We've had more busy days with some nasty weather. It was cold and snowy on Easter Sunday. THe first thing we had to deal with was two cows that had calved side by side with both wanting one calf and no one claiming the other. We pulled out the calf sled for the first time this season and put one calf in it and the other in the cab of the side-by-side with me while M encouraged the cows to follow. The unclaimed calf went straight into the warmer while we determined who the other calf belonged to and gave it a bottle of warm milk to get it going. That one was fine, but the other one didn't make it even after we warmed it up and made several attempts to feed it. That mama was a bit high-strung so she might take a trip to town. We had 12 calves that day so we were busy making sure that they were as warm and dry as possible and put out fresh straw around the windbreaks.
So, we missed church and Easter dinner since we didn't get home for lunch until after 2:00 and were back with the cows by 4:00 and then had to go feed the bunch near Richland. R was on night duty, riding through the herd at least every hour until about 3:30 am then M was up at 4:00 am to take over. R brought in one calf during the night and put it in the warmer and gave it a bottle and M took it back to its mother in the morning. R also brought in a cow that was starting to calve so that she could have it in the barn. Lucky girl.
It was a pretty slow calving day on Monday so M was able to attend a graveside memorial service for a neighbor lady. Not a very nice day for it since we had wind and snow so it was short service, but we felt it was important to be there. M had some time with the family afterward, but I had to get back to my town job. The husband died a little over a year ago, so that's one more family gone from our area. M always says he hates to see the old folks go because soon we will be the old folks. Of the neighbors M grew up with around here only M's parents and one other lady are still with us, and they all live in Scobey now.
The storm really kicked in later Monday night with high winds and snow and M and R had the same plan as the night before. M went to bed but could hear the wind and couldn't sleep so left the house about 2:30 am and spent the night in the pickup checking on the cows. Thankfully, there were no new calves during the night. Those smart girls crossed their legs and hunkered down to ride out the storm.
M came home and hit the couch for a few ZZZs in the morning and sent me over to do another check. I picked the perfect time of day to go as there was no wind, the sun was trying to peek out of the clouds, and it was a beautiful, peaceful morning. I found one new calf, and it was fine. There were a few that looked a little wet and cold, but all in all, not too bad. By the afternoon the clouds were gone and the sun was bright and warm.
We hadn't tagged any calves during the nasty weather so we had close to 15 to get tagged which we did that afternoon. We also found another pair of cows trying to claim the same calf so we got them to the barn and separated. A lot of that going on this year it seems.
It's been another busy calf day today with 9 new ones when M did his first check. While out tagging those we found 3 more new ones and have had a couple more this afternoon. The weather is good so they need to keep 'em coming....especially since J is ready to get farming and M will be pulled two ways. Poor guy has been feeling his age lately and discovered he can't run as fast as he used to when a crazy mama chased him....twice today! She belongs to our neighbor, and I'm pretty sure she won't be sticking around our place.
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