Stephan Schwab

This Saturday we picked up our first two heads of cattle, which we bought Friday, and brought them on the back of a pickup truck to the farm. It took quite a while to get them loaded onto the truck. They didn’t want to leave their herd and they were angry. But finally their journey to the farm started. In the picture you can see them during a short lunch break for the driver and helper of the pickup truck.

After about 3 hours total travel time they arrived at the village of Buenos Aires and got transfered to another pickup truck with a four wheel drive. We got great help from a lot of people who just showed up and got to work without even asking. That’s how the communities in those little villages work. You help them and they help you.

Those young bulls have been quite angry. They are strong animals and it’s kind of impossible to control that power. One could put a rope around their neck but then they might easily strangle themselves. So that’s not a good idea. A better solution is to shove the rope through a hole in the nose. The bone is strong enough and the animal doesn’t want to break its nose to come free. The picture may not be for the faint at heart but it actually is less cruel than it looks.

It takes all hands to keep the beasts still and allow the procedure.

Even the kids want to help and do it just like their older brothers and fathers. Those two are 10 years old and they act as they were already grown up.

Beast #1 got off the truck and is now trying to beat the rope tied to a tree. It slept the night there to calm down.

Beast #2 tried to escape. It jumped from the back of the truck and at the moment I snapped the picture it made a run for the fence. With brute force it went through the barb wire fence and was brought to an abrupt halt due to the rope that was tied to a strong tree.

The rope got tigthened up …

… and this one too had to surrender and calm down over night.

Those four are the neighbors who helped to tame the beasts.

This was the story from Saturday. As you can see in the pictures we were caught by nightfall and some fog that develops at this time of the year at the end of the rainy season. There is more to tell about the events that occured on Sunday.