Baby, Oh Baby

I seem to have a harder time remembering things these days so before calving started I had this great plan to write down calving notes daily so I could remember the stories of which cow lost a calf and had another one grafted on or any other freak thing.  Well, I couldn't even remember to write stuff down!  Calving time seemed to fly by and when we're having 15 calves a day it gets a bit hectic.  We did, of course, have some freak things happen.  I remember one day R asked if I thought other people had the weird stuff happen that we seem to.  Of course, I don't remember which freak thing had happened that day.  We had three calves develop navel infections which we've never had before.  We lost one, but saved two.  We had some gale force winds that seemed to go one for days forcing all the cows down into the windbreaks.  On one of those days we had about four cows calve right next to each other and none seemed to know which calf was theirs.  It always seems like two cows will try to claim one calf and no one will want the other one.  We had to use our best guess and put the pairs in separate pens until they bonded.  We had a couple of really big calves that apparently didn't have an easy birth, and we weren't able to save them.  That's especially disheartening.  We had one born with twisted legs.

When M's dad passed away we had three of our AI'd heifers left to calve.  M's sister became obsessed with checking the cow cams, and we watched one calve over supper.  The cow wasn't getting up and taking care of the new calf which concerned us a little bit until we realized she was having another.  R was at home and ran out to check on it and the second calf had a leg back so he got it into the maternity pen and got it taken care of.  Then later that night the other two heifers calved....one with another set of twins.  Their timing was perfect as we knew we'd have a break before the next cycle of heifers started calving and R was able to have some freedom to spend time with family without worrying about his heifers.

Now calving is over and most of the pairs are moved to pasture and the open cows sold so it's a bit quiet around the barn.  Won't be long, though, before we'll have to test bulls and start the AI process on our heifers.

Seeding is over, also and went pretty well and pretty quickly.  The guys had about 6 hours left when it started raining and we got 3-4" of rain.  Maybe we'll actually have a hay crop this year--yay!  M and I made a quick trip to Billings during the rain.  He is setting up a solar pump system on our new stock well so had to pick up all the stuff for that.  We have also decided to build a barn/machine shed and had to finalize some plans on that.  And, we met my brother who delivered our my mom to us so we could bring her home for the summer.  It is always so nice to see my brother.  We have so much to talk about!

Sawyer turned 3 and for the first time had her birthday party on time--early, in fact, as we had her party the night before her birthday.  We also found out that J and K are having a boy this time, in early October.  Grandpa was pretty excited about that.  I would have been perfectly happy to have another girl to spoil, but I do have a soft spot for boys.  She got more Barbie stuff so I can't wait for our Barbie play date on Monday! 

Speaking of which, M's cousin's son, Jared, who has spent many summers working with us graduated from high school yesterday.  We feel like he's our baby so we celebrated with him.  The graduates have a tradition of giving flowers or candy to people have been important in their lives, and he gave L and I roses.  He's even given me flowers on Mother's Day a few times.  It makes me feel good to think I have had a positive influence on his life.  I always tease him that he was such a scrawny little thing that I never thought he'd grow up to be anything.  He's about 6'2" and 200 pounds so I guess he grew up.  His goal in life is to farm with J so I don't anticipate that he'll go too far afield although he is planning to go to a tech school this fall.


M and R have been busy fencing and R had a plan to plant a bunch of trees near where the new barn is going to go so we got that done this weekend.  M was really undecided on the barn because of the cost, but now that he pulled the trigger is glad that he did.  The other day he mentioned that there haven't  been any real improvements to the infrastructure of the farm other than fences and windbreaks so it was time to do it.  Just hope the cattle and grain markets improve so we can pay for it!

We have a lot to accomplish in a few months so bring on summer!

Saying Goodbye.....

The past couple of weeks have been chaotic to say the least.  On March 11, M and I were headed to his aunt's (him mom's sister) 70th birthday party and stopped to see if his mom wanted to ride with us.  When we got to their house she said she wasn't going because dad was sick, and she didn't want to leave him.  He was in bed and had a terrible chest congestion.  She had tried to get him in to the doctor, but they couldn't fit him in.  She was pretty sure she'd have to take him to the ER in the morning which she did, and he was admitted to our local hospital, thinking they'd just keep him overnight.  We were busy with calving and thought we'd head in later in the day so see how he was doing.  Late that afternoon I got a call from C's wife who said we needed to get to Scobey....now!  M was at the barn where there is no cell service so I called R's house and got Kade and had to explain that it was very important that he run to the barn and tell M to come home.  He doesn't really know how to hurry so I headed that direction thinking that I could possibly drive the two miles faster than he could get across the yard to the barn, but he must have hurried because right after I started out, M called to see what was going on.

We were about halfway to Scobey when M's mom called to see where we were and tell us that they had intubated him and the ambulance plane was on its way to take him to Billings.  When we arrived they had him sedated and were manually bagging him to help him breathe.  If he would have stayed there he would have died, and they weren't really confident that he'd make it to Billings.  It was decided that M would fly with him and C and J would drive Mom to Billings and his sister and her husband were on their way from Rapid City.  We scrambled to throw together some clothes, etc and everyone headed to Billings about 7:30 pm.  I knew one of my best friends was in Billings for the weekend so I called her and she met M at the hospital and sat with him until the rest of the family arrived.  She used to work at the nursing home in Scobey when M's dad had been there besides being one of our closest neighbors.  She's such an angel and she and Phil had a special bond.

He was holding his own through the weekend while on a ventilator and being pumped full of antibiotics.  He had a pneumonia and influenza.  We think he probably picked it up when he was in Billings earlier in the week for a dermatology procedure.  M and C and their sister's husband headed home on Monday to take care of some business and do some work while Mom and their sister stayed in Billings.  M requested that they give him a day's notice of when they were planning to take the vent out, but that didn't happen, and he got a call on Thursday (March 17) that they were taking it out that morning.  They had been weaning him off the oxygen, and he was breathing on his own and his white count was down and the vent was mostly for drainage of his lung.  They had to determine if he could maintain without the vent because if they left it too long he would be dependent on it.  So, again, M and C made a flying trip to Billings and their sister's husband came back on Friday.  It wasn't long before they determined that his lung was filling up again and his white count took off.  He just was not strong enough to fight the infection on his own so it was just a matter of time before he succumbed.  M and C had gone to the motel to get some rest on Friday night, but their mom would not leave his side.  M woke up about 1:30 am and not ten minutes later he got the call from his sister that their dad had passed.

He wasn't very alert most of that time and couldn't communicate except with his eyes and by grabbing their hands.  I was disappointed that I couldn't be there to see him and to be there for the family, but R and I were holding down the fort here with the calving.

Of course, we had some cold, windy weather while M was gone so we had to be vigilant.  R usually stays up until midnight and does 2 am and 4 am checks and then M checks at 6 and starts feeding so R can get some sleep.  With M gone, I did the 6 am check and helped R with tagging, etc.

Everyone was back home by Saturday afternoon, March 19, and then we had to start planning the funeral.  We had a whirlwind day on Monday, and poor L was over making decisions by the end of it.  She deferred a lot of it to her kids but had a few things she felt strongly about.  I felt like I was being pushy trying to keep everyone on track to get it done, but we got through it.  We've been in town every day besides keeping up with the calving.

We had a family supper at the church (where there was room for everyone) and then went to the funeral home to view the body.  Some of us had already been there the day before.  He looked so good, like he would wake with a little nudge which I did many times when I went to their house for lunch.  There was a nice display of memorabilia with his hats and overalls and picture boards as well as some of the memorial flowers and plants.  M made sure that his dad had his cell phone in his jacket pocket so he'd always have it.  He had quite the knack for calling at the absolute worst time and made his rounds calling each of his sons and grandsons, if not daily then several times a week.  R said sometimes he'd call him three times in a day--in the morning to see what he had planned for the day, in the middle of the day to see if he was doing what he had planned, and in the evening to see what he had gotten done.  His interest in the farm never waned.

The funeral was Thursday afternoon, March 24, with the grandsons and step-grandsons as pallbearers.  We were disappointed that Jared was out of town because we really wanted him as one as well.  We played Paul Harvey's "So God Made a Farmer" and Pam's husband, Ray, read some scripture.  I sang "There'll Be Peace In the Valley For Me".  I and everyone else was surprised that I could do it.  I got my tears out earlier in the week while practicing and prayed for strength to honor Phil and God.  I told people that I wasn't sure I could do it, but it was worth a shot because he would have been happy that I did.  We also played Glen Campbell singing Come Harvest Time (click here to listen) which was a beautiful and perfect song.  Ray put together a slide show with music that Pam and I picked out and that was shown at the supper the night before and at the reception after the funeral service.  L said many people told her it was a lovely service and she gave her kids and their spouses the credit.  We wanted to make it personal.

There was an honor guard at the cemetery to honor Phil as a vet who served in Korea, and the family decided that M as the firstborn should have the flag.  It was kind of a gray day and as the ceremony at the cemetery was ending the wind came up and some raindrops fell.  M was pretty sure that his dad would be happy to have some raindrops on his coffin.  I always hate leaving the cemetery and seeing the coffin sitting all alone.  That image gets me every time I go to a funeral.  All Pam could think of was that he would be cold, and he hated to be cold.

It seemed like the longest week ever because we were in town every day for 10 days straight.  Pam and her family stayed through Easter so we were visiting at least every evening.

I have some lasting memories of Phil.  M and I were married in the drought years of the 1980's.  I will always remember Phil standing in his yard cursing at the sky when it would cloud up but never rain.  At the time I thought he was a crazy man, now I understand his passion.  He was color blind so couldn't see the wheat when it was just starting to come up so every spring would find him in a field on his hands and knees digging in a furrow to find the first sprout.  I remember before we had kids of our own and I would see him tease someone I'd say to M that he couldn't tease our kids like that.  Well, of course he did, and they took it just fine.  I think of the times J would sleep over at their house and Phil would cuddle with him all night long.  Or the hours watching "Walker, Texas Ranger" with R who would always fall asleep and miss the end so grandpa would make up some wild tale of how the episode ended.

It will be strange to be at their house without a news channel on the TV 24/7 and without a newspaper in "Philological" order.

Phil was still the go-to guy for so many questions.  I'm wondering how many times I'll hear "I need to ask Dad" in the next few weeks or months.  I remember that feeling after losing my own dad.  L has a strong faith and in typical Mom/Grandma fashion tried to console others.  She understands that he was suffering and was ready to go.  He had been in and out of the nursing home in the past few years so she is not completely unfamiliar with being home alone.

It's been an exhausting few weeks--emotionally and physically.  I keep thinking we'll get rested up, but it hasn't quite happened yet.  We've been having 15 calves a day and with the nice weather we're having, J is chomping at the bit to get into the field so M will be stretched even that much farther.  He really needs some downtime to just rest and get used to the new normal.  It's so exhausting to say goodbye.  I hope he says hello to my dad.

Happy New Year

There's always so much talk about New Year's Resolutions.  Mine are usually the same year after year; lose weight, get in better shape, be kinder and gentler, yada, yada, yada...  This year I've been thinking how fun it would be to make resolutions for OTHER people....

Like our neighbors:

• Resolve to fix your fences and keep your cows in
• Resolve to take care of your weeds so they don't blow onto our land.

Or our kids:

• Call your mother!  She misses you and would like to talk about more than chores.
• Listen to your mother.  She's been where you are and has learned a few things.
• Make sure your kids know you are the boss and they aren't.  Play with them more.  Hug them more.  Let them be little.  Be kind to their mamas and try to see life from their point of view once in awhile.
• Don't take life so seriously.  Lighten up!
• Make more time for fun because the work will always be there.
• Take better care of yourself.  Drink less and lose a few pounds.

Their significant others:

• Resolve to not try to change your men.  It's a waste of time and energy.
• Resolve to appreciate all they do, realize they work very hard to take care of you. 
• Resolve to remember they're not perfect and are still little boys at heart.
• Resolve to respect them and support them.

My husband:

• Resolve to not work so hard and to have more fun. 
• Resolve to respect the opinions of your kids.  They are going to be running things soon.
• Resolve to treat their mama well and see life from her point of view once in awhile.
• Resolve to be more positive.  No matter what bad things happen we always get through         them by the grace of God.  Be thankful.
• Resolve to take better care of yourself.  You're not getting any younger.
• Resolve to not yell at the cows......okay, that one is totally unrealistic!
• Resolve to spoil the dog a little less and show him you are the pack leader.

People of the world in general:

• Resolve to value EVERY life.  Treat others with respect and kindness.
• Resolve to leave the earth as you found it, if not better.  Clean up after yourselves.  Don't be wasteful.  Don't think anyone owes you anything.
• Resolve to pray more.  Only God can get us out of here.
• Resolve to BE HAPPY, BE GRATEFUL, and BE KIND!

I wonder what resolutions others would make for me.  I may have just opened a huge can of worms!
Wishing everyone the best in 2016.

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.