Looking Back....and Ahead

This year has really flown by.....Sawyer is well on her way to being two years old (and should still be a baby), Kade's first school year is nearly half over, and before we know it it will be spring again!

2014 was good for us...and to us.  Farming is always stressful, but we came out relatively unscathed.  No major disasters, no injuries, the guys didn't maim or kill each other, and we had some fun.  Commodity prices are up and down, but we're used to that...or should be.  It's all good!

The highlights were the fun trips we took...to Daytona and especially the summer trip to Idaho and my nephew's wedding party....and the time spent with the littles.  Sawyer is just a joy, so smart and fun, and Kade is a special bonus.  Love that kid and swear that he could really be R's, there are so many similar traits.  We're thankful that the boys have good partners in their lives.

My goals for the new year are pretty much the same as always...be a good person, be more organized and ditch the clutter, get in better shape, lose weight, spend more time with family and friends, make more time for fun and keep M from working too hard, etc., etc.  I have everything I need and pretty much everything I want.  My only wish for 2015 is that we all stay healthy and safe and the world gets a little less crazy!

Wishing all of you a great 2015!  Bring it on!

The Holidays

Once again I've been slacking on my blogging.  My mom lets me know, so I need to do better! With the holidays pretty much behind us, I think I should have more time.

Since I last blogged we've had more cow stuff to do.  We brought our heifers home and ran them through to vaccinate and pour them.  It didn't get done when they were preg tested because the vet didn't bring the stuff with him.  He thinks we need to go to spring shots,, so I guess he was trying to encourage that.  Just made more work for us because we don't want to do spring shots.  Now that M and R have figured out a good spot to make the portable tub work, it's a lot easier to work cows and just the three of us handled that chore.  We are feeding a pen of heifer calves, and R and M recently separated out some that we won't be keeping.  They still need to make another cut to pare down the numbers.  We've had the cows still out grazing with a little supplementation to keep them happy, especially when it was super cold.  We were anticipating another change in the weather with cold and wind  so R and his girlfriend moved them home so they'd have access to the windbreaks, and they'll start feeding in earnest.  I haven't had to help much, but R and J are going on a snowmobile trip over the weekend which means I'll have to go help M for a few days.  The neighbor's fencer is leaving for a couple of months so we'll have to feed the neighbor's cows until he decides to haul them back home.  They didn't have a great hay harvest over there so wants to keep them here as long as he can.

We also got J and K moved into their new (to them) house just before Thanksgiving.  They traded houses with K's parents (who owned them both) and will be buying the house from them.  K and her mom had been moving slowly for about a month so the crews assembled on "moving day" just had to move furniture, and it went pretty smoothly and didn't take too long.  There are several lots so J has room to park his truck off the street if he needs to and hopes to build a shop someday.  They've now got a garage so I'm thinking K will be working on more projects.  They have some updating that they want to do as time and $$ permit.  First thing to do is have the stairway moved and that is slated to happen in January.  We're wondering if the bigger house will bring a bigger family!?!?  We had a potluck Thanskgiving at the new house with M frying the turkey which he hadn't done in awhile.  It was cooked to perfection!

Our holidays were much more quiet than normal since M's sister and family didn't make it here this year, and C's family had their own thing going.  We only had 8 for Christmas dinner and could all fit at one table.  I'm not sure that has ever happened before.  If memory serves, this is only the second time in 27 years that we haven't had Christmas with M's sister, either here or a few times at her house.  K decided she wanted to have Christmas Eve at her house and then later panicked that L would be offended that she just took it over.  I assured her that she was not going to be upset at all especially since our chef was still in South Dakota.  She had a  houseful with her family and ours, and it was a lot of fun.  Sawyer was kind of over opening gifts before too long....especially after the Elsa doll appeared.

M planned a great gift for Kade.  He had been wanting to get him a snowmobile, but decided he was too big for a 120 and not quite ready for something bigger and couldn't find what he wanted.  Finally, he decided to get him a 4-wheeler so we made a quick trip to Miles City to look for one.  I said it would be a good Santa gift, but M said, "no, it's from me".  The deal is that when he grows out of it we'll get him something else and Sawyer can have this one.  It was definitely a hit, but I don't know how we'll top it next year!  Could get expensive.

Their expressions are priceless, the little diva and the cheeseball.

Cow Stuff

We shipped our cows last weekend, and it was a frantic week up to that point.  The new water line was put in, old waterer pulled out, fence taken out to dig the water line and then put back after that was done.  There was a broken pole in a windbreak so that had be replaced so that the windbreak didn't fall over.  In the midst of all that, J and R put in three cattle guards and M hauled several loads of calves for neighbors.  We, thankfully, had good weather for most of that activity.

We rounded up on Saturday and then helped our neighbors round up their cows.  We sell our calves together, and he has a portable scale so the buyer comes right to the ranch.  It is so much less stressful than having to haul the calves to a scale somewhere.  We do have to haul to their ranch, but it's just a couple of miles cross country.

Sunday morning we were at it at daybreak, getting the cows and calves into the corral and sorting the calves from the cows and then sorting out the steers from the heifers.  We have only sold the steers so far so we're feeding 100+ head of heifers at the moment.  Some of those will go to market later and some will be kept for replacements.  We had lots of good help so it went pretty smoothly.  J and Jared were on trailer duty hauling the steers to the neighbor's while the other guys got another load ready to go.

As soon as we got settled up with the buyer and the trucks loaded with calves we headed back to our barn to pregnancy test our cows.  I was impressed with the vet getting right after it and getting it done.  All I had to do was keep records and sometimes I could hardly keep up.  Sometimes he likes to talk so our neighbor told his wife not to talk to him so he wouldn't get distracted.  We finished just before dark and then came to our house where a great meal awaited us.  It's nice to have your own personal caterer for a sister-in-law.

The next day we preg tested at our neighbors.  It was a cold and miserable day and I asked myself more than once why I was not at my job--indoors!  I had taken the day off and gotten my boss' wife to work for me.  I joked with her that if the weather was crappy she was supposed to call me and say she had an emergency and needed me to come to work.  She didn't call.  M and his friend, Roger, were brining the cows to the tub, R was loading the tub, and the neighbor's wife, Holly, and I were up on the tub getting the cows down the alley to the chute.  M admitted that he was actually feeling sorry for Holly and I out in the elements.  I told him that I couldn't feel my feet after the first half hour so after that it just didn't matter.  We finished about 3 and then had a nice stew lunch.

This weekend we moved our heifers closer to home.  It's the second time we had to get them out of the same pasture.  It wasn't easy the first time, and it wasn't any easier the second time.  The pasture has a couple of boggy coulees without good crossings, and of course, they were as far away from the gate as they could possibly be, and we had to get them across both coulees.  We found one limpy one, and she made it clear that she wasn't going anywhere so we left her behind.  After much cursing, we finally got them out and from there they moved easily, but slowly.  We drove around on Sunday trying to find the limpy one but couldn't get everywhere with the pickup so didn't find her.  M went out yesterday on the 4-wheeler and found her and got her moved out with the other cows.  She had worked her way in that direction.

You can lead a cow to water.....
 

Something spooked the heifer calves in the corral one night and one got her leg injured.  R called in the morning and said one "had a cut on her leg".  More like tore the skin halfway off her leg so we've been cleaning that and dressing it every few days.  So far she's doing well, and she's an excellent patient.  She'll be stylish, too, getting a new color of vet wrap every three days.

J has been hauling gravel and doing some road work.  C has been helping with the cattle hauling and R was on vacation for the weekend.  We had Kobe for the weekend and thought it was going really well until he and Junior disappeared for a bit on Sunday afternoon and Kobe came home with some new body jewelry--porcupine quills.  Hope he learns one of these days.

We're making progress on our fall paperwork thanks in part to some gale force winds with cold temps that have kept us indoors.  We're still hoping for more good weather because we still have lots of projects to work on.  First up, pouring cement and setting the new waterer in place.  After that, it's all gravy.

The Harvest That Wouldn't End....

....is now over....for us at least.  There are still quite a few people that are still plugging away at it.  There should be a huge sense of relief, but there isn't because a) everyone's to-do list is a mile long, b) a lot of the grain we harvested is right now worth next to nothing and c) J and K moved out of their "summer house" and back to Scobey (that makes me sad because I liked having that grandbaby closer).

My little John Deere girl

We had two weeks of good harvesting weather and the guys put in some long hours...enough that I was a bit worried about them and their lack of sleep.  We rented another combine so we had three going for awhile until the last rain delay and then we sent one back.  That one we had to pay for by the day whether we used it or not so it didn't make much sense to have it sitting for a week when we were close to done.  The other one we just pay by the hours used.  We needed about 2 more hours before the last rain delay to finish here at home, but we weren't that lucky.  Then we sat for a week with frost and fog and just damp conditions.  M did feel as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders when all the wheat close to home was cut so he didn't have to look at it standing there every day.

J had a couple of issues with his combine.  One of the inside tires on the front of the combine came loose.  Luckily, he felt that something was wrong while we were in the process of moving and stopped before it fell off and caused a really big problem.  The John Deere mechanics were there quickly, but it still took a few hours to get it fixed.  Then he had a shaft break in the spreader.  He was able to continue without it, and it still isn't fixed.  He was just hoping the pulleys didn't start a fire.

There are a lot of quality issues with the grain harvested late and with lots of rain on it.  The rain causes bleaching of the kernels and the kernels are not as hard as they are when harvested at a hot and dry time.  Of course, the elevators and grain companies seem to seize on any opportunity to discount the worth.  This was also not a year to raise wheat with high protein since we didn't have a hot and dry summer.  We tend to get more bushels and less protein in a good year.  Right now the protein scales are worse than I have ever seen them.  The price of wheat is low anyway, but if you don't have 14 protein you almost have to pay them to take it.  We heard a rumor of someone selling for 95 cents a bushel.  We have a 50,000 bushel pile of wheat on the ground right now that we have to find a place for--and we're pretty sure it won't be going to an elevator any time soon!  And, all of our bins are full.  Sometimes it makes you wonder why you're working so hard and spending the money to get the crop harvested when it's worth so little.  Hopefully, the market will settle down in a few months and make sense again.

The highlight of harvest was that M's dad came out three different days and rode the combine.  He hasn't been to the farm in probably three years and a few weeks ago wouldn't get out of bed so it was a big deal that he was feeling well enough to come out.  We were all pretty excited.  He took turns riding with J, C and M.  When he headed home the first day he said he would be back the next day.  We all thought he'd be tired and sore and would change his mind, but he showed up around 11 and stayed until the rain shut us down at 5.  He had a lot of catching up to do!

 

 

 

I love this three generation photo
 

We've been busy with a variety of things this week.  Friday morning we trailed some cows and calves up to the neighbor's.  Then on Saturday morning we rounded up the rest and brought them there, too, so we could vaccinate the calves since we ship in a couple of weeks.

J and C have been spraying to get some problem spots cleaned up.  M and R have been hauling the last of the hay bales, and M cut some late oats.  He was hoping it would make grain because he didn't want more bales to haul, but the frost took its toll so he swathed it and will bale it.

The next high priority is getting the corral water project completed since we'll have cows and calves there in less than two weeks.  We had a line break about the time we got all the cows moved out this spring and it was too wet to dig it up and fix it then.  They plan to modify the system now.  M has been pondering it all summer and now with input from C, J and R they've come up with a plan.  We also have cattle guards to dig in at R's and gravel to haul into his yard.  I finished clipping the wires for the last stretch of fence around the hay yard.  After 285 clips (and 57 squats) I was wishing R had made it just a LITTLE bigger--ha!  I also painted the barn doors.  We had some guys repaint the metal barn and they painted right over the white doors so everything is silver.  R's girlfriend and I thought it looked stupid so I finally had time and a nice day to paint; however, the paint was crappy and it took a gallon to do two doors and I'm not happy with the result.  I'll try again in the spring unless we have a string of nice weather still this fall.

I'd like to get my patio project done (or started).  I told M we had to get it done before haying.  Didn't happen.  Then I said he couldn't go on vacation until we got it done.  Didn't happen....I caved since I wanted to go on vacation, too.  Now he's so busy that I hate to ask for his help and may just have to do it myself.

Hopefully, the decent weather continues so we can get a handle on all of our projects before the snow flies. 

Harvest Continues.......Sort of

It has rained two more times since my last post, but we got a few good days in.  They switched back to wheat so were able to go late into the night for a couple of nights.  Our nephew and his friend are here this week so the guys decided to cut the place that is difficult to haul out of where the trucks have trouble keeping up since we had the extra help.  That was a good plan!  M and J figure they had a record day cutting 20,000 bushels of wheat in a day.  M thinks it is the best crop he's ever cut with his average never going under 55 bushels to the acre all day.  M's sister is here, too, and spent a day in the combine.  She picked a good day to do that.  Too bad the wheat is bleached to some degree and the elevators are severely discounting the price.  Every rain affects the quality....and the general mood and morale of our crew.

We didn't want our visitors to get bored so we enlisted their help for a couple of projects.  M bought a small Quonset-type storage building from a guy in Richland who was moving but has been pondering for a year how to get it moved here.  They lifted it up and got it on a trailer and hauled it here and set it on railroad ties.  M says there was a lot of luck involved in the process, but it's here now.  It may be the home for the Jeep for the winter.

Yesterday we preg checked our heifers.  We found out on Tuesday that the vet was going to be in the area, but M was afraid to commit at that time in case we could get back to harvest.  There was really no drying on Wednesday and it was still muddy and cloudy yesterday morning so he called the vet right away to see if he could still do it in the afternoon.  Then we scrambled to get ready.  We had to round up the heifers which was a bit of an adventure.  The pasture they were in is a bugger to gather from with bogs and coulees and trees to hide in.  First thing, we had cross a bog on foot to chase some out.  Hard to stay on the bumps, and I got wet feet right away.  Felt lucky that I didn't break an ankle!  Then they circled and hid in some trees and some were in another bog.  To make a long story short, it took a lot longer than it really should have.  Then once we got them out of the pasture we had to make a few jogs to try to keep them out of the wheat that hasn't been cut yet.  That went pretty smoothly but took some time.  K made us a great lunch and delivered it to the barn.  Sawyer was happy to see the dogs and the cows, and we were happy to see her.

We had a hard frost overnight.  I had covered my cukes, but they still don't look too good.  The frost shouldn't bother the crops too much except for some late oats.  We'll probably end up haying them, and no one is looking forward to hauling those bales home.  M and R spent most of the day hauling the hailed out wheat bales and discovered that the fields are pretty soft, and just not drying out very fast.  We had some sun and wind today, but we could really use some sustained heat.  Too bad they can't send us some of that record heat they're having in California.

We keep plugging along, but this harvest is just unbelievable.  We haven't cut an acre in the past four days, and we need to get back to it soon.

Harvest Update

And now for a quick harvest update.  Harvest to-date can be summed up in one word--frustrating!  August is supposed to be hot, dry and dusty, but that was not the case this year.  We had 3.5" of rain in August--not normal.

The boys had most of the peas done by the time we got home from our vacation.  The lentils weren't quite ready so M and R swathed some of the hailed-out wheat--ours and the neighbors.  Then they baled the neighbors but combined ours.  No one was a fan of that, but it got done.  They had put off desiccating lentils because a big storm was in the forecast.  Thankfully, we only got 2 inches (only!) as places not too far south had 5 to 9 inches.  I can't even imagine that.  But then, just as things would dry out, we'd cut a few hours and get rained on again.  The lentils close to home are all cut except for the hailed ones.  M made a pass through those and decided they weren't worth wasting our time on at the moment.  We had a 360 acre piece that they finished cutting wheat on last night.  If they had a really good day they could get it done in a day--they were there for three days because of rain showers.  The days are kind of short because it's so dewy in the morning and gets so cool and damp once the sun starts to go down.

On the bright side, we haven't had rain for two days now, and they've gotten some good days in.  There were showers in the area yesterday, and we didn't get wet.  And, they were cutting on some of our poorer ground and the yield was really good, into the 40+ bushel/acre range.  The trucks were sure on the move by my house yesterday.

We're making progress, but we've sure got a long way to go..........ugh!

Wedding/Family Reunion

I was home for three days after our vacation and then took off again to my brother's ranch in southwest Montana for my nephew's wedding.  All my siblings were there, and it was the first time we had all been together since my dad died in 2004.  Harvest be damned, there was NO WAY I was going to miss it!

Every time I go there I wonder to myself why I don't go more often.  I love my brother and his wife, and I love their ranch.  There's such a peacefulness there.  I'm a bit envious of my other brothers and nephews who have been able to spend more time there.

One of my sisters had an appointment with a guy from the Montana State University Alumni Foundation to take a tour of the campus so I tagged along.  I really hadn't spent any time at the campus since I graduated from there so I was excited to go.  First we wandered around downtown Bozeman (and didn't see one strange person, unlike Missoula!) and then had lunch at the famous Pickle Barrel.  Love their sandwiches!  Then we met nice Joe from the alumni foundation and took our tour.  There has been so much building and renovating since I was there.  The big field between the dorms is now filled with buildings--weird.  Funny, though, the Microbiology building that I spent a lot of time in has not changed one iota--even smells the same.  We went through the girls' dorm that my sister and I both lived in and found our old rooms.  The dorm has been redone, too, and is really nice.  It always was the nicest dorm on campus.  We enjoyed the tour so much and wish we could go back to college.  Being college-age would be okay, too.

The next day we got into full wedding prep mode.  The tents were up, lights strung, tables set up, cupcakes decorated, wedding mints made, cow pies flung (the wedding was in a pasture).  Many hands made light work.  The bride made us drawings of how the tables were to be decorated so we could do that the morning of the wedding.  I was afraid she'd be walking down the aisle and thinking "who put that there?  That's not right!, but she was confident that we would handle it just fine.

It was really a beautiful evening for a wedding although the wind had to blow just enough to mess up the tablecloths a bit.  The flower girls were adorable, the guys were handsome, the bride was glowing.......and the groom arrived on his Harley.  Probably the only time I'll ever see that in my life.  His grandpa would have been proud.

There was oodles of great food and drink and a ton of family to dance and celebrate.  I was so happy for the bride because she's wanted this for a long time.  We love her and are very sure she'll make a great Redfield girl.

It was so wonderful to be with all my siblings again.  It's been way too long since I've seen a couple of my sisters, and they're all so fun.  They need to live closer to home--hint, hint!!  I'm sure it was great for my mom to have us all in one place for a change, and she found a new cowboy friend!

I was so sad when I had to say goodbye and head home.  Hopefully, we'll have another happy occasion to get together for soon.

Bride, groom and grandma--the best photo of the day!

My mom and siblings

Mom and some of her grandkids

Vacay!

M and I took off on a much-needed vacation on August 2 and headed west.  He had been telling me to figure out where we were going to go and what we were going to do, but I didn't think we'd actually get to go.  He's always wanted to see Tom Petty in concert so one day I thought I'd go online and see if he was touring and if he'd be anywhere close to us.  As luck would have it, he was starting a new tour and was going to be in Boise, ID on August 5.  M thought that was doable and a few days later discovered that ZZ Top was going to be in Missoula on August 8.  We got tickets for both of those concerts and started planning the rest of the trip.  I was very excited to go to places I had never been before!

We didn't have a plan for the first night.  M thought it would be nice to stay in Lincoln, but as we drove through all we saw were "No Vacancy" signs.  My guess was there was a wedding or family reunion going on.  No problem, it was early, we'd head to Missoula.  I had never been to Missoula before and M had only been through once or twice so we didn't really know our way around.  We were trying to stay close to the highway we would head out to Idaho on but there was road construction and a detour and we got kind of lost.  When we finally stopped at a motel there were no rooms, and the clerk was sending people to the Days Inn in Lolo so we headed there.  We got the "last room" for $200.  Guess a person can't be spontaneous these days.

From there we headed to McCall, ID.  J had raced there, but I didn't go on that trip and M wanted to see it in the summer.  The scenery through Idaho was beautiful with mountains, trees and rivers.  We stopped in Riggins to get a sandwich and listen to the end of the NASCAR race on the radio.  Dale, Jr. won in Pocono.  What a great day!  As we were sitting in the car listening to the race we were looking across the street at a couple of rafting companies and decided a float down the river would be fun so we ran over as soon as the race was done.  The last float had left about an hour earlier, but the guy said he'd run us down the road to catch the raft since there were only two guests aboard and give us a break on the fee.  Awesome!  It was a pretty calm ride, and I felt bad for the guide who had to paddle his butt off against the wind.  It was a great day to be on the river, tho, and we enjoyed it a lot.

From there we went on to McCall and stayed at the Hotel McCall on Lake Payette.  McCall is not a very big town, but there's a lot of money there.  They have a huge ice arena in the middle of town.  We also think it's the ice cream capital of Idaho since every time we walked down the street someone was eating ice cream.  We finally had to indulge.  We had a stay-and-play package at the hotel which included 18 holes of golf at Jug Mountain Ranch.  It was beautiful but a little challenging for our golf skills.  M was in the sand traps so much he was looking for flip-flops and a Corona!  Still better than a day of work!

Our breakfast view of Lake Payette

The golf course that kicked our butts!

Our next stop was Boise.  We arrived around lunchtime, too early to check into our motel, so walked to have lunch and then walked to the campus of Boise State University.  We found a walking/bike path and followed that along the river.  There were lots of floaters on the river, and we discovered later that you can rent tubes or rafts at a park on one end and float six miles down the river to another park and there's a shuttle that will take you back.  We were disappointed that we didn't know that earlier and didn't have time to take advantage.  We also discovered that the path went right back to our motel.  We checked in, ordered a pizza, freshened up and headed to the Tom Petty concert.....which was awesome!

First up was Steve Winwood.  He had four others in his band and two of them were drummers.  I spent most of my time watching the saxophonist.  He played several different saxophones, sometimes two at a time, sang backup vocals and played keyboard and some percussion instruments from time to time.  He was amazing.

Steve Winwood band--did I mention we had awesome seats?!

M was really pumped for Tom Petty, has been a fan for years, and he did not disappoint.  It was pretty cool to hear a stadium full of people singing "Free Falling".  We really enjoyed it.  It was a beautiful night and we walked back to our motel along the river path.  At one point we were offered "a toke before bed".  A first for me, but we declined.

Tom Petty

The next day took us to Ketchum.  I found it ironic that the only day we had any rainy/cloudy weather was the day we went to Sun Valley.  What I will remember most about Ketchum is the smell.  I'd walk out of the motel and stop and breathe deeply and soak in the smell of the pine trees.  Our motel was on the edge of town across the street from a ski hill.  We walked over to ride the gondola and the man there told us that it had shut down early so they could get ready for the concert that night.  I asked what concert and he told us Chris Isaak.  There were still tickets available so I got online and bought some.  We went to a movie and then grabbed blankets to sit on and two-day old pizza to eat and went back for the concert.  I was more excited about this than M, but he had to admit that it was very entertaining and fun....and I had the best margaritas of the whole trip there!  We felt a bit out of place since there's a lot of money in that town, also, and some of the people around us had quite the elaborate meals for their picnics.  I wanted to see the Sun Valley Resort before we left but that didn't happen.

Chris Isaak

From there we made the drive back to Missoula following the Salmon River and over Lost Trail Pass.  We had planned to stop in Hamilton to see an old college friend, but she had an appointment in Missoula so we met her there instead.  I hadn't seen her in 30 years, and it was good to catch up......except that her life in the past few years has not been rosy.  She's been battling cancer, only recently in remission, and has been through a divorce and has been having problems with her son.  She's still smiling and not letting it get her down.  I hope things get better for her.

This was my first time in Missoula.  I have never had any desire to go there and am a bit biased since I lived in Bozeman and went to MSU, but I really wasn't that impressed.  The downtown area was not what I thought it would be, and there were a lot of really strange people there, young transients.  We ate at a great restaurant (recommended by several people), and enjoyed the river walk there also.

We went Jeep shopping while there.  M had seen a Jeep on Craig's List that he wanted to check out so we looked at a couple of others to compare and then test drove that one and ended up buying it.  M has been looking to upgrade ever since we got our first one, but this one seems too nice to be a cow checking rig like the old one.

That took up most of our day and then it was time for the ZZ Top concert.  I have to admit that I was not as excited for this concert.  M made a new friend while standing in line to get in.  He had a 20-acre ranch near Ronan so was very interested in our 20,000-acre farm/ranch.  He and his wife were very friendly, and it was fun to hang out with them.  We got rained on a couple of times--while in the line waiting to get in and during intermission.  First up was Jeff Beck, a rock guitarist.  I told M that I am probably the only person in the world that wanted to fall asleep while listening to Jeff Beck.  He was good, but after two songs I was over it.  ZZ Top was better, but they didn't play that long.  Maybe I was just worn out from vacationing.

Everything went well until the last morning.  I was crabby anyway and then I got charged for the room that I had already paid for.  They charged us for our breakfast the day before for which we had a coupon.  Our breakfast was slow and not very good.  Guess it was time to go home.  When I texted my sister that we had bought a Jeep she asked if we were tired of travelling together and had to buy another vehicle.  I said that wasn't the case, but it may have been good that we were in separate vehicles on the way home the way the day started out.

All in all we really had a wonderful time and got some rest and relaxation....and the boys were home harvesting peas!  Win-win!  So, after 2 states, 8 days, 1900 miles, 5 motels, and 3 concerts we're still smiling at each other :)





Simpler Times

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've blogged.  The guys have just been busy haying--swathing, baling and hauling bales.  R cut for a couple of other people and M baled for a neighbor.  R finally got sick of the swather and went to hauling bales, but I swear M would make bales forever if he could.  I've been telling him that he's not using his time wisely, doing someone else's work when he has so much of his own to do.  He said "that's what got us here", and he's right, but it may be time to concentrate on our own stuff.  He just can't seem to pass up a money-making opportunity.

That brings me to the subject of my post--Simpler Times.  I've been feeling bad for my boys lately (actually for awhile).  Times have changed so much since M and I started out.  We were still farming and ranching but on a much smaller scale.  We had to contend with the same challenges like hail storms and drought and fire, but the costs were not as great and there was less government involvement.  It just seems that now nothing is simple, and we never have enough time.

I think back to when we were first married and M and C played on a softball team with games two nights a week and tournaments in various towns on the weekends.  The relatives used to come over for Sunday dinners and horseshoes.  Now, I can count the days M has taken off for fun in the past four months on one hand--two!  And still we can't get done everything we want to or need to.

The boys seem to have inherited their dad's work gene.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, but they are young and have young families, and they miss out on so much "life" when all they do is work.  We were afraid J's baby wouldn't know him for the first month of her life because she was born during seeding (what were they thinking?).  R's girlfriend doesn't like to be alone, and R, who used to be so social, hasn't been out on a weekend in ages.  It makes me scared and sad for her.  I've been there and done that, and I want more for them.  I remember saying I didn't get married so I could spend all my time alone.  I wasn't alone once I had children, but then I felt like a single parent.  I also remember M telling me what I call the "big lie".  That farming is so great because you can take off when you want.  Except during calving, seeding, spraying, haying, harvest or fall cattle work.  That leaves January and February.  Even he admitted today when he was fearing another hail storm and the neighbor had bales on fire from lightning that we have a lot of bonuses, but we really have to work for them.  Hopefully, our boys won't have to struggle financially like we did at times, and they don't have to live in old trailer houses and run old equipment, but looking back, those times weren't all that bad, actually not bad at all. 

I wonder if it's a sign of old age that I'm feeling nostalgic.  M is feeling his age and desperate for some time off so we're leaving for week.........and no, it's not a good time to be gone.

Wind and Water

Wind and water have both been giving us fits lately.  Last week we had 2.5" of rain which caused some flooding.  On the way to check our cows near Richland we noticed where the water had gone over the road in a couple of spots.  We had to do some off-roading with the Jeep to get to the river crossing and make sure the fence was still up.  Not like the cows were going to swim there to test it.  We did have a few that were stranded on the wrong side of the water.  They made it back across in the next couple of days.

R was checking things closer to home and placed a panel where the water was running through the bog.  We had quite the little creek running through.  The dogs had great fun.

R and Jared and I had moved our cows early last week in anticipation of our neighbor moving his.  When we did that I found a hurt bull that we had to leave behind.  He was bedded down close to water and wasn't going anywhere very fast.  The move went very smoothly other than that. (M and J were making a command performance in Glasgow with the sheriff and county commissioners--an interesting story.)

We had moved the cows to our pasture with the solar pump.  R had been going up every day, sometimes twice a day, to make sure the pump was keeping up and the tank was always about half full.  Last Sunday M wanted to go up since he hadn't been there since we had moved them.  We drove up to the tank and it was empty.  Not good!  With the cloudy days the pump was just not keeping up.  Our neighbor was on his way to move his cows so we went to help him and then came back and pushed ours to the pasture to the south where there is natural water.  Seems like we always have trouble there on Opheim rodeo Sunday!  We were late again.

The guys have been trying hard to finish spraying but with the rain and gale force winds it has been a challenge.  We have made some time for fun, though.  Last weekend was the Peerless Centennial celebration and M's sister came home.  He enjoyed visiting with old friends.  We spent the 4th in Scobey with family golfing and grilling.  Yesterday my mom and I spent the afternoon at the neighbor's celebrating 100 years of their family's homestead and remembering the family members no longer with them.  Our family and theirs are the only ones in the neighborhood still on their homesteads.  It's always good to reconnect with old friends and neighbors.

 

 



 





 

 

Bathroom Project

How many rainy days does it take to finish a bathroom makeover?  Ah, who's counting, it's done now.  We've been calling it the "bathroom project from hell".

Here's the "before" picture minus the towel bar that we'd already taken down.

Before--April 27

 

 

I have hated this bathroom since we built the house.  The cabinet is not what I ordered but when it arrived and was wrong we didn't want to take the time to get the right one so in it went.  It's a tiny bathroom and always felt too confined.  I have two mirrors from my grandma's house that I refinished and wanted to use them somewhere so I was always looking for a new "antiquey" vanity.  I found one a few years ago at Lowe's but didn't have the right vehicle to haul it home.  Then when I decided I was definitely going to buy it it was out of stock.  I kept looking and finally this spring they had another one similar to the first one I found so we bought it.

I needed to paint so I asked M if I should paint it some color other than white and got a resounding "yes!"  The vanity sat around for a month (or more) until I finally guilted M into taking out the old cabinet so I could start painting.  That's when the trouble started.  Our amateur plumbers (M, his dad and his brother) ran the water lines through the floor and not through the wall so had just cut holes in the floor of the cabinet for them.  That meant cutting the cabinet to get it out.  Not a big deal, but then we had to cut the new vanity to get it in.  That wasn't the biggest deal either until we realized it was just barely wide enough for the water lines to go in and actually had to take off one of the legs in the back to make it work.  (No one will notice)

The painting was the easy part--oh wait, there was a snag there, too.  I went to buy the paint (smoky orchid) and the paint mixer wasn't working properly and they were working on it at the time.  I was in a hurry because I had an appointment to get my hair cut so couldn't get the paint.  I did make it back before they closed, though, and they had it ready for me, thank goodness.  I only go to town once a week and didn't want to have to make a special trip in just for that.  Town people don't understand. It's a very small bathroom and it didn't take long to paint, and I really like the color.  Of course, I bought too much paint so I'm thinking of painting the master bath the same color.  I had to put a chunk of cove base in where the old cabinet had been and wanted to get it done so just ran to the station in Richland and got some Liquid Nails.  As I was putting it in the caulking gun I noticed the date on it was many years past.  It was crap, but I did as best I could with it.  That reminds me I need to tell them at the station to check their supply and throw it away if it's that old.

We started the business of putting in the new vanity on a Sunday afternoon.  Not a good idea. For a moment we had fears of having to shut off the water to the whole house until we could get to the hardware store on Monday.  Luckily, M figured out a solution and we got the vanity in, but then we needed to get adhesive for the top and sealer for the sink, and an adapter for the drain which I did the next time I got to town.

When I painted I didn't fill the holes from the towel bar and toilet paper holder thinking the brackets for the new ones would match up.  Haha, what was I thinking?  Of course, they didn't so I had to fill those holes and paint.

We had a wall cabinet that I wanted to stain darker to match the vanity better.  I tried to sand some of the finish off but that wasn't working too well.  I had some stripper so tried that and that didn't work well either so I was to the point of thinking I had just ruined it and should start shopping for something else.  It was just a cheap cabinet, and I've had it forever so it wouldn't have been a big deal, but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted to replace it with.  I eventually put some stain on it and decided it would be okay but needed new knobs which I actually found locally--big surprise!  The wall cabinet has always bothered me because it wasn't centered over the toilet so we finally remedied that when we put it back up by drilling new holes.  Still not perfect since we wanted it hung on studs, but much better.

I needed a new shower curtain and rod since the blue ones that were in there didn't match the new paint.  I found a cool shower curtain with a tree on it and thought that would be better than ordering five trying to match them to the paint so I went with a tree theme.  For the finishing touches I hung a watercolor that my grandma had done and a tree photo that I had taken.

It took a few weeks but one afternoon I finally pinned M down and we put up the towel bar, toilet paper holder and one mirror.  I thought we had hanging hardware for the second mirror, but we didn't so I had to wait on that until I went to town.  That hardware has been sitting here for another few weeks, but we had rain today and we finally got that up so M is officially done with the bathroom....unless I decide to get a new light fixture.  I'm sure he's very happy and probably having a beer in the Mint right now to celebrate.

After--June 17

 

Panoramic view



A Little Hormonal

We've been busy with various things lately, but the most important has been artificial inseminating our heifers.  We gave them shots last Saturday.  We always joke about whether we'll chase them in or lead them into the corral.  A small group of them was in the northeast corner of the pasture and R rounded them up.  I was at the barn and watched them come through the holding pen and into the corral before R and M had even gotten to the ones on the west side.  They patiently waited in the corral for the rest of the group to get there.  There are advantages to bucket feeding them all winter.  They worked really well through the chute and it took M, R and I only a couple of hours to give 85 head shots and apply heat detection patches.

I was a little bit worried that we'd have some ready to breed on Sunday afternoon.  We had an important event that evening--Sawyer's birthday party--which had been postponed until we finished seeding.  Nothing was ready on Sunday, thank goodness, so they hit it hard on Monday.  I was kind of disappointed that I had to work and missed most of it.  I did hurry home from work to help with the last group.  By the time we finished up with those and took them to pasture it was 8:30 so we had supper around 9:30.  Everyone was ready for bed immediately after!  We were up bright and early on Tuesday morning and finished up the last ones and moved them to pasture, finishing just before noon.

We had much better weather than last year when it was drizzling the whole time, and the heifers came into heat a lot better.  We're hoping that means we'll get a better catch.  We had lots of sun and not much wind and then a rain shower after we had finished.

It's quiet around the barn again now and will be even more quiet once we get the bulls to pasture, probably this weekend, 

We're turning to other projects now.  The solar panels for the pump in the pasture are back up and water is flowing.  We'll be moving the cows to that pasture soon.  We have lots of fencing to do--like always.  We've worked on the new hay yard and now are moving a fence out of a bog to slightly higher ground.  We put some brace posts in this afternoon and were heading to the area where we need to put in some more when M got the skid steer stuck in a coulee.  I knew I wasn't going to take the pickup across there but thought he'd get across.  We didn't have a chain to pull it out so called it a day.  M didn't have time to go get a chain and go back and pull it out before he had to leave for a meeting.  Pretty sure it'll still be there tomorrow and hopefully R can help him get it out instead of me.

We were in prime tick habitat and sure enough, I had one crawling on my neck when I got home.  I need to go shower and make sure there aren't any more.  They give me the heebie jeebies!

Moooving

Seeding officially ended on Wednesday.  The goal is always to be done before June 1, and they went pretty hard the last week to make that happen.  We took the boys and families out for supper to celebrate on Tuesday night (M only had five rounds left so we weren't too premature).  Now we turn our attention to ranching again. 

Yesterday we played a game of musical pastures.  We needed to get the replacement heifers home so we can start the AI process next week and needed to get the cows with calves to their summer pasture.  The cow-calf pairs were roaming between two pastures so in the morning M and Junior pushed them all to the south pasture.  That gave us a buffer zone for when the replacement heifers came in.

Moving heifers is pretty easy.  Once you get them headed in the right direction (west), they're off and move pretty quickly.  It was about a two-mile jaunt, but it didn't take long.  Then we rounded up the cows and calves and headed east with them to the pasture adjacent to where the heifers had been. 

Moving pairs is always an adventure, and the more cows and calves you have the more difficult it can be.  Last year we had cows strung out for a mile and calves not keeping up and turning back looking for their mamas.  We tried a bit of a different tack this time and moved them a mile into the neighbor's water corral where they could rest and pair up (sort of) and then moved them the second mile.  Those on the 4-wheelers (M and R) were busy keeping the calves going in the right direction.  The cows knew where they were going and were happy to go.  We could have used another 4-wheeler, but one of ours is down at the moment.  We found two sick calves in the process.  One got a ride in the pickup and the other slowly made its way.  They received some medicine when we reached our destination.  I hope they're doing okay today.

M and R are busy getting the backhoe ready so they can try to repair the water line at the barn before we have heifers in there next weekend.

Still no progress on the bathroom project since our rain event turned out to be nothing but wind.  I only need an hour, but an hour is really hard to get sometimes.

Forgetting Something?

For a few days now I've been feeling like I've been forgetting something....oh, yeah, I haven't checked the cow cams.....because, there's nothing to check!  Our last heifer calved last week.  I was sure she would calve last Wednesday because M was seeding, R was rolling, and I was having a girl's day to celebrate Sawyer's first birthday so no one was around.  She didn't, but I kept telling R I thought she was close.  Before I headed out to help M the next morning I checked the camera and sure enough, she was in the process.  R had to admit that I am always right, haha!  He ended up pulling the calf but was very happy to be done with the heifers.  We still have three cows left, but they are on their own.  Maybe R can get back to a normal sleeping schedule.  R and I hauled the last four pairs to pasture so it's getting quiet around the barn.  That happened none too soon since we discovered a broken water line to the corral and had to shut the water off until we can get that fixed.  A top priority since we'll be bringing heifers in to AI in a little over a week.

We are on our last day of seeding, thank goodness!  J finished up yesterday and M is running around seeding spots that J left that were too wet or that he couldn't do with the big drill and the odd stuff like some oats.  They'll still have their CSP mixtures of turnips and radishes to put in a little later.

Everyone is tired and crabby so some time away from each other to rest and relax may be in order.  I'm hoping for a rainy day so we can finish the bathroom project from hell.  More on that later--hopefully with pictures of its completion.

"Pull It"

Say what?!

A couple of days ago we had a beautiful day and everyone was super busy.  M was at Opheim seeding, R was north of Glentana rolling, and in between running for the guys I was planting some flowers that my sister-in-law had given me.  It was getting close to 5:00 when it occurred to me that I hadn't checked the cow cams to take a look at the heifers.  I had been over there around noon making my daily check to make sure that we didn't have any more sick calves.

We only had three heifers left to calve, and we've all been so busy with farming that we had kind of lost interest.  I checked the cow cam and there were one, two.....where's the third one?  I panned over a bit and there she was on her side with feet out and not moving much.  In a panic, I jumped in the pickup to head over to see if she was alive.  On the way I tried to call R, no answer.  Then I tried to call M, no answer.  And I'm thinking what do I do, what CAN I do?  Who else can I call?

Just as I got to the corral I finally got R on the phone and told him I thought we had trouble.  When I got to her she jumped up.  Oh good, not dead!  She had been lying right by the gate into the shed, but she jumped up so fast that I wasn't able to get her in there.  I made a few attempts to get her in to no avail.  I didn't want to chase her around the corral too much and get her all worked up.  R told me to go to the house and let her settle down, watch her on the cow cam and hope that she had it without a problem.  He wasn't near his vehicle and didn't think I had time to drive the 20 miles to get him and get back.

M was working about 40 miles from here and when I finally got him on the phone and explained the situation he said, "you're going to have to pull it since we don't know how long she's had feet out".  I'm sure I got real quiet on the phone.  He assured me I could do it since I'd helped him many times and knew what to do.  J was on the tractor by my house so I called him and told him I needed help.  He got real quiet also when I told him what we needed to do.  He's not a fan of cows and isn't around them too much.  He's probably been around when we've pulled a calf, but it's definitely been awhile.

As we're driving over, J says to me "do you know what you're doing?"  I assured him that I did and just needed him to help me a little.  It took us a couple of tries to get her into the back pen and then she entered the barn at about 50 mph!  She was a little excitable, but we actually got her into the maternity pen and head gate with no trouble and went to work.  I went in and got the chains on and then we pulled.  I elected not to use the puller thinking that J was big and strong and shouldn't have much trouble.  In hindsight that probably wasn't the best decision because it was a pretty tough pull.  J had to put his whole self into it, and I would not have been able to do it by myself.  I'm happy to report that mother and baby are doing well and J and I are pretty proud of ourselves.

Lesson learned, and I have been keeping a better eye on the cow cams!  These last two heifers need to just hurry up and get it done.

"Your Heifers are a Pain in My Ass"

That's the call I got from R one morning.  He had had to pull a calf from one of my heifers around midnight and another one that morning.  I had to go to work and wasn't helping with chores, so M called to let me know one of my heifers was calving.  I watched them on the cow cam until I had to run out the door to get to work.  The next day I broke the news to R that the heifer had a twin sister still waiting to calve so he'd better keep a good eye on her.  She, however, had a good size calf unassisted on Sunday so I'm done.  It's their own fault for giving me the little girls.  We only have four heifers left to calve and a handful of cows.  This time of year everyone loses interest in the cows, but we've had cold, wet and windy weather so we have to continue to be vigilant.  M has found some sick ones out in the herd.  We need some sun and warm so we don't have a repeat of the problems we had last year.  The grass is being pretty slow to green up and grow.  It, too, needs some sun and warm!

Spring seeding is going along at a snail's pace because, well....because Spring is progressing at a snail's pace.  Last week I drove to work in a couple of inches of slush because we had snow and this week the ground was white again.  It's not unusual to have spring snows, but we'd rather have nice, warm rain.  I think J got in a day or two of seeding before it was too wet again.  We thought we'd have an early spring, but it's not looking like that will be the case.  They've continued to have problems with the new sprayer.......yes, BRAND-NEW sprayer.  The service guys get here in a hurry now when they're called and the salesman is nervous! 

K is pretty sure there is no hope of us being done and ready to celebrate Sawyer's birthday on her birthday (May 21).  What was she thinking, having a baby in May?!  Almost as bad as when I had one in August.  His birthday party almost always consists of pizza and beer in the combine.

Sawyer made her first foray into the field and played in the dirt.  She discovered sticks and rocks and leaves and thoroughly enjoyed herself.  She's walking like a champ and is a busy, busy girl!

Adoption Agency

Since my last post we've had two more adoptions.  One night R was pulling a calf from one heifer while another was also calving.  That calf was small and frail.  R tried to give it a bottle and thought it would last through the night and we could try again, but it was dead by morning.  I had heard on the radio that a neighbor had a calf for sale.  When M called about it he had already sold it, but later in the day he called back and said he had another set of twins if we wanted one.  M went to get it and we had very little trouble getting the new mama to take it.

A couple of days ago M decided to cut the splint off the broken-leg calf and see how it was doing since it was starting to smell.  He discovered that the ends of the bone were sticking out an open wound.  Very ugly.  We cleaned it out, applied some disinfectant and gave it a shot of antibiotic.  We tried to wrap it back up again, but the break is so high that we can't really stabilize it enough for him to get up on it so I gave him a bottle for a couple of days.  Yesterday R and I kind of made the decision to destroy it because it would never heal, and he knew he'd have to do it because M would never be able to.  R got busy and didn't get it done.  This morning we had another set of twins so M thought we'd give one to baby Bolt's mother.  He's still waffling on what to do with baby Bolt so I gave him another bottle. 

I think Bolt's mother is a bit tired of being moved into the barn, out of the barn, back to the barn, but she likes her ground feed so is pretty easy to work with.  M was not too optimistic that she'd take to a new calf after having Bolt for a couple of weeks, but we put them together and she didn't fight it.  I checked the cow cam a little while ago and the calf was trying to nurse and the cow wasn't fighting it so that's a good sign.  I don't think many ranchers try as hard as M, but it's always a shame when a good mother doesn't have a calf.  Too bad this one was kind of stupid while giving birth.

We are in full-on farming mode now and everyone has been on the run.  Yesterday our brand-new sprayer made it 20 minutes before it broke down.  That stressed everyone out because J was ready to switch to peas and that ground needed to be pre-sprayed.  We knew the wind was supposed to howl today so it was important to get as much done yesterday as possible.  They thought they fixed the problem and it worked for another 30 minutes before it had problems again.  They tried something else and it has been working since then.  Apparently someone at the factory didn't put something together right.  That's been a common and frustrating problem on new equipment lately.  As much as we pay for stuff it should work properly!

I was just having my morning tea thinking I'd have the day to myself when M called to see if I was up because we needed to move the water truck for C and get a seed truck for J and feed the cows.  R was already on the road to Glasgow with a load of lentils.  And, oh yeah, we needed to haul feed to the guy feeding our replacement heifers.  We did manage to get home and have lunch, but then R called in a panic because he had a bunch of cows and calves in the yard and needed help.  We got that taken care of and proceeded to load feed buckets.  We delivered those and came back and picked up J who had moved his tractor and drill and then I got to come home, around 5:00.  M is still at it somewhere.

There's rain in the forecast so maybe tomorrow will be a calmer day.  I've already made it known that I have a haircut tomorrow afternoon that I am not missing--I'm desperate!

NICU?

The craziness continues, and I said last night that the barn was starting to look like neonatal ICU while M was feeding one calf and I was feeding another.  First there was baby Bolt with the broken leg who actually can get around on his own pretty well. Then the deformed calf died so we bought a twin from a neighbor for that cow.  She was a bit uncertain at first so M and R took some hide from her dead calf and duct taped it on the new calf.  The cow immediately showed interest in it then.  It only took one time in the head gate to let it suck and she is now very attentive and protective.  Our third successful adoption!

A couple of days ago we had a heifer calving in the corral.  R had a tough time getting her in a pen, and we could see on the cow cam that something wasn't right as soon as the calf was born. R ran out right away to clear the airway and make sure it was breathing.  It apparently aspirated some fluid because it was gurgly.  It still hasn't gotten up, and we've tried to feed it multiple times with limited success.  It has enough energy to fight us a little bit and beller.  It tries to get up but hasn't yet so M had to get the cow in and milk it.

Yesterday just before dark M was doing some disking by the calving pasture and saw a cow with feet in the air, never a good sign.  He called R who ran out to check and discovered the cow was still alive and trying to have a calf.  It had somehow gotten onto its back and couldn't get back over.  R pulled the calf, with much difficulty since it was huge, and got the cow back over but let it rest.  The calf went to the barn and got a bottle.  R checked on the cow through the night, but it wasn't getting up.  M fed close to it this morning, and eventually it got up to eat and he was able to get it to the barn so mother and son are now reunited.  She'd better rest up because that big boy can eat!

Today M was again disking and saw two cows fighting over a new calf.  He wasn't able to convince the one to leave it alone (by beating it off) so had to get R and a 4-wheeler.  They got  one cow to a pen where she gave birth shortly thereafter.  It's funny how they'll try to claim a calf when they are getting close to calving themselves-- how can they not know they still have one inside?!?!

The calf was down in the bog and getting played out so R took the sled out to get it and its real mother.  It's cold and windy today so they'll be glad for a little more shelter.

My first heifer calved this morning so I was keeping a close eye on it through labor.  M gave it a little assistance while I was gone to warm up a bottle.  He said it would be easier for me after I went through 80 heifers ( only 20 to go).  He was wrong!

J started putting seed in ground yesterday so it's about to get busier around here.  I keep wondering if he's a bit miffed that M has been MIA in that department since he's been so busy with cows.  I'm afraid to ask.  Just thank God every day that R is back to help us.

How Bizarre!

In my last post I mentioned that calves were coming fast on Sunday.  That continued after I posted.  R went to a birthday party so M and I were on cow duty for the evening.  M went to check just before dark and later I went to help him put a heifer in a pen where we could watch her closely on the cow cam.  She was a bit agitated but was slowly progressing.  He decided to go check on her, and I was watching the cow cam.  As he was on the way over, she was pushing the calf out but was too close to the fence and literally pushed the calf right through a panel.  I kept willing her to move before that happened, but she didn't.  Then when the calf was half out of her she decided to get up.  When she did that the calf was ripped out of the panel but was still in her.  She made a half lap around the pen before it fell out.  Not good!  M was there shortly after and made sure the calf was alive, but he hadn't see what had happened and didn't want to get her any more worked up by getting into the pen.  Throughout the night I kept looking to see if the calf was up and never did see it up but did see that it was moved to different spots in the pen.

Just before I went to bed and after R had gotten home I checked the cameras one more time and noticed a heifer lying in an unnatural position in the middle of the corral.  About 30 seconds later our phone rang with R calling to tell M that a heifer was dead.   M had been there not an hour before and nothing was in distress or even lying down at that time so it appeared to be a sudden death.  Very strange.

I had to go to work in town on Monday so didn't help with chores.  M called to let me know that the calf from the night before did not come through unscathed.  It has a broken leg.  At first he thought it was just near the foot but later determined that it is broken high in the front leg.  M tried to immobilize it a bit, but the break is in a difficult spot.  This morning we put the cow in the head gate and helped the calf stand and nurse and supplemented with a bottle.  It's going to need all its strength to heal and hopefully survive.

Also yesterday they discovered a calf with a back leg bent forward and it's backside pushed to the side.  It was apparently in the womb like that, poor thing--and poor cow trying to give birth to it like that.  We're not sure what we're going to do with that one, but M says we're not going to let it starve to death so we gave it a bottle also.

K and Sawyer and a friend and her little girl came out today to see the calves.  I told M they'd think they were at a freak show!  We didn't show them the deformed one and at least the little girls could pet the one with the broken leg since it wasn't going anywhere fast.  It has now been named "Baby Bolt".  Sawyer squealed with excitement when she saw the cows and calves and petted Bolt.  Maybe she'll be our little cowgirl.  She certainly isn't afraid of anything!

All This Work Before Breakfast?

We have a routine where M heads out about 6 am for his first cow check of the day and then comes home and we have breakfast and then go feed.  Imagine his surprise when he went over the hill and there was not one cow left in the calving pasture.  Uh-oh!  He came home and got me out of bed to help him get them all back in before they ventured too far.  He had the Jeep and I had a pickup.  I was a bit more worried about getting stuck in a wet spot than I was about getting the cows back in.  It didn't take too much effort to get them headed back home, except for the three with new calves.  They required the use of a 4-wheeler.  M went with the Jeep to try to keep them from going too far in the opposite direction while I went to get the 4-wheeler.  It wasn't too much trouble to get them in after that although one tried to be difficult right to the last step through the gate.

We fed, filled mineral tubs and moved some pairs.  Then we finally got to have our Sunday pancakes!        

We have had a bit of a lull in the heifer pen as the first-cycle girls had almost all delivered and the second-cycle ones hadn't started yet.  The action there is rapidly picking up again.  While we were eating and drinking at the end-of-season dart league banquet last night, R was busy pulling calves by himself.  One was backwards so I'm sure that was an adventure for him.  I've only seen that once myself, and he probably never has.  Like I mentioned before, he's learning a lot this calving season!  Today we've had three heifers calve in the last hour or so.

The weather has warmed up considerably and hopefully we've seen the last of temps in the teens.  Of course, the warmth leads to more slop and M and R have spent some time cleaning corrals now that they are thawing.

J and C are continuing to gear up for spring planting, but we need a few more warm days before they can get into the field.  J and K have moved into their "summer house", and I'm sure J is enjoying not having the drive every day and being able to have lunch with his family.  K has really done a lot of work and transformed the house.  I told J he's really lucky his wife is so handy, and he completely agreed.

So, we're plugging along.  Gotta love spring.....even on an empty stomach!