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........
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
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......
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......
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