This Week on the Ranch

Howdy folks,

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I’m Connor McCauley. I married into a fifth-generation Texas ranching family, and together we run TriTails Beef out of the Harrell Ranch—my wife Helen’s family place.

Now, I didn’t grow up in ranching. For me, this way of life has only been real for about five years. These newsletters (and the YouTube videos that go with them) are my way of inviting you in as I learn. Most of you reading probably don’t own a ranch, but I want you to see and feel the things I get to experience—because what I’ve learned is that ranching and farming are some of the most important things holding our country together. Families who know the land, who know the cattle, and who pass that knowledge down generation after generation—they take care of it better than anyone else ever could.

And it’s a blessing to share that with you.

Watch The YouTube By Clicking Below Otherwise Keep On Reading!

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A New Baler on the Ranch

I’ll admit, I’ve been holding out on you a little. If you’ve watched our videos, you probably know we’ve had our fair share of headaches with the old baler. Twine wrapping, slow gates, inefficiency—it was a fight every time.

Well, a few weeks ago Sam and I finally bit the bullet. We went down to Western Equipment, our local John Deere dealership, and bought a brand-new baler. The biggest upgrade? It runs net wrap instead of twine. That means wrapping a bale takes about five seconds instead of a minute and a half. The gate is faster too, which makes a huge difference when you’re turning out bale after bale.

This new baler also has a winch for loading the 200-lb net wrap rolls, a stronger rake to pick up hay, and a computer screen that shows whether your bale is forming evenly—no more lopsided bales. In the right conditions, we can crank out over 100 bales a day without breaking stride.

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New Wheels, New Trailer

The baler wasn’t the only upgrade around here. For years I drove a beat-up 2012 Chevy Avalanche with 182,000 miles and plenty of scars—including one night when Helen plowed into a sounder of wild hogs. That poor truck gave all it had.

Helen and I decided it was time for something fresh, so now I’m driving a new Ford F-150. Along with it, we picked up a trailer to haul dry ice and supplies without wrecking the bed of the new truck.

My first big run with it? Hauling 12 rolls of net wrap back from Western Equipment to the ranch, where Sam was meeting with a mechanic for our baler walk-through.

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Out in the Field

Once the setup was done, I got behind the wheel of the tractor and started rolling hay. In two days, I knocked out around 200 bales. Honestly? Baling is one of my favorite things in farming.

There’s a rhythm to it. You’re out in the field from sunrise to sunset, watching the day unfold, maybe spotting some wildlife. I listen to podcasts or the Bible app while I work, and there’s just something about the solitude of it all. It feels right.

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What’s Next

That’s the big update for this week. Next week we won’t have a YouTube video, but I’ll be sharing about cattle work—we’re moving heifers into the pens to check pregnancies.

If you enjoy these newsletters, please share them. Every time you do, it helps spread the word about ranching and farming and keeps the spirit of family, land, and tradition alive in this country. It really does make a difference.

Thanks for riding along with me,
Connor