Great Plains Cattle Feeders Photography - Day 2

Jul 5

And so we begin day 2! We met at the airport in Amarillo before sunrise and stepped off the plane in southwest Texas (basically northern Mexico, I was told) just as the sun was rising over the mountains. My photographer heart couldn't have been happier. So. Beautiful. Things learned: Big sign = Little ranch Little sign = Big ranch. Chuckled to myself as I heard that one. Reminds me of my dad reminding us kids not to be a "big hat, no cattle" type of person. Look at those markings! See how fluffy this grass is? That's not common. When this ranch was bought, it was overrun with invasive species, which were killed by flying over the land and dropping pellets. This allowed the native grasses to grow and create more food for the cows! "So the guy showing us around out here kind of looks like George Strait!" -me in a phone conversation with my mom This is what they call a "cake wagon". The truck pulling it sounds a siren, and the cows come from all directions. They know they're about to get fed! I got to ride on top of this wagon! Check on the photo on Instagram. So as the truck drives along, it drops piles of "cake" which is supplemental food, since the cattle can only get so much nutrition from the dry grass out here. This is Serio, the ranch manager. Each ranch has at least one guy who lives there full-time. Serio is telling us about how he and his brother roped a live wildcat from horseback. It's hanging in one of the houses on the ranch. I'm not kidding...these are true cowboys!