Farewell Cruel 2015

Here it is the end of the year....finally.  2015 was a bit of a trying year for many reasons  and although we came through it relatively unscathed, we're glad it's over.

The bad luck started during calving with the freak Easter weekend storm.  Not that we're not anticipating or preparing for bad weather during calving; we just hope that we don't have to endure any too severe.

Then in April we had the scary shop fire.  see blog post here

May brought seeding, but no rain to go with it and the grass didn't take off because of the lack of moisture and cold temps.

In June we lost our unborn grandchild which put a damper on everything else.  And, still not much rain.

In July we got rain......along with a bunch of hail that totaled out a lot of our crops.  We had several thousand acres that we didn't even harvest.  We have land spread 35 miles east to west and nearly every acre was hit.  My brother, ever the smart one, said we need to start expanding north and south.  J leased some land on the Canadian border and it was hit also so I guess heading south is our only option. see blog post here

August brought the short and depressing harvest.  It's always my least favorite month anyway.

In September we finished the harvest (or cleaning up the mess).  M was contemplating seeding winter wheat but just wanted the crop year to be over so couldn't bring himself to make it happen. see blog post here

In fact, he needs to start making plans for next year and can't quite get into the right frame of mind for it yet.

By this time the cow/calf market had tanked.  Thank goodness we had contracted MOST of our calves in June for a price well above what it was at shipping time in October.  Shipping is always stressful no matter how smoothly it goes.....hmm, has it ever gone smoothly?!  see blog post here

By November I remember M saying "we still have two months of this year to get through?"  see blog post here
That was about the time he came home after the umpteenth day of fencing and said that he discovered his post pounder had an automatic shutoff.  Really?  "Yep, when I can't lift it over a post anymore I know it's time to quit".  Hmm....

And then, Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.  Talk about NASCAR depression!!

Finally, we made it to December and through December with a great adventure to cap off the year. see blog post here

We really do have a lot to be thankful for and appreciate what we have and who we have in our lives.  It is just a lot easier to be positive on some days than others.  That's why I plan to do a journal and/or jar to each week add a note with a good thing that happened.  I saw the idea on Facebook and thought it was a great one since it's too easy to focus on the bad things that happen....and in our business there seem to be a lot of those!

It's been a good week for me since I've been spending time with my favorite littles.

Happy New Year from our family--the people I love most.


 

A Great Adventure

We have had such a nice fall that M and R have gotten so much work done.  Lots of fencing and building of windbreak.  I swear the place is starting to look like a fort!  I was actually almost hoping for some bad weather so we could do something else (I said, almost).  Finally, the the time arrived for the trip we had been planning so off we went to Vegas, baby!  I was definitely ready for a vacation.

We were supposed to see Merle Haggard on our first night there, but he ended up in the hospital so we went to the rodeo instead.  We had to find seats at the last minute and they were really great seats--lower level to the side of the bucking chutes.  The rodeo was excellent!  The next night we went again.  Our seats were upper level but still good.  We went dancing at the rodeo after party one night and to Gilley's the other night. 

The next night we went to see Brooks and Dunn and Reba McEntire who were awesome.  I've always been a big fan of Brooks and Dunn so was happy I got to see them. 

We met friends afterward at the rodeo after party and stayed out a bit too late so the next day was kind of low-key.  We went down to Fremont street and wandered around and then rode the zoom line.  That was really fun.  I've always wanted to zip line.

From there we went to Arizona to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday.  All three of my sisters were there and one of my brothers.  We were supposed to go on a hot air balloon ride on Saturday but the weather didn't cooperate so we went bowling instead and then went out dancing.  On Sunday we had cake for her at church and then an open house at my sister's house.  It was fun to meet her friends and put faces to names. 

The crew of favorites

The perfect cake--so many books, so little time.

From there we went to a Christmas concert put on by my sister's choir.  She made sure I sat where I could watch the harpist.  I've always wanted a harp and have vowed that some day I'll have one of my own!  I love Christmas music, and it really helped put me in the mood for the holiday.

The rescheduled balloon ride was rescheduled again, and by then two of my sisters had gone home.  The only reason I was thankful for a late flight home.  It was a pretty cold ride, but it was memorable and so fun!  Entry and exit was a bit interesting, but we discovered that Mom is pretty agile for a 90-year-old. We are so blessed to have her in such good shape mentally and physically.

Me and my mommy, waiting for our ride.

Ready to go!

The view from 4000 feet

Cheers! We did it!

The weather was unseasonably warm when we left home, but winter arrived while we were gone.  There was a big storm the day before we got back to Billings so our pickup was covered with snow, and the roads home were a bit interesting, but we made it home safely.  Junior was so glad to see us--as we were to see him!  That's the worst part of traveling, leaving the dog behind.

We've been enjoying the Thievin Seven Days of Christmas this week with M's family.  It's a bit cold so today is a good day to hang around the house enjoying some hot cider and some down time and talk about our great adventure.

The Great Breakout

We have around 100 heifer calves in our pens right now.  They'll feed them for awhile and whittle that number down once they decide how many they want to keep for replacements.  We've had rain and snow but above-freezing temps so the pens have been pretty mucky.  We have a grassy area adjacent to the pens where we can let them out.  M and R have done a lot of work on that area so that it's all wood corral or windbreak except for three gates that are wire reinforced with stays.  M was feeling bad for the calves being in the muck so he decided to let them out the other day.  He was a bit concerned because they are still a bit spooky but gave it a try.  R's girlfriend came home from work Friday night and as she was closing the metal swinging gate something spooked them and they ran headlong into one of the wire fences.  They hit it so hard that the post broke and the gate fell down and they headed south.  R was there quickly and locked in the few that remained and tried to find where the others had gone.  They went up the hill and through a fence, but it was too dark to do anything but hope they didn't blow through too many fences before they settled down.

M wasn't home at the time, and I was the bearer of the good news when he did get home.  Man, was he mad!  Neither of us slept very well that night, worried about where they might have gone, and were up early and out of the house as soon as the sun was up to try to find them.  We thought they would head to the cows, but there were no gates down or holes in fences and no sign of them there.  We finally spotted 11 (of 60 to 70).  We started pushing them toward home with the pickup and got them just about there when they circled and spread out and headed the wrong direction.  At that point I went to get a 4-wheeler and M grabbed a bale to try to entice them without too much luck.  Then we went to get a few cows to move with them.  That wasn't so easy either since the cows didn't want to leave the herd.  Finally, we got a few cows to move and R rounded up the calves for the second time and the two groups met and moved easily home.  So far, so good....except we were still missing 50 to 60 head.

M was wondering where to look first and R said "just follow the holes in the fences", but there was really just one hole.  From there they headed south and east and found an open gate that led to a small pasture and then to a water corral.  I had gone south into the neighbor's pasture but just got up the hill, looked east and saw them so went to join R to push them home.  I always say that M wants to do things the hard way before trying the easy way to see if it will work.  He didn't think we'd be able to push them home without some cows along, but that would have been a few miles for the cows and more work for us.  R and I were able to push them home without much trouble.  We were trying to push them slowly so M would have time to get gates and panels ready before we got there.  That wasn't so easy, and he barely had enough time.  They are going to have to have some time to settle down so probably won't be granted release again until after Christmas.

We were hoping to haul cull cows to market last week, but the roads were too wet and we couldn't get trucks and trailers in and out so they finally were hauled out today.  We had some rain overnight with some ice, but it wasn't too slick.  We didn't want to have to feed them all for another week.

I'm still hoping for bad weather (well, almost) so I can pin M down to do some paperwork.  I made him a to-do list today so we'll see how that goes.  We have a vacation planned in December so a lot of that stuff has to get done before that.  Wish us luck!

Shipping Day!

Wow, it's been a busy weekend, and we are exhausted.  The week(s) leading up to shipping day are a little stressful....especially when it coincides with hunting season.  We had all our cows moved close to home and really didn't want a hunter to leave a gate open somewhere.  M was doing gate checks a couple of times a day for the past week.

The work started on Tuesday when the guys moved our younger cows and calves home.  It was a windy, cold, wet day, but I was willing to go help if they thought they needed me.  I never did get the call (thank goodness) and M was SO cold when he got home.  Then Thursday afternoon we moved the big bunch home.  Actually, they kind of moved themselves when they heard M start the tractor to put some bales out.  We only had to chase in a few stragglers.

After we were done there we headed cross-country to the neighbor's to grab their stock trailer and take a tractor over to move some dirt and put some bales out there.  He has a nice corral setup and a portable scale so we're able to ship right out of there.  It's so nice to be able to do that.

The cattle market has gone south since we contracted so we were a little concerned that the buyer would back out (we've heard stories of that happening) or trucks wouldn't show up or something.  We were relieved when he called our neighbor on Thursday night to confirm, but he did say that he'd only have two trucks on Friday and the other two wouldn't be there until Saturday.  As long as we were "weighed and paid" we could work with that.

We had to get everything in Friday morning, sort off the cows and then sort the calves by sex.  Complicate that by having some of our neighbors calves, some share calves, and cull cows to cut off.  Complicate it more by having a gate come open and a bunch of steer calves get mixed up with the heifer calves that we wanted to keep for replacements.  Then we had to haul by trailer-loads cross-country to the neighbor's.  Thankfully, I got out of most of the sorting because I had to go with the first load to keep a count of the neighbor's calves, the share calve and our calves.

By the time we got all of ours sorted and over to the scale, the trucks were loaded (3 actually showed up instead of 2) and the checks were written it was 4:00.  I think we are starting to have too many calves to do it the way we are now.

Then I ran home, took a quick shower and headed to town to babysit Sawyer.  I was a little afraid that I'd be ready for bed before her.  We had tons of fun and I got home about 2:00 am.

M let me sleep in a bit on Saturday while he went to Richland to meet the last trucker and show him where to go.  I called him when I got up and he said to come over in 45 minutes because we were preg testing the neighbor's cows.  How about an hour and a half?  I had stuff to do, was moving slow, and it was cold and windy so I didn't want to go out.  They didn't really need my help anyway, but I did show up.  We were done with that job by 1:00.  Then we had lunch and we helped the neighbors pack up to head back to Harlem, relieved that the weekend was over.

Today M made me go help him do cow chores since R was gone hauling calves for C's step-kids.  I didn't want to go, but it was a nicer day than I thought.  And, I got back at him by making him help me do some things outside when we got back.

We can't let up now, though. Tomorrow they have to move our replacement heifers and bulls closer to home (and I have to get the calf check to the bank!).  Wednesday they have cull cows to haul to the sale in Glasgow and Thursday they have calves to haul for another neighbor.  Then, maybe we can rest a little.

A Day That Will Live in Infamy....for me

My father died today,
A piece of me is gone.
He no longer walks the earth
But so much of him lives on.

He left so many things behind.
I wear his scowl, his eyes, his hair.
And when I gaze upon my son,
I see my father there.

He made me laugh, he made me cry,
He made me mad, but strong.
He showed me how to live a life
And taught me right from wrong.

I know he loved me fiercely,
The way he held my hand told me it's true.
And when we saw a little girl,
With tears he whispered, "she looks like you."

His last words to me were
"It's okay, don't cry".
Mine to him should have been
"My love for you won't die".



I miss my daddy........

More Cow Stuff

We've been busy, busy, busy with cow stuff.  We normally preg test our cows the day after we ship calves, but we also help with the neighbor's at that time so it gets to be a bit much.  Since harvest was finished early we decided to preg test at the same time we vaccinated calves.  The vet was happy to do it earlier as that helped him out, too.

First we had to get them all moved closer to home.  The first group we moved was over at Opheim.  I pulled our old loading chute over and wondered if it was going to make the trip.  M has been dragging his feet on buying a new one since we only use it once a year.  My brother and dad built the corral that we work out of over there many moons ago, and it is showing it's age.  Of course, the herd was at the far end of the pasture, but we got them in without too much trouble.  The guys debated about whether they would separate the calves from the cows which we normally do but decided not to bother.  The first group was a bit reluctant to get up the chute and onto the truck so I was trying to prod them along and all of a sudden one cow jumped right through our old loading chute.  Progress  ground to a halt while we tried to find wood to repair the gaping hole in the chute and get the cow back in the pen.  It was finally repaired, and we continued to load the truck.  Since the cows and calves weren't separated, M had to gate them in the trailer so we ended up not being able to get them all on the truck.  That meant we had to cram two bulls in the front of the small stock trailer and then get some calves in and hope to have room in the back to get a 4-wheeler in.  We did it, but it was a tight fit.  Then we had to unload all the fencing stuff from the back of the pickup so we could load the other 4-wheeler in it.

We hauled everything to our neighbor's corrals and then M and I trailed them up to our fields while R went to dump off the bulls.  From there we rode the 4-wheelers to the pasture where the big herd was to get them moved into a closer pasture.  M had opened the gate a few days earlier and moved the mineral tubs to see if they would move themselves, but we had to do a sweep to be sure there was nothing left in the far pasture.  I haven't been around that pasture much so was a bit concerned about getting lost when M went one way and told me to go another.  I wasn't sure where I could cross the coulee so was happy when I met up with R.  The only animals we saw were some mule deer bucks.  I think R is planning to go back there when hunting season opens.  There were some nice ones in there.  I was a little nervous riding those hills with the sun in my eyes, just hoping I wouldn't fall in a hole or off a cliff.

The next day I had an appointment in Glasgow so missed out on trailing the next group from Richland north to our fields.  When we moved them across the highway to the south we had one that wouldn't cross.  Thankfully, she had gotten over her fear of the highway when she had to cross on the way back and the move went smoothly....even without me.

We were scheduled to preg test on Sunday and the vet wanted to start at 8 am.  That meant we had to do some rounding up on Saturday.....in the wind and rain.  Poor M was really the only one that got really wet.  I was in a pickup and R was in the Ranger which has a cab.  First we moved the small bunch to the corrals at the neighbor's where we were going to work and then moved the big herd to the fields where the small bunch had been.  The big herd had been hugging the fence line wanting to move west anyway so we just had to let the fence down and get out of the way as they streamed in.  We did have to round up a few and push them in the right direction, but it wasn't too difficult.  I felt bad for M and volunteered to ride the 4-wheeler back so he could warm up in the pickup.  I was surprised how wet I got on the short ride.

Thankfully, Sunday's weather was better.  Kind of damp but not really raining.  The vet is always late and this time was no exception.  In his defense, he spun out on a big hill trying to pull the hydraulic chute up and J had to go rescue him.  He had another place to go to when he was done with us so he whipped through 300 cows pretty fast....especially when he could see rain heading our way from the south.  Our new bulls apparently did their job well and someone is going to be very busy in March since the majority of the cows will calve in the first cycle.  Hope we don't have a major snow storm then!

The vet left and then we had 300 calves to vaccinate.  That is always challenging since they don't go through the chute quite so easily.  R and Tigh worked hard pushing them through.  By the time we were done it had started to rain again and we still had to move the pairs west to the fields.  This time it was Tigh who got wet since M was in the pickup checking gates, R was in the Ranger and J was in his Can-Am which at least has a roof.

We settled in to eat some chili and warm up, but looked out the windows and saw cows coming back.  M went to investigate, but it was getting close to dark so there wasn't much he could do.  As we were heading home we noticed that the cows had broken down a gate.  Apparently they weren't all paired up and were looking for their calves.  Another time I was happy that I was going to be at work the next day and didn't have to deal with getting that all straightened out.  It took M and R a few hours to get them all to where they were supposed to be.

The weather has been so nice that M and R have been doing a lot of corral and fence work.  Some of it is repair work and some is remodeling.  It seems that every year M comes up with a plan to make working cows a little bit easier.  Then today the pump for the cow water went out....something that had to be dealt with immediately.  It's always something.

I am almost wishing for the weather to get bad so that we can maybe get away and do something else for a few days.  I said almost......

Cow Stuff

We officially finished harvesting on the 14th.  C worked on picking up the last weedy stuff that they had swathed and J finished it up.  They had helped a couple of neighbors finish in between working on our last few acres.  It's a good feeling to be done.  M had been throwing around the idea of seeding some winter wheat especially after we got a 1/4" of rain but ultimately decided it wasn't a good idea and he wanted to be done farming for the year.  We do have a few acres to spray still.

We were very happy to switch gears and do some cow stuff.  First up was pregnancy testing our heifers.  We like to have them ultrasounded to determine their approximate due date and to do that accurately they have to be done in the first 90 days of pregnancy, and ours were right at that point.  We (or the vet) picked a beautiful day to be out working cows with a day that wasn't too cold or too hot or too windy.  A rare day in our world.

Our nephew and his friend from Rapid City were here for a week so they got in on the fun.  The first order of business was getting the heifers moved home.  It can sometimes be an adventure to get them out of their pasture as there is a coulee that can only be crossed on foot, and they are generally on the wrong side of it.  M took a bale on the pickup to try to lure them across if that was the case.  Lucky for us they were on the right side of the coulee and didn't even try to hide in the tree grove as they sometimes do.  So the move home was uneventful.

We had several hours to kill until the vet was scheduled to arrive so we mowed and cleaned up around the barn.  The 4-foot weeds in front of the barn door were unsightly and in the way.  We then headed to our house for lunch.  When we got back to the barn after lunch there were heifers everywhere.  We had left the gate between the holding pen and the corrals open so they could make their way in, but we had also left the barn doors open.  Ordinarily the gate in the barn would be closed, but the last one through it didn't close it (blame it on the rookies from the city) so the heifers, who are curious things, found their way into the corral then into the barn and then out the other barn door and into the yard.  Not much of a problem, however, since they were used to being fed in the corral all winter and ran right in as soon as someone opened the right gate.

The preg testing went pretty smoothly and we were pretty happy with the results of our artificial inseminating.  We've got some nice looking heifers.  It's hard to judge their size until we get them in the chute, and then we realized they are considerably bigger than last year's crop.  We pulled the bulls out and took them to the bull pasture and then trailed the heifers back to their pasture.  We plan to test the rest of the herd later in the month.

A few days ago our neighbor was ready to move his cows from CRP up to graze his hailed out pea and lentil fields so we helped with that.  It was a bit of a chilly morning so I dug out my hat with ear-flaps.  I was not taking a chance on being cold out there!  The first cold snap takes a little getting used to.  Again, we didn't have much wind so it was actually a pretty nice morning to be out on the prairie.

I finally had time to go to my mom's place to mow.  Thankfully, the grass wasn't too high so it wasn't a bad job, but it sure looked nice when I got it done.  As I was mowing an airplane buzzed me a couple of times.  It was my brother who flew in for the weekend.  An airplane overhead always takes me back to my childhood when my dad flew all the time.  It was great to have a visit with my brother.  He's such a great guy, and I don't see him nearly often enough.

We've had a couple of deaths in our elderly extended family in the past couple of weeks so have had some time with M's side of the family, and last night we attended a wedding for one of R's childhood friends so we've been out and about a lot more than is normal for us.  I guess it's good connect once in a while.  We forget that sometimes.

A Big Mess

Harvest is winding down, thank goodness, but we can't say we're done yet.  The guys are still helping some neighbors, and we have a little bit of our own left.  A year like this one just creates a mess.  No matter how dry it is the weeds seem to do just fine.  In fact, in a dry year they can be more of a problem since there is less competition from the crops that are struggling.  So, since we received close to 4" of rain with the hailstorm, the weeds have taken off....along with all the shelled out grain on the ground.  The result is that our fields are almost greener now than they were in June.  I keep joking that if the weather holds we could cut a second crop.  In reality, the sprayer is going to be really busy and will have to cover every acre...possibly twice, to conserve soil moisture and avoid a mess in the spring.

The weeds also create a problem in the fields yet to be harvested, making it more difficult to cut and raising the moisture of the grain.  And that is why we can't say we're finished.  We have some acres planted to a new variety of certified wheat and M is hoping to get some seed back.  He tried to cut it last week but the weeds were too much of a problem.  If they spray it with Roundup to kill the weeds it kills the germination of the wheat so it won't be any good for seed.  So, they are waiting a bit to see if the weeds dry up some so they can get those last few acres cut.

There was a big rain in the forecast for last weekend so we had a few calls from neighbors asking us to help them finish up.  One neighbor had had a heart attack so J went to help his son for a couple of days while M went to help another neighbor.  Our time with the rental combine is up now, though, so M is without a ride.  And then, the predicted 2" of rain ended up only being 0.2" here.  Gave us time to go watch Jared play football, though.

I was happy to put away my harvest lunch gear, but I didn't get off so easy.  Last week M was running around cleaning up some hailed out wheat and asked me to follow him with the grain cart.  That consisted of a little bit of driving and A LOT of sitting!  M's selling point on the plan was that we could have a nice picnic in the field; however, it took him longer than he thought to finish the piece he was on so we ended up eating our picnic lunch at home before heading west.  Everyone else had better things to do so I didn't mind helping out.  We didn't get home until dark so it was a long afternoon.  Good thing C suggested that I take two books along.  I was halfway through one and finished it and started the second.

You would think that we could take a breath and relax for a minute but that is not the case.  R is off hauling bales, J and C have been spraying, and M has had a lot of things going on including trying to get everything lined up for our crop insurance claims.  Our nephew from South Dakota is here this week so we're trying to keep him busy and hopefully we'll work on some of the fire debris cleanup.

I've been ready to get back to cow stuff and will be getting my wish when we pregnancy test our heifers tomorrow.  Yay!

Heifers and Harvest

We are plugging along with harvest.  It's been kind of depressing since everything they've been cutting has been damaged by hail and/or laid over by wind.  They have finished with all the lentils and are cutting wheat now.  M and R swathed some of the wheat and baled it up to use for straw.

We've had a few weather delays during which we took time to do some cow stuff and some cleaning.  We had some painters coming to paint the fire-damaged grain bin.  There was a lot of fencing supplies stacked around it so all that needed to be moved.  R had taken our Polaris Ranger to Miles City to get it worked on so he missed out on all the fun.  It was a hot, humid day after some rain and it wore us out.  When we finished that project we decided we'd better move the heifers since we didn't know when we'd get another chance.  That actually went a lot more smoothly than we thought it might although the stupid things seem to have a hard time going through a gate once they get to one.

We also needed to move our two big bunches of cows and pull the bulls off.  It was super hot last week so we were up at 5 to try to beat the heat.  There is a small holding pen that can be accessed from two pastures.  The day before, M and R set up panels to make an alleyway to run the bulls up and into the trailer.  They had also brought my 4-wheeler up the day before so while M took me to get it R started rounding up the first group of cows.  They were headed toward the gate when we had a breakaway of about 6 pairs--all were cows we were pasturing for our neighbor.  M and I and Junior got them rounded up and back to the gate.  Before we started, M had told me that I needed to be inside the gate so that they didn't head up the coulee when they got through the gate.  However, I was there too late and just inside the gate there's a drop off so that I couldn't get around in front to head them off.  At least not without breaking my neck!  Finally R got there to help me and we got them turned before they got too far and sent them to the holding pen.  Junior helped get the breakaway pairs headed back in the right direction and then I didn't see him again.  I thought he was with M, but he wasn't.  I was concerned that he had gotten kicked and was hurt lying in the pasture somewhere, but no, he was laying under the pickup at the holding pen.  Sometimes he gets confused as to who he should listen to or help when M and I are both out riding so we wondered if he just gave up and found some shade.  I also wondered if he was not feeling well since he had thrown up a little before we headed out.

 

M and R sorting out the bulls

 The bulls in their pasture.  I had to take a photo because it's greener than it's been all summer.  

Odd for August.

They had the bulls sorted off in no time and the cows and calves kicked out in to the pasture by 7:30.  Their panel set up worked really well and R said it was almost too easy.  I was hoping that statement wouldn't come back to haunt him.  M took off with the trailer to haul the bulls to a different pasture and R and I and Junior went to round up the next bunch.  Junior was very helpful this time in getting the cows away from the water since he could go where we couldn't get to with the 4-wheelers.  He got a bit sidetracked, though, and had to lay in the water a few times.  We had that group of cows in by 8:30 and R headed home to get to the field while M and I took those bulls to their pasture.  We also had to move salt and mineral tubs and the oilers and check some gates.  He had been telling me about a rock formation that the neighbors carved their initials in when they were kids and we were finally in the area so he showed it to me.  The carvings look pretty good for being there for 85 years!

M loves being out on the prairie with his cows and I had the distinct impression that he was dragging his feet and didn't want to go back to his combine.  He finally did, though.

I don't mind working with our cows, but I get a little miffed when I have to chase someone else's.  One Saturday I had been out in the field all afternoon helping the guys get moved from one place to another.  I was hot and tired and wanted to have a shower, a glass of wine and put my feet up.  When I got close to home I noticed cows heading up the drive toward my yard.  I was not happy!  As soon as I got to the yard I started honking my horn and chasing them and they headed south.  Our neighbor is renting some of his pasture to a friend who had had a fire on some of his land and needed a place for his cows.  Our neighbor assured him that they would check the fence so he didn't have to worry about it.  Ha!  They never check their fences.  The neighbors were at a wedding so R got in touch with the owner and he came (from quite a distance) and got them back in just before dark.  I was happy that I had gotten home before dark and gotten them out of my yard!  M said he was hoping they would have broken a flower pot and gotten me really fired up.  I did leave the neighbor a voice mail as I was chasing cows down our wheat field in my Jeep.  Funny, he never did call me back.  I did notice that someone was up fencing the next morning, and I haven't see a strange cow near my place lately.

I don't seem to get much done around home these days between making lunches, hauling lunches, cleaning up from making lunches and being on call whenever someone needs a ride or a part or fuel.  (It's taken me three sessions to get this blog post done)  At least I don't have to be out there for hours and hours day after day.  I really don't know how they do it, especially on a year like this one where they are just cutting crap. 

I was really happy to have some time with the grandkids.  They make me smile every day.

 

 

And M is always happy to get a hug at the end of the day.

Holy Water!

Wow, a lot has happened since I blogged last.  My mom always lets me know when I've been slacking!

We completed our AI process which went really well, put bulls out, moved cows several times, and finished our haying.  There was not much hay to be had due to the cold spring and dry summer.  We didn't even cut a couple of our usual hay fields.  M kept telling me to plan a trip because haying wasn't going to last long, but I knew better.  The CRP opened up for emergency haying and R had a friend who bought a few cows and has no equipment to hay with so we did the haying for him for half the hay.  Win-win.  By the time that was finished it was time to think about harvest.

We had one good day of cutting peas, 400+ acres, on Sunday, and C started desiccating lentils.  The lentil plant will keep growing even as the seeds are dry and ready to harvest so they spray to kill the plant and dry it out to make it easier to cut and keep the moisture down.  They didn't get too carried away because of the weather forecast for rain on Monday and Tuesday.

I went to work on Monday and when I left work it felt so hot and sultry--one of those days when you can feel a storm coming.  I got groceries, went for my weekly visit with my granddaughter and made a stop to see the in-laws.  As I drove out of town heading west I noticed the sky was very ominous, enough that I was afraid of what I was driving into.  I tried to call R to see if he had put his pickup inside in case we had some hail but didn't get him so I ran into Richland to check.  J and Jared were still there so we put a few more vehicles inside along with our pontoon boat.  They were predicting 60 mph winds, and I didn't think the boat would do very well in that!  Then J had to hurry home to get some of his stuff put in.

M was home when I arrived and I suggested we put the Jeep in our shed and he moved one of our pickups behind some grain bins.  Then I moved all my flower pots into the house as the wind started to really howl.  We weren't in the house long before all hell broke loose and it started to rain....hard, like an inch and half in 20 minutes hard....and then the hail began to fall.  That's such a horrible sound to a farmer....and a farmer's wife.  We were eating supper and M couldn't finish because he was sick to his stomach.  There weren't too many hailstones really but they got bigger and bigger to about marble size or slightly larger.  Thankfully, the wind kind of quit when the hail was falling which probably saved our west windows.  We had a neighbor who lost theirs.  I'm so thankful I made it home before it hit.  Our neighbor to the north said she had an amphibious vehicle because the water was over the road when she was heading home.  The rain came so hard and so fast that we couldn't see a thing out our windows.

We continued to have rain through the night and most of the next day along with high winds.  We heard reports of trees uprooted and grain bins laid over.  M and I didn't leave the house the whole day.  Just before dark the skies cleared a bit, the winds let up, and we saw a bit of sunshine.

Yesterday was a day of damage assessment.  M was worried about the cows while C and J did crop assessment.  We have land spread out 35 miles from east to west and most of it was hit.  Only the acres near Opheim appear to be unscathed thus far.  Some is a total loss, and some we're not sure about yet.  Is it worth the expense of trying to combine it or maybe hay it?  Then there's the problem of getting it cleaned up and ready for next year if it's not worth running the combine over it.  Hail makes a mess of this year's crop and can impact the following year's crop.

Then the company we rent a combine from called to see if we still wanted it.  That was kind of hard call, too.  We've paid half of the fee already and they would maybe forgive the other half due to an act of God, but he decided to take it so it arrived today.  J had ordered three hopper bins that we may not need now, and they could be here any day and we have to take them.  Another expense we probably don't need right now.  M made a decision to take hail insurance on some of the better crop, but that's not the stuff that got hailed.  He's really feeling the weight of his decisions and wonders how many more years he has left in him.  When I hear him talking about a job at Walmart I know he's depressed!  I was proud of J this morning when we were all together and he said, "we have to make a plan, we can't just quit".  He's not usually a cheerleader, but he is a man of action.

We have our heifers in a pasture just to the north of our house so M went to check on them.  There's a coulee through the pasture and the fence was broken on the west end and there were four heifers out in the ditch.  Nice of them to wait until it was a nicer day to get out.  He got them in and made a temporary fix until he could get some more supplies, and we spent our day fencing.  That was just a small hole.  The big one was on the east end of the coulee.  Kade and I had some fun catching frogs while R and M were doing most of the work, and the dogs had fun in the water.

From there we went north to the pasture we need to move the heifers to next and found this...

M commented on how fun it is to see your wheat crop hung up in the fence.  Ugh!  Just over the hill it was washed out in another spot going the other way.  We just put this fence in a couple of summers ago but had to pull the posts out since most were bent one way or the other and pound in new ones and restring the wire.  We weren't done for the day, either.  There were a couple more spots although not as large.

This is what we found at R's.  Good thing we don't need to use those gates right now.

This is what my flower bed looked like on Monday....

And this is what it looked like on Tuesday.  So sad.

R had been working on the river crossings down by Richland in preparation for moving cows this week and was afraid his work would be undone.  We headed there this morning anticipating some work, but that all held up.  The river is high, but we were able to move the cows.

Every now and then we have one cow that won't cross the highway, and we had one of those today.  They see the white line and freak, I guess.  After several attempts to get her across to no avail M and R were able to get her into a corral at our neighbors.  R went to get the stock trailer and we loaded her and drove her across the highway and dropped her off again.  We won't have that option when we try to get them out of that pasture so I hope she gets over it.

J and his uncle-in-law (?) went to the combines this afternoon to see if they could cut some lentils; however, they made a round and barely got enough lentils to fill the moisture tester.....which is a cup or two.  So, they moved out of there to try another spot.  It's not going to be a fun harvest, but it looks like it could be a short one!  We'll keep our heads up and keep trucking along.  After all, this is "next year country".

Bulls and Eagles

We had been patiently (or impatiently) waiting for the vet to come test our bulls.  When he could finally come we were going to be in Billings for an Eagles concert (you know, the best band of all time).  So, we left the bull testing in R's capable hands.  Funny how he doesn't do much right when we're here (just seems that was because his dad is a control freak) but takes care of things pretty well when we're gone.  Also funny how he likes it when we're gone and he can do things his way.  He had our hired man to help him which was only fair since we're pasturing three of his bulls at the moment.  I'm always happy when I don't have to deal with bulls so I wasn't sad to miss it.  Everything went fine, but we did have one bull test bad.  It seems to never be the one you'd like to get rid of.  That kind of puts a kink in the plan of the bull turnout, but we'll figure it out.  Just hoping we don't have to buy another one.  Six new bulls this year but a crimp in the budget.  When R was looking for his share of the last calves we sold I had to remind him that we spent it on bulls.  Stupid things have the life--screw like crazy for a couple of months and then lay around and eat for ten.

Our trip to Billings was pretty quick--we were actually in town for exactly 24 hours.  That's usually enough and we can spend a lot of money in a short time.  We had to buy a lot of fencing stuff and a 4-wheeler ramp to replace that lost in the fire.  My priorities were a couple of wedding gifts, some plants and a bench for the patio that I finally finished.

The Eagles concert was awesome and they played for over 3 hours.  Not bad for a bunch of old guys.  We went to St. Paul, Minnesota to see them in 2003, but I'd have to say this concert was better.  They haven't lost a beat even though they've been at it for 40+ years.  The tour was called "The History of the Eagles", and they talked about some of their history (not the controversial parts or the break up).  I also got a running commentary from M on the history so I should be well informed now!

The day after we came home we branded the six new bulls and sent them back out to pasture until it's time for them to go to work.  M's sister was here visiting so she came out to help.  She owns a few cows so feels like she has to help out when she can.  It's always so fun to have her here.

We moved one group of cows and calves a couple of days ago.  It was a short move and it went smoothly other than a bunch of calves not mothering up and trying to go back to where they came from.  We had to chase them back several times before they found their mamas.  Then we had to bring the heifers home.  They are too domesticated so that makes it difficult to chase them, and they made it harder than it had to be. We got them home and had to run them through the chute to give them shots to start the artificial insemination process.  That was harder than it had to be, too, but we got it done.  Now we have a bunch of agitated females and should start breeding tonight. 

In the meantime, the guys are putting in a new fence on the far eastern edge of the new pasture we bought a couple of years ago.  It's rough country so it's been a challenge.  M comes home pretty tired and sore after building braces and pounding in hundreds of posts.  He's one of those crazy people that enjoy the challenge.  I'll get my turn when we have to start putting the wires up.  I've been able to work in my yard and plant my flower pots.  It's been so cold until the last week or two that I've had a hard time getting into summer mode. 

Off to check on those hormone-crazed heifers!

Moooving Day

Tis the season to be getting the cows to greener pastures.  We had a group of first-calf mamas and calves at my mom's and with my nephews wedding coming up and extra people around we thought it best to get them moved out to their summer pasture.  We hauled them out and that went pretty smoothly.  R would haul a load to the pasture while M and I sorted out another load.  There was another group near Richland that just had to move across the road.  The river runs through the pasture and washes out some fence every year so that required some fence repair first, but they are at home there now.

We had two groups at home, and I actually missed out on the initial moving of both of them.  The first group moved when we were ready to move them.  The second group decided on their own it was time to go and broke out a gate at the water corral.  The guys fought them for a couple of days, but then decided it wasn't worth the fight and sent them on their way east.  The bad thing was that they were then in adjacent pastures and we didn't want them to be in that situation for too long.  M was kind of dragging his feet because he wanted to get a generator backup for the solar well in the pasture they needed to go to, and our generator burned up in the fire.  R was really pushing to get them moved up there anyway so on a nice day we decided to do it.

Kade rode his little 4-wheeler up to the pasture to help us out.  What should have taken a half hour took all afternoon after we discovered some broken wires and calves on the opposite side of the fence as their mothers.  Since we weren't sure what was what and who was who we pushed a group into a holding pen between pastures and kicked them out into the new pasture by pairs, 100+ pairs so it took awhile.  Poor Kade at 11:00 was asking when was lunch.  I had to run home and get sorting paddles, etc. so I loaded up a cooler of drinks and grabbed some snacks (pretty slim pickings in that department at my house).  At least Kade wouldn't completely starve before we got him back home.

The sorting didn't go too bad except that the aging eyes made reading tags a bit of a challenge.  In the end, we had five cows without calves, not a bad percentage in my opinion.  We knew where the calf of one of those was, three found theirs on their own and we remembered that the last missing calf had died earlier.  Success!

Just as we were finishing up the wind came up, the clouds rolled in and it started to rain.  I thought Kade and I should head for home before it got nasty so we took off, he on his little 4-wheeler and me on mine.  We were just about to the gate when there was a big flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.  Scared the crap out of me and when I stopped to open the gate I saw that Kade was bawling as it scared him, too.  He said he didn't like thunder and I assured him that I didn't like it either.  I urged him on since it seemed a better idea to keep moving than to sit there in the rain.  M caught up with us when we were about halfway home and shortly after that the skies cleared and the rain stopped.  Kade and I went to the house for dry clothes and a sandwich, and he was feeling a lot better about life by the time R arrived at home.

Next on the agenda is our AI process and putting bulls out.  Then we can ignore them for a little while and hope they stay put.

Vacay in May? No Way!

Seeding progressed rapidly this year thanks to favorable weather, a second bigger drill and our hired man.  We had about a week left when M's sister messaged me about going to a race in Kansas.  She has a friend who has a camping space in the infield, and he was unable to go and wondered if she wanted to take it.  She was hesitant to even mention it, but M's mom and his brother both told her she should, that there was a chance we could go.  I'm thinking, it's May, there is no way.  We had about a week of seeding left, and I jokingly told her she had to clear it with J.  She did, M agreed, and then the scramble was on to get ready.  We really should have cleared it with R first, because he's the one that took on the extra duties.  Oops!  He agreed that his dad could use a break.

J was confident that they should finish by the weekend but said "Dad better get up in the mornings".  It meant a lot of early mornings and late nights for M trying to get as many acres covered as he could.

I had a busy week, too, with work on Monday.  We had bulls out that day.  R's girlfriend was home and got them back in and R came home to fix the fence.  Kade has tee-ball on Mondays so I wait for him and bring him home after work.  When I dropped him off his mom was telling me about the bulls being out and getting them back in.  I hadn't been home very long when R called and said the bulls were out again and could I go help get them in which I did.  At that time his girlfriend mentioned there was some smoldering old hay that had flared up again, and she had gotten it put out.

On Tuesday morning I went back to kindergarten for Grandparent's Day with Kade with M's mom.  He was so excited we were there. 

After that I ran around to do some errands and get Mother's Day gifts since I was going to miss Mother's Day at home.  R wanted me to go to his place and check on the spot that had flared up the night before so I did that.  He had spread it out some and put more water on it.

I just got back and was going to have some lunch when M called and said C went to spray and said our replacement heifers were out in the fields.  I ran up there with the Jeep and he and I tried to get them back in, but it wasn’t happening.  He needed a ride to Richland and had better things to do so I took him to town and grabbed a 4-wheeler on the way back and tried again.  M said if I put buckets with a little ground feed in the box of the Ranger they would follow me right in.  I thought that would be the case, too, but no!  They did come to see what I was doing and I eventually got them to a gate, but I opened it and not one would step through it.  They went in circles.  Even the dog couldn't believe that he couldn't get them to go.  I was so over it by then so I went home and arrived just before Kade got home from school.

I had a list of things to do and hadn't completed many.  Kade helped me do a little packing and was good with me not having time to play.  After he went home I ran to Richland to get our pickup that we had left at the station for service that morning.  I also needed to read meters and blow the dirt out of the back of the pickup.  I went to fuel it up and someone had left the nozzle on so when I turned on the pump it sprayed out all over the side of the pickup before I could get it shut off.  Lovely.  Really wanted to travel in a pickup smelling like diesel, and we had to load up the back with camping gear.

I went to see Sawyer and she was sick with a fever.  I rocked and cuddled her and wanted to stay but I had to get home to meet R and go get the heifers in.  Third time was the charm.  Helped to have two people and to have them out of the boggy coulee.

I decided to spray down the pickup before it got dark and see if I could get some of the diesel off.  That helped quite a bit.  We had to haul C’s motorcycle to SD because he’s selling it so we wouldn't be able to go thru a car wash on the way.  Then I looked at the forecast for Kansas City and it showed a 70% chance of rain and severe thunderstorms with hail and tornadoes all weekend.  Great.  I was getting the feeling that we shouldn’t be going.

M called just before dark and said he wasn't going to go too late so we could get all packed up.  Then as he was going to quit the tractor went into its burn-off and you're not supposed to shut it off when it's doing that so he worked a half hour longer.  Then his service truck ran out of propane just as he was getting to Richland.  He managed to get it started again and limped it to the tank to refuel.  He finally got home about 10 and had to have a haircut since his last one was before we went to Daytona in February!  So after that and packing and something to eat we got to bed about 12:30 and were up at 5 am to head out.  We had to go to the snowmobile trailer to find folding chairs and then stop and load C's motorcycle.

Finally we were on the road.  I didn't know that the plan was to pick his sister and husband up in Rapid City and head on the Sioux City that night until we got to their house.  It was raining while we unloaded the motorcycle and loaded up the camping supplies, and we ran into heavy rain in spots on the way to Sioux City.  We arrived there about 1:00 am.  We thought the motel bed was the best one we'd every slept on.  Not sure if it was that good or we were that tired.

Our brother-in-law had rented a motorhome for the weekend so once we arrived in Kansas City we had to go pick it up. He said the rental place was 16 miles from the track.  Well, by the time we got there, made numerous wrong turns and got to the track we'd put on about 80 miles!  We felt a bit out of place with our little rental motorhome, but it worked just fine for us.  We were all too tired to go find food elsewhere so we grilled some brauts and called it good.  There was cold beer so M and his sister were okay.  Her husband is a great cook, and we felt pretty special to have our own personal chef along.

Friday morning we were awakened by the sound of the Air Titans drying the racetrack for practice since there had been rain during the night...a first for us.  We watched the truck race that night from the top of the motorhome which was pretty cool.

Saturday morning M went out to the bathroom and came back and said there must have been a tornado in the campground, but it only struck around the party buses.  Someone had a really good time!  We were tired and in bed early and didn't hear a thing.  We tried out some Kansas City barbecue before the race which was pretty yummy.  M wasn't going to take a chance on not being able to see the race good so we had seats for the Saturday night Sprint Cup race.  Once again, I picked great seats, and the race was good except for the rain delay.  We got back to our camper about 1:00 am.

M getting into vacation mode

M and his sister on top of our camper ready for the truck race

Watching practice from the top of the camper

The chef, sister, and hubby

M's sister, me and M

We were still up fairly early on Sunday morning so we could pack up and get the camper back to the rental place by 11.  There had been so much rain during the weekend that we were happy to have the little motorhome that drove right out of our parking spot while the big, fancy coaches were waiting for a tow out of the mud.

It was a long drive home through rain and snow.  South Dakota had had a foot of snow and the interstate had been closed, but it was open again when we got there.  We did see a lot of vehicles in the ditch on the way and were fortunate to miss a tornado (or have it miss us).  We made it to Rapid City about 9 Sunday night.

The trip home was a bit slow as we were skidsteer shopping along the way.  We need to replace the one that burned up in our shop fire.

The boys finished up seeding on Saturday--in 29 days which is a record for us.  R worked hard to get his cow stuff done and then head to the field to seed.  He hauled some open cows and a couple of bulls to market and got our replacement heifers moved home so we can start them on the synchronization process.  On Sunday he had J and our hired man pour bulls.  We were surprised that J helped him.  His response was, "he kind of owed me".  It's nice to know they can work together and get things done without us.  Maybe there are more vacations in our future!

Despite our exhaustion, we had a great time.  M and his sister always have so much fun together.  Now we know what race camping is like and know what we need to do and bring next time.  Yes, hopefully, there will be a next time.  I have my doubts about getting to do it in May ever again.  This year was a bit exceptional.

Holy Smokes

Life on the farm got too exciting for us this week.  Tuesday morning I went to help R get a cow and calf into the barn.  The calf was small and slow, and we were afraid it wasn’t eating.  I tried to give it a bottle, but it couldn’t quite figure out how to suck so I was going to try again later.  When I left R was getting the net wrap out of the bale processor and was going to go fencing and then to his roller over by Glentana.

I got home just in time to run a lunch to J and had just gotten back home when M called and said “what’s wrong?” and I didn’t know what he was talking about.  He said J said there was a fire at the farm.  I ran out and saw thick black smoke over that way so I headed over.  R had been out fencing when our hired man called him and asked what was burning.  He didn’t know there was a fire and by the time he got home the shop was pretty much gone.  He was trying to get hoses hooked up, and I ran to get another hose off of a pump behind the house.  I couldn't get it off so I ran back to the front to handle the hose we had while R went to get the hose off the pump.  Our goal was to keep the fire out of the grass and trees between the shop and the house.  I'm trying to spray water but nothing was happening.  We had no water because there was no power at the house.  The fire melted the line between the quonset and the shop and shorted out the line to the house.  Talk about a helpless feeling.  I was worried about the fire getting to a propane tank and didn't think about the gas tank and diesel tanks beside the shop. We were trying to beat and stamp the fire out and keep it from getting in to the trees when R said he thought the gas tank was going to go and we should back up.  Soon there was an explosion and a huge fireball.  It was probably the most awesome and scary thing I've ever seen.  J was seeding by the highway near Glentana and must have seen it blow from there because he called and said “did the gas tank just blow up?”  A neighbor to the north was out checking his cows and saw it from his place, too, and headed our way.  We've heard that it was visible at Opheim....30 miles away!  At that point I thought the trees were going to be gone.  I didn't think about where the tank might have gone.  Later I noticed the front part of the tank near the trees, and we eventually found the major part of the tank up in the bull pasture.  Thank God it went west instead of east or it would probably have ended up in R living room or hitting us.   The fire trucks arrived shortly after and tried to get the diesel tanks cooled down.  The fire was in the grass heading up the hill to the north and I pretty much beat that all out by myself.  One of the diesel tanks coughed out some flames but didn't blow.

From the back side of the shop.  The skid steer was in the shop.

Diesel tanks and the stand where the gas tank used to be.

The front of the shop

It was just so weird how some stuff that was right in the path of the fire was fine.  It burnt the pile of net wrap and went all the way around the quonset and back to the shop.  There was a payloader sitting there with a burned area underneath and no damage to the payloader.  It melted a tire on our grader and damaged tires on our two stock trailers and burned out the wooden floor in one of them.   The skid steer was in the shop so it’s toast….literally.  There was lots of old hay that smoldered for awhile, but thank God there were no hay bales.  Usually we have a huge stack there.  It burned some posts but didn’t get to the big wood pile and the junk pile.  I think every day about how it really could have been so much worse.  We’re really lucky.  Thank goodness R was close to home and I wasn’t the only one there.  He should have been on his tractor 20 miles away but got hung up fencing.  Thankfully someone saw the smoke and made a call.  And thank God for the great neighbors and volunteer firefighters who came to help. 

We had to call the power company to get the power back on at the house.  That pump feeds the waterer for the cows also.  We had no power to the quonset and barn until someone could get that wired back up.  That was a bit of a problem since we still have heifers to calve, but nothing happened there during the night.

M wasn't there to fight the fire, and that's probably just as well.  It would have taken him 30 minutes just to get to a pickup with his tractor and and another 20 minutes to get home.  He didn't even go check the damage until the next day when he and C got the power back on.  J didn't make it to the fire either but called and gave us orders.  It was comforting that he was thinking more straight than we were while in the thick of things.

The next day was a bit too exciting, too.  I was exhausted and wanted to sleep in a bit but I had to make lunch for M, and he had some crop insurance stuff to look up that I had to find for him.  R was going to take M's service truck to him and I had to go bring him home.  So I quickly made a taco salad for J's and our hired man's lunches in case I wouldn’t have time later.  Good thing I did.

When I took R home it looked like there were cows in a pasture they weren’t supposed to be in so we grabbed the 4-wheeler and went to check.  Sure enough they had broken down a gate and went south.  There was a broken wire on the gate into another pasture that we don’t want them in yet so we had to fix that and run 3 cows out of there.  We were going to move them south in a couple of days so it wasn’t a big deal really.  R decided to feed and try to lure the rest so I went to give them a little nudge in the right direction.  The majority of them went, but we didn’t want to push them too hard so that they took off without their babies.  By the time we got done with that it was after 1:00 and I still had to make sandwiches and throw the lunches together.  J didn’t get his lunch until after 2, but it worked out because he needed me to help him move a truck.

I was just eating my lunch at 3 when J called and asked where the smoke was this time.  I panicked thinking something had started up at the farm again, but I looked out the window and couldn’t see anything so I told J I’d drive up the road and investigate and found some grass and brush on fire at the neighbor’s field.  When I got there they were just headed to their yard to get their water truck.  I talked to J again and he said R was coming with the fire truck that had been left at the farm in case something flared during the night.  R had just taken the fire truck back to town when J called him.  He had a sickening feeling also when he saw smoke again but quickly realized it wasn't at his place this time.  I was stomping fire out with my feet as much as I could until R got there.  He just about got stuck because the ground is really boggy.  The neighbors got back and promptly got their water truck stuck.  There was fire heading up the field so they made a round around it with their tractor to stop that.  Another fire truck was there shortly after and the fire worked itself to water so it wasn’t long before it was under control.  It was stupid of them to not have their water truck there if they were going to start a fire.

It’s funny because someone commented yesterday that they never show up to help with a fire.  There are two brothers and aren’t very neighborly except when they want to borrow something from us.  I beat out a lot of fire today and they watched me more than they helped.  I was a little fired up after I got home.  Not how I want to spend my afternoons.

So, now we are dealing with insurance adjusters and trying to determine what was lost.  M and I have started a list, and we're up to three pages so far including a lot of fencing supplies, generators, air compressors, chain saws, a welder, innumerable parts and tools.  Our hired man came back into the yard with our water truck and got stuck and that's when we realized all of our chains were in the shop.  Seems like every day we need something and realize it's gone.

We did not, however, lose anything that can't be replaced, and it could have been so much worse.  I just don't want that excitement ever again!