Relocating Our Heifers to New Pastures
Moving cattle is never just about loading animals onto a trailer and hitting the road. It’s about timing & preparation. This week, we moved a group of our heifers to a new location—a process that’s always exciting, a lot of work, and incredibly satisfying when done right.
Capturing the Farm Life – One Post at a Time
These blog posts are a way to capture memories and moments from the farm for Jeff. He truly loves what he does and takes great pride in doing it well. Farming is hard work—it demands time, dedication, and a lot of effort just to keep up with the day-to-day.
I also share these posts for anyone out there who’s interested in farming but might feel overwhelmed by the challenges or the cost of getting started—especially when it comes to equipment and tools.
For example, when it came time to move the heifers, he could have gone out and purchased cattle panels. Instead, he found three gates that had been stored in the barn and, with a bit of prep and planning, turned them into a makeshift loading pen. It worked perfectly—and cost us nothing extra.
Why the move?
Two heifers were moved to a small lot on family property to eat it down. They had been there for about 6 weeks and cleaned it up nicely. It was now time to put them back with the herd.
Preparing for the move?
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Trailer Prep: The livestock trailer was clean and inspected for safety. Good footing is critical to prevent slipping during transport.
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Pasture Readiness: Before moving day, we walked the new location to check fences, gates, and water access. Much of the herd is already on this farmland.
- Loading Prep: Before moving day we loaded 4 large gates from the farm and took to the location of the heifers to serve as the loading pin.
Moving Day
Early in the morning, before the sun got too hot, we got ourselves ready. We were having abnormally hot weather in WV with temps in the high 90's. Henry was excited to drive me down to the property on his 4-wheeler to meet Jeff with the cattle trailer and tractor.
We arrived a few minutes before Jeff so Henry backed his 4-wheeler out of the way and visited with the heifers who were already down to greet him.
Calm handling is key—rushing cattle only causes panic. I helped Jeff get everything set up and grain bucket ready and he brought the heifers down off the hillside. Henry and I hid behind the trailer so as not to spook them. Jeff guided them gently into the make-shift gate pen and I waited patiently for him to tell me to close the trailer door quickly once they were on the trailer.
Settling in
We met some traffic on our small, one lane road, but Henry and I arrived at the new pasture in time to get the gate for Jeff has he pulled the trailer up into the field.
The trip was uneventful, which is exactly how you want it. Jeff left the heifers in the trailer and took a grain bucket farther up the hill into the field to call and bring the herd down to meet them. It's important to always let them get accumulated with the herd first before leaving them in a new field. IT wasn't long before they were calm with heads down grazing.
That's a wrap
Over the next few days, we’ll keep a close eye on them—watching how they eat, move, and interact. The move was a success!
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I love this blog! Thank you for sharing your adventures with us.