By Mark Bennett
The Tribune-Star

There wasn’t a cowboy hat in sight.

Ron Simons wore a ballcap under his hoodie, like most of the other hands on the Yegerlehner cattle drive two weekends ago. The 52-year-old grew up in northern California’s Sonoma County. That’s wine country, for cryin’ out loud. “The only cattle we saw were the ones we chased in high school,” he said, laughing.

Yet Simons is no greenhorn when it comes to cattle drives. The Yegerlehners’ drive on March 14 was Simons’ fourth.

In fact, most of the 60 volunteers have worked the Yegerlehners’ semiannual cattle drives at least once. “We don’t have to beg anybody,” said Alan Yegerlehner, whose family dairy farm a couple miles northeast of Clay City — The Swiss Connection — includes a herd of 125 cattle.

But for an outsider, the burning question is, of course, “Why is there a cattle drive in Clay County, Indiana?”

The Yegerlehners use a natural, pasture-based system to feed their 80 to 90 dairy cows, and 20 to 30 steers. Milk, cheese, butter and beef products from grass-fed cattle are healthier and more eco-friendly than those fed with grain, Alan explained. So, to keep the cows on fresh grass year-round, the Yegerlehners rely on “rotational grazing.” The cows feed on an 80-acre pasture during the winter months, and the larger 200-acre farmstead during warm-weather months. Both pastures regenerate after the cattle leave for the season.

Again, why the cattle drive?

Well, the Yegerlehners’ summer and winter pastures are 31/2 miles apart. To spare the cows a somewhat traumatic truck ride, the Yegerlehners and their friends, relatives, neighbors and fellow church members guide them along County Road 550 South. Volunteers in cars and trucks motor ahead of and behind the bovine procession to block off traffic. Alan guides the herd from a tractor pulling a wagon. Other cattle drivers walk along both sides of the road, holding a nylon rope. The cows think the rope is an electric fence, like those in their pastures.

“Kate tells everyone, ‘You’re basically like moving fence posts,’” said volunteer Mary Ann Guess.

She was referring to Kate Yegerlehner, the daughter of Alan and Mary Yegerlehner. The 29-year-old Purdue University graduate represents the seventh generation of her family to own and run the farm. The legacy dates back to 1852, when David and Magdalena Jegerlehner (the European spelling) and their children settled in Clay County after leaving their native Switzerland. Today, their farmstead production of myriad cheeses, ice cream flavors and meats is “kind of a replica of what the Swiss do,” Mary said.

Armed with that lineage, a Purdue degree in animal production and years of working and learning alongside her parents, Kate leads the Yegerlehner cattle drives each December and March.

The process begins with Kate leading the cows out of the winter pasture and down a path to County Road 550 South, where volunteers — shuttled to that site from the farmstead by Alan’s haywagon — await, holding the ropes. Under cool, overcast skies, petite Kate looked unfazed by the brood of 1,000-pound livestock lumbering behind.

“She leads them, and they follow,” said longtime cattle drive volunteer Mick Adams. “It’s like sheep following a shepherd.”

The experience of marching alongside loose cows and steers fascinates first-timers, especially youngsters.

Robin Duerner and her husband, Bill, brought their four children, ranging in ages from 5 to 12. The Brazil residents met the Yegerlehners through the International House of Prayer in Terre Haute, and Alan invited them on the cattle drive.

“We thought it would be a fun thing for the kids to do,” Robin, 39, said during the hayride to the starting point. “I grew up on a farm, and they didn’t.” Her family’s farm, though, didn’t require a cattle drive, so this month’s event was her first.

“The fact that it’s a human cattle drive, and not [using] horses, that sounded interesting,” Robin added.

Actually, for the first time since the Yegerlehners began the cattle drives around 2000, three cowboys participated on horseback. Those riders from Clay City — Troy Schmitt, 16; Jasper Mount, 13; and Pierre Schmitt, 11 — followed the processional, watching for strays bolting the herd. “They are our roundup crew,” Kate said.

All three were on their first cattle drive. “I’m just waiting to see what happens, not really sure what to expect,” Troy Schmitt said, resting his elbows on the saddlehorn.

No dramatic incidents occurred during the one-hour drive. Five antsy cattle bolted from the pack, climbed under the volunteers’ rope, and roamed free, briefly. Within minutes, the animals wandered back into the parade. “Cows have a herding instinct,” Alan said. “They don’t like to be by themselves.”

Kate added, “I think patience is the key.”

As the herd cleared the final hill and the larger farmstead pasture came into sight, the cattle began mooing. One by one, they followed Kate, Alan and the lead wagon into the grass-covered range. “Whew,” Kate said, adjusting her ballcap, “made it.”

Afterward, the Yegerlehners treated their volunteer cowhands to homemade knackwurst sandwiches, chili, cheese cubes and ice cream inside their farmstead shop. A sign on the wall reads, “Please help me not to be so busy making a living that I forget to make a life.”

The cattle drive combines the family’s emphasis on “the localness of food,” as Alan put it, their religious faith, and a sense of community. Their friends and neighbors learn and bond.

As the volunteers ate, Alan pulled off his work gloves and explained the farm’s concept. “Rather than just being a job,” he said, “it’s a way of life.”

Finding the farm

• The Yegerlehner/Jegerlehner Swiss Connection Farmstead Cheese shop and farm are northeast of Clay City. From Terre Haute, take Indiana 46 to Indiana 59, and turn south; travel 51/2 miles to County Road 550 South and turn left; go another 11/2 miles, and the farm is on the left.

• The springtime shop hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; and closed Sundays.

Mother’s march

• Most of the 80 to 90 cows on the Yegerlehners’ spring cattle drives are pregnant. The Yegerlehners don’t try to have year-round milk production, and instead allow their cows a “dry, resting period” over the three to four winter months. In late summer, joined by 25 to 30 steers, the cows conceive. Usually, they give birth a few weeks after the March cattle drive. “We’re trying to utilize all the natural laws our Creator gave us and try to maximize those, rather than to fight them,” said Alan Yegerlehner.