Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Driving you herd on a public road?

It's been many years, we used to move our cows as far as twelve miles.. Unless the law has changed, you still have the right of way.

I've seen it before, but not in years.

But then again I live in town now and seldom drive rural roads.
I just pulled over and let them do their thing. I whopping 5 minutes out of my day, their living depends on it.

If going the same direction as me, just pull off on a gravel road for a couple miles to get around them.

Thanks Cecil.

Crested a hill on the gravel out by Hannen Lake a few years ago with just enough room between us to get stopped without acquiring an Angus hood ornament. Sat there for awhile as the crowd flowed around me.

Back in the 1950s we would drive our steers from Baggs, Wyo. to Craig Colo. we would string them out for a mile or more, load them on train cattle cars, going to Wilson Meat Packers in Chicago, we drove them down the Hi-way and thru the East side of Craig, most dangerous thing we ran into was, pissed off people. Rio7

"A ten dollar hose, and forty dollar saddle".

See it occasionally in Wva. Not much anymore though

I helped move about three hundred head of black baldies from one corn stubble field to another like four miles away.
Must have been twenty or so riders and most of them had never been behind a cow in their life. But everyone had fun.
Had to push them a mile on a county road, turn right at the stop sign on to a two lane highway and then left on another county road.
very pleasant ride until I had to carry a very exhausted baby for the last half of the trip.

From my Dad, my Grampa Jim, and my brother Jim drove calves from the rail station to the farm.

There used to be better fences back then.

We drove cows 3-4 miles to a rented pasture when I was a kid. There were no goose neck livestock trailers back then, it was straight trucks or semis to haul cattle.

A few years back we left elk camp and were just south of Carbondale, Colorado. There was about 200 cows that a family was driving down a busy 2-lane highway. 8 mounted riders, including grandma and grandpa down to grandkids that were maybe six years old. They had about 200 yards they had to come down the highway, and they only stopped traffic maybe 5 minutes. People in SUVs with the ski racks on top were losing their minds over having to wait.

I saw it every year driving north out of Gunnison. One older rancher I got pretty friendly with over the years. He would stop for coffee at my camper. He always knew where the elk were hanging out and I killed quite a few thanks to him.

Then south of Craig, CO. going in I might see 2-3000 head of sheep being moved down to the loading chutes on private land. I always took a couple of 6 packs for the Peruvian herders.They knew where all the elk were too. In eastern Colorado you are more likely to see 2-3 big combines and grain carts going from pivot to pivot.