We had 2 !/2 inches of rain through Thursday and Friday and that meant no farming. No farming meant cow work all weekend. The first order of business was moving our bulls (again) to make room for our replacement heifers. I swear those poor bulls are going to get dizzy, but at least they know where they're going. Next up was moving the heifers home to start our synchronization process to get them ready to AI. We had to move them a couple of miles and it went really smoothly with M and R on the 4-wheelers and me in the Jeep watching gates.
We had a quick lunch at R's house and then had to move our cows and calves from home east to near where the heifers had been. Usually the hardest part of that move is right at the start and through the first gate, but that went just fine. We normally try to stop them there and let them pair up some before we continue on. M was opening and closing gates and didn't get there fast enough and the lead pairs were in a hurry. We ended up with some calves at the back who couldn't find their mamas and kept turning back until M couldn't hold them by himself. I went to tell R to close the next gate so that they could group up, but I was too late as the lead bunch was already a quarter mile past the gate. We were having no luck with the calves so had to bring the whole bunch back and try again. Some of those calves we had to chase back three times and were really afraid of getting them too played out. There was still one holdout by the first gate and Bob the fencer, who had come along to help, thought it would be a good idea to try to rope it. R got it by a leg while Bob tried to rope it and R somehow got a good kick to the man parts and went down. He probably didn't appreciate the rest of us laughing at him. That was the end of that and we finally managed to chase the calf to the rest of the herd and got them all moving again and to their final destination. M stayed there for awhile to move mineral tubs and keep an eye on the calves while R and his girlfriend and I went to R's house to make supper. R swears it was the worst move ever, but M says he has a short memory.
After supper M and I went to take a grain truck to J who was seeding north of where we had moved the cows. He and C had picked up a demo tractor and drill to finish the last 900 acres of seeding. There were still some lone calves when we went by on the way up to the field, but only one or two when we came back. Sadly, they'll only stay there for a few days before we'll move them again.
I woke up Sunday morning thinking of a lazy Sunday then realized that wasn't going to happen. We had to bring in the heifers and give them shots and insert a CIDR device into their vaginas. Yep, all sorts of fun in the cow business! The device is silicone impregnated with progesterone. In ten days we have to run them all through again and pull them out. We enlisted R's girlfriend to help, and she did great. She works as a medical assistant in a clinic so isn't fazed by this stuff. She has a 4-year-old boy and we also had our 15-year-old cousin helping. We're thinking they got quite the education, and we're interested to find out what the 4-year-old has to say about his weekend when he goes back to daycare today! He was just in his glory playing in the mud and water in the corral. I bet he smelled good by the time we were done!
Everyone was played out by the time we ran 121 head through, but our day was far from over. Jared, R, J and I headed to Opheim so J could finish seeding there and move his tractor home while Jared and R brought trucks and I pulled an auger back. M was seeding here while we were doing that.
When I got back I went to check the heifers and found one out. She was right by the gate wanting back in so I opened it and she was just about through when she spooked and ran the other way. I made one attempt to get her back in and then gave up. R got her in when he got back.
There was rain in the forecast so J was going to seed into the night and M was up at 4:00 am to go out. He got a few hours in before the rain set in. It should be a lazy Monday since it is raining, but I have to catch up on laundry and bills. Sigh........
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