Team Sorting

I’ve written before about team penning and a competition often held at the same time is called team sorting.

A very common type of ranch work is sorting cows which means certain cows in a herd are pulled out for medical reasons or to be moved to a new location or because there are many herd owners and someone wants their cows pulled out, etc.

It’s a skill that is learned by the rider and by the horse over time. The trick is to pull a certain cow or mother/calf (called a “pair) out without disturbing the rest of the herd. And of course a cows natural tendency is to stay with the herd so they generally don’t like the idea of being separated.

Team sorting is about being able to read the cows (know what the cow is about to do next) and influence them to do what you want.

There are rule variations but generally 10 cows are put in a small pen, each cow numbered starting with 0 to 9. There is an adjacent pen with a opening in between. The idea is to move the cows one at a time from the origin pen to the destination pen. But to make it interesting the judge calls a number and that is the first cow you must move. Once in the destination pen you then need to take the next numbered cow in order and move that one. And it continues in numerical order until all 10 cows are moved. But if any of the cows in the destination pen return or the cows don’t enter in numerical order the competition run is halted and you are disqualified.

Oh, and you only have 90 seconds to complete the run.

It’s a timed event with the two person team (or three people if the opening is wide) doing it with the fastest time winning. Looks easy but is actually quite difficult to do rapidly.

Most often the technique is to have one person block the opening while the other rides into the herd and sorts out the right cow, pushing it towards the opening. The blocking cowboy then gets out of the way but keeps his eye on the destination herd so they don’t return while helping encourage the picked cow to move the right way.

It’s a lot of fun to do with shouting and cursing and complaining about the #@#$% cows. Communication between the cowboys is essential and you need a very responsive horse. But anyone can do it and have a good time. And any age as well. If you get serious there is award money to be made.

The Ft. Worth, Texas based United States Team Penning Association runs the sport and you can get more information at their website by clicking HERE.