Part of being a cowboy, especially a cowboy in the middle of nowhere, means having a wide array of tools. Some of them are intended to be used on the ranch, some are not for the ranch but they actually are quite useful and some are homemade- ghetto-rigged from twine and a branch (because some times that is all they have).
Of course a favorite of any rancher is the hot shot. Efficiency is important when running through hundreds of cows and a little zap in quite motivating. Therefore, EVERYONE has one.
When we preg check cows a useful, but out of place tool is bleach. Like go-to-a-salon type bleach. They mix it up and paint a splotch according to their expected calving date. Bleaching their hair is a good way to mark them because it will last until February/March when they start dropping babies.
Tools are an important part of our work… but it’s funny to see what is the favorite or what homemade tool come up with.
