PC: Jeffrey
Have you ever heard a rancher say they’re pushin’ up? Or maybe they say something like –
“Have you pushed up?”
“When are you pushin’ up?”
“I’m starting to push up next week.”
“I pushed up last week.”
What are they talking about? Does it have anything to do with pushin’ up daisies? No, it doesn’t.
Pushin’ up refers to moving cows to a new grazing allotment where the feed is better. Cows graze in areas called allotments and they can only stay in those allotments for a certain number of days as designated by the Bureau of Land Management. When we push up, it is typically to a higher elevation where the feed is still green and not as dried out as the low country. It could be up a mountain or it could be to another allotment on the high desert where the water sources are better.
Little groups of cows are gathered into larger groups. Cowboys line the cows out and push them in the right direction to help them find the gate to the new allotment. It can take a few days to gather and find all the cows, line them out, and push them up.
Let me explain this differently.
Imagine you have 100s of kids and they are scattered in Costco. Your job is to get them out the door by 5pm so they can have better food than the food samples. You spend all afternoon gathering them and another adult takes the lead so they know where to find the door. Gathering them and getting them moving in the right direction takes all day. Finally, you push them through the door at 4pm, counting them as they go out. You realize you are short a few kids, so you go back inside to find them, gather them, and send them in the right direction so they can make it out the door. This time they are all accounted for and they are pretty happy with the new food they get to eat.
It takes some time to push up. Day by day it gets done.
The next time you hear a rancher say, “I’m pushin’ up this week,” you’ll know exactly what he is talking about – finding all his kids in Costco and getting them out the door to have better food.
Jasper is on another ranch that has cows and calves. We only have yearlings right now. His push looks a little different that ours.
You have a wonderful way of explaining everything…my dream has always been to live /work on a ranch……yes I live in the great state of Texas but no ranch!! So it’s no wonder I so enjoy your Instagram and now your blog!!! I learn a lot reading all you write!!! I go to Costco…and it will never be the same!! Ha ha
Hi Nancy – Thank you for your support and all of your kind comments on the Instagram posts!! The blog is a work in progress so thank you for taking the time to read a few posts.