How to be a Ranch Hand

Hope y'all are having a good day!

I decided to take a break with the steers. #15 has taught his friends, that I’m safe, and make a good scratchy post for them, lol.

In this video I go over how to build figure 4's, why you'd want them on your fence, and how they work.

I went hiking took you guys with me to talk about why someone would want to work on a ranch; and discussed some of the pros and cons I thought of.

This should of been done before winter hit, but better late than never! I go over step by step how you'd winterize a small gas engine. In this case, I'm working on a wheel line. But these steps are universal for all 4 stroke small gas engines.

In this video I go over three ways to install t-post clips on a barbed wire fence. Towards the end of the video my phone decided to not record the sound, sorry (thanks Skynet...)

Back in the day somebody bought me a nice 60' poly rope. Unfortunately it was to long for me to manage. And I was stuck with the problem of how to shorten it. In this video I go over how to trim a ranch rope, if you ever find yourself in need of doing so.

Gate etiquette is a good thing to know working on a ranch. Here I go over some gate etiquette / situations that may help a new guy out.

In this video I go over how not to build a wire gate. Watch my other video where I show you guys how to build a wire gate from the ground up!

My silly Mustang Sir Winston, thinks hes got to defend his friends from some new comers. Pepper eventually goes over breaks it up. Sorry for no content right now. We're busy shipping cattle so its been 7 days a week here. Got some cool stuff coming up. Hope you guys have a good day! God bless!

How to change, troubleshoot, and use a grease gun

Here’s a complete breakdown of how to build a wire gate from start to finish.

Fall’s right around the corner, so the flys are starting to die off. But I thought I’d talk about the last 2 methods (that I think are the best) for helping our four legged friends deal with flys. The first is giving em a buddy with a natural fly swatter (another horse). And the second is taking the time to pickup those prairie apples. Also, one of the first jobs you might get on a ranch, might just be picking up poop. Don’t turn up your nose if your given that opportunity and want to have a job in agriculture. It could be a stepping stone. Hope this helps, God bless!

In this video I go over how to splice barbed wire using a pair of fencing pliers. This is an essential skill every ranch hand needs to know. Some take aways: 1) It’s better to use smooth wire to splice with, than another piece of barbed wire 2) If there are multiple strands that need to be spliced, always start at the bottom and work your way up 3) Don’t be afraid to cut out an old splice and just start new 4) If the wire isn’t getting as tight as it should, you may be pulling slack from the wrong end 5) And, this does takes practice and patience to build up the hand strength and muscle memory Hope this helps, God bless!

Today I had a good opportunity to go over how I like to splice wire that’s being used for an electric fence. The knot I like to use is called a figure 8 knot. And this is specifically for smooth metal wire like high tensile (not poly rope or ribbon). Some take always: 1) always splice electric wire with the same type of wire (so you don’t add extra resistance to the fence) 2) The figure 8 knot doesn’t take out the slack, so you’ll have to tension at a terminal 3) Don’t forget to trim excess on your finished knots Hope this helps, God bless!

Nope rope drive by. He wasn’t very happy to see me, lol

In this video, I explain why it’s better to make big loops when splicing wire, vs small loops. 1) Big loops are easier to retighten 2) Less likely to break 3) There’s less pressure on just one spot God bless!

Permethrin is the main ingredient in most fly sprays. You can find it in most feed stores if you’d like to make your own homemade spray and save some money. Main points: 1) Brush out the dirt first 2) Don’t spray on wounds, head, or face 3) Let your horse know what’s coming; start from the hoof and work your way up 4) Get the spots he can’t reach with his tail real good (belly, chest, legs) 5) If your horse is prone to roll after getting wet, let it dry before releasing him

Alope was my favorite heifer at this ranch where I used to work. If she saw me working in the field she’d always come up to me and ask for some scratches.

Part 1 of a video series talking about some of the strategies I use for fly mitigation for my horses.

Me and pepper just hanging out in the drag. It was still pretty early out, so not to warm yet. And we were going up a road. So it was a good day. We eventually got where we were going. He will bite cows, if they don’t listen to his ear pinning. I always give lots of praise when he does, lol.

We got invited to the neighbor’s branding. They raise longhorns which is pretty cool.

Had a good opportunity to do a video on how to use a t-post puller today. Might show some other ways to pull t-posts in the future if you guys like.