Adventures in Cowboying

It seems that every day is eventful with calving in full swing and field work beginning.  One day we found two live calves, one dead and partially eaten by coyotes, and two cows that had calved.  The cows were confused, the calves were confused, and we were confused.  Did one cow lose her calf and claim a twin of the others?  Did one cow have twins and one lived and one didn't?  Since they can't tell us, I guess we will never know.  We got the four of them into the corral to try to sort it out and get them tagged.  One cow and calf seemed to be more bonded so we separated them from the more confused calf and left the confused one and it's "mother" in a pen alone.  All seems to be well now but we'll keep them separated for awhile to avoid more confusion.

We had a cow whose calf was born with the sac over it's nose, and we didn't find it in time to save it; however, even though it was about normal size there were some deformities that made us think it may have been a bit premature.  She was desperate for a calf so we had a friend who works at the sales barn in Glasgow purchase one for us--a big boy!  They seemed to bond fairly well, but we noticed that she was kicking at it when he tried to nurse so into the maternity pen she went so he could nurse her.  It only took one time of that and they seem to be getting along well now.  When he wasn't having luck with a teat he started sucking on her ear as she was eating.  He wasn't giving up!

We have four pairs out roaming.  They are older cows that we don't want to move too far to pasture.  Yesterday morning as we went to do chores we noticed there were more than four cows out and about.  Oops, someone inadvertently left a gate open the night before.  Not naming names, but I believe M was the last one through it.  So, we had to round them all up and get them back in and then sort the old ones back out.  The sorting back out wasn't a problem--those old cows are pretty smart.

When we finished with that we checked the heifers and found a tiny calf, estimated at about 37 pounds.  She's fully formed and alive so we're doing our best to save her.  We gave her a bottle of colostrum right away.  Then in the evening we got the cow in to try to milk her.  She didn't like that very well.  There was a lot of kicking and cursing (kicking from the cow, cursing from M) until M tied up her hind leg.  She didn't like that too well either.  I fed the baby with it, but we're not sure we want to go through that every day.  For starters, M doesn't have the time.  She is standing and walking a little bit, but we don't think she's tried to nurse the cow.  M says I should name her because I may be spending a lot of time with her, bottle feeding her two to three times a day.  I'm thinking Tink--short for Tinkerbell.  I'll have to ask R since it belongs to him.

M and Tink--she looks more like a puppy!

I had to run some sandwiches to J and Jared who were seeding and stopped on my way back to see how the baby was and check on the heifers.  As I walked through the pen I didn't find 011 who we thought was close to calving so I looked in the back shed and there she was, obviously laboring, with feet out.  I locked her in and called M who was cleaning grain to take to J.  He was almost done with that so came up and we got her in and pulled the calf which was probably 85 pounds.  It's probably a good thing that it didn't take any longer for him to get there.  I told R he is lucky he has such good help to take care of his cows!

This morning was pretty uneventful on the cow front.  Only two calves to tag and turn out, but we had a lot of running around to do to make sure J had seed and fuel and C had fuel and water to spray.  Poor M is getting run ragged, and it's only just begun.  Last year that was R.  He's a lot younger and even he was exhausted!

He Calls Me "The Cow Whisperer"

The other day about dark M was trying to put a bale in the feeder for our heifer calves.  Before he could get out the tractor to close the gate about seven of them ran out into the pasture.  We haven't had time to check the fence for winter damage so didn't really want them in there yet.  He wasn't having any success trying to get them back in by himself so he left them until I could help him in the morning.  So, after our other chores were done we headed down to get them back in the pen.  I circled around them to open the gate while M went to get some buckets of feed.  They really like their feed so we thought we could lure them in.  They were stuck in a corner, however, and while M was trying to push them toward the gate they started to head off in the wrong direction.  He was getting fired up, out of patience, prepared to chase them all over the pasture to get them in while I just calmly rattled the buckets at them and said "come on, girls".  Pretty soon one noticed me and headed my way and I led them all back through the gate into the pen.  So now M calls me "the cow whisperer". I'm constantly trying to explain to M the value of being calm and patient.  Anyone who knew me 25 years ago wouldn't think I would be the calm and patient one.

Another good example of a day that could have been a real wreck and wasn't happened a few years ago.  We were hauling cow-calf pairs to pasture near my brother's house south of Opheim.  Before we took our last load, M mentioned that the transmission on the pickup was acting kind of funny.  First clue that it wasn't going to be a good day.  I suggested we hook the trailer to a different pickup.  No, that would take time, and if he ignores a problem it will go away.  Okay, so off we go.  We get to the road to my brother's and the transmission is acting more funny.  We limp the pickup through the yard and it quits just when the back of the trailer was barely through the gate.  We had the calves penned in the front of the trailer and the cows in the back.  We let the cows out and they were happy to head into the pasture.  As we start to let the calves out my brother's dog comes out and spooks them and they take off out the gate and head north.  So, we have no vehicle to drive to try to head them off, M is hollering that you can't herd calves, and oh yeah, did I mention it is starting to rain?  What are you going to do, let them run all the way to Opheim or God knows where and never find them?

By then neither of us are happy campers.  No one is home at my brother's house and the only vehicle in his yard is an old Chevy Citation so I jump in it and take off zig-zagging through the muddy fields and herd those calves right back to the pasture while M is still hollering "you can't herd calves".  That's BS, I just did it!   And then, we had to call his mom to come get us.

I have to bring that story up once in awhile when he says something isn't going to work.  It's funny now. 

Calves, calves, calves.....

It's been a busy couple of weeks with calving and getting into the field.  Then I threw a wrench in things and went for back surgery so was gone for 3 days and now am a little limited in what I can do.  I feel so much better, though!

In the days before I had to go for surgery, we had lots of calves and pairs to move and another calf we had to pull the night before I left.  I think M was feeling his age after tagging 9 calves on his birthday.  He has a tendency to get a little stressed and cranky.  I was seriously more worried about leaving him alone than I was about surgery.  I kept telling him to keep a cool head, that it didn't do anyone any good to get fired up, and to call someone if he needed help.  I was pretty sure he wouldn't call for help but had hope that he could remain calm.  He survived with no problems and did say that he heard my voice in his head a few times. 

The day after I got home I was on the 4-wheeler checking cows--pretty sure my doctor would not have thought that was a good idea.  My sister didn't either, but I assured her that I was slow and careful.  The hardest part is that I'm not supposed to bend over.  I've gotten good at flipping things up with my foot and grabbing them.  It really pays to have long arms!

We had a little blast of winter over the weekend.  On Good Friday we had rain, sleet, snow, wind...and thunder!  We were busy trying to make sure everything had some sort of shelter and that the cows with calves in the pasture didn't take off away from the wind.....and into the neighbor's pasture.  I was finally so tired and cold that I made M take me home.  R was on his way home so I told him he needed to get here and help his dad.  That night he checked the cows at 11 and M was up at 3 am for another check.  He had had to put one in the warmer just before dark so was a little concerned about how the night would go.  Thankfully, there was nothing born during the night, just one early in the morning that we put in the barn to warm up and dry off.  The storm didn't amount to as much as predicted so we were lucky there.  We were thankful to have some moisture even though now we will have to wade through slop for a couple of days.

Sadly, R goes back to South Dakota tomorrow.  We never have enough time with him.  I don't think he's crazy about getting put to work every time he comes home, but M doesn't want him to be bored!  I was thankful he was here as backup at least for a few days.