If you want lively discussion, ask stockmen if they gather/move/sort/handle cattle by horseback or with an ATV/four-wheeler/quad. Some will be adamant about the virtues (and drawbacks) of one or the other, while some use both. Each has its place, with advantages and disadvantages, depending on the situation.

Ken Stielow of Bar S Ranch raises Angus cattle near Paradise, Kan. He says his outfit uses ATVs, but prefers to use horses.

“In rough country, the cows learn to get away from ATVs and become hard to gather by any method,” says Stielow.

“I’ve seen people try to break up fighting bulls with an ATV, and this is dangerous.” — Mike Kossler

Mike Kossler, who managed Eagle Valley Ranch near Salmon, Idaho, for many years, says advantages of an ATV include increased mobility and speed in getting where you need to go to gather cows, get them moved, and then get back quicker to your other jobs.

“If you are going someplace where you can’t take a trailer — and have to ride a horse there and back again — the four-wheeler is useful,” he says.

“Some guys don’t ride horses, and the ATV enables them to move cattle,” Kossler explains. “But, cattle get smart. They realize they can get away from an ATV.” For example, Kossler says, they couldn’t get cows out of one field with ATVs. It had a deep ditch, which the cows went across knowing you couldn’t follow until you found a crossing for the ATV.

“If a person hurries them too much with an ATV, cows learn to run circles around you instead of moving where you want them,” he adds. “They quickly figure out a four-wheeler and its limitations.”

Kossler says he wants his cows to be accustomed to everything — horses, bikes, people on foot, etc. Most of the ranch he managed was rotationally grazed, so he was always moving cattle. He would go out and open a wire, and the cows would follow once they saw the four-wheeler. If cattle need to be moved a couple miles, Kossler prefers using a horse.

Safety issues are a concern. A person is more at risk on a four-wheeler than on a horse, if things get wild, he says. A horse is more agile and can whirl away.

“Other than that, you can do just about everything on an ATV that you can with a horse — except that nearly everyone who gets on a four-wheeler chases cows too fast and messes them up.” — Jim Jensen

“The horse can save you, because he’s watching the cattle and will get out of the way if a cow charges or a bull gets pushed toward you. I’ve seen people try to break up fighting bulls with an ATV, and this is dangerous,” notes Kossler. “The bulls don’t pay attention to anything else when they’re fighting. You can’t move quickly enough, and you can’t turn. The horse can get out of the way. He may move quicker than you want, but he’ll get you out of there.”

Jim Jensen of Lucky 7 Angus Ranch in Wyoming says they used strictly horses for a long time. That changed.

“At one point, we needed to move some heifers 8 miles through sagebrush country at the base of the mountains,” he shares. “I needed to get them moved, and everyone that I needed to help me was too busy. Several days went by, and I decided to move them by myself.”

Jensen used a four-wheeler and four dogs, and had them moved two hours faster than he expected.

“That was the first time I’d ever moved cattle with a four-wheeler,” he says. “I put the dogs behind them and let the dogs herd them. I drove ahead, opened gates and turned the cattle the proper way.”

Problems mainly occur, he clarifies, when people chase cattle with four-wheelers; sometimes you really need a horse.

Some areas are too rough to use an ATV, and horses are the only way to gather or sort cattle.

“Other than that, you can do just about everything on an ATV that you can with a horse — except that nearly everyone who gets on a four-wheeler chases cows too fast and messes them up,” says Jensen.

Editor’s note: Heather Smith Thomas is a freelance writer and cattlewoman from Salmon, Idaho.