitive after all, and it won't last long if you don't have the strength.

"Try it!" After speaking, Jian Heng stepped aside and asked Zhang Jialiang to try it first.

Zhang Jialiang is very smart, and he is serious about learning, and he can master it as soon as he teaches it. Jian Heng looked at him a few times, and then nodded his praise.

"Get to work!"

Jian Heng walked to the opposite side of Zhang Jialiang, where there was a lively stove, and the coal in the hearth was already turning lime-red. Putting on thick heat-resistant gloves, Jian Heng stretched out his hand and took a stamp to look at it. It was already red, and it was time to use it.

Putting the seal back, Jian Heng stretched out his hand and pulled the gate, and the first one to come in was naturally Daniel.

"Let it out!" Jian Heng stretched out his hand and patted Daniel's butt, signaling Zhang Jialiang to let Daniel out.

Zhang Jialiang said: "Why don't you burn it too."

"Who would steal it!" Jian Heng said, "Don't talk nonsense, work quickly!"

bang!

Zhang Jialiang pulled down the handle of the gate, and the big cow ran out, standing outside and lowing at the cows inside.

bang!

The next cow that came in was not so lucky, and was directly caught by the trap.

Jian Heng picked up the red-hot seal and stamped it directly on its buttocks.

Hey!

Moo!

With the sound of stamping on the beef and the sound of burning meat, accompanied by the smell of scorched cowhide, and the cow's mooing in pain, the stamping work of a cow is considered complete!

"All right!"

As soon as Jian Heng's words fell, Zhang Jialiang first let go of the clamp, and then let go of the gate, and the free cow jumped out immediately, for fear that she would suffer the same moment again if she ran too late.

The whole set of very mechanical movements had to be repeated about forty times, and because of the presence of the bison, it had to be added about twenty more times.

On the way, Huang Xiaodong came to replace Zhang Jialiang, and the two exchanged more than 60 times. When the whole job was finished, their arms were a little tired.