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!

Double Duty

We are officially in farming mode so M has been pulling double duty, checking cows first thing n the morning and getting to the field as soon as he can.  His heart hasn't really been in the farming yet, but he's getting there.  With the new(er) and bigger drills they are making good progress in their first week.

We've had some howling winds lately (a typical spring here) which make me want to stay indoors.  I am occasionally pulled out against my will, however.  One day it was too windy to even fill the drills so we did cow stuff instead.  The wind went down slightly in the afternoon so M made me help load cow-calf pairs to take to Opheim.  As we were headed to the pasture, R noted they were all on the barn-side of the bog and wondered if we could keep them there.  M and I both doubted it since they almost always head for the hill and we have to fight them to cross the bog.  Amazingly, they stayed on the right side of the bog and headed straight to the corrals.  We cut off 19 pairs and separated the cows from the calves.  The guys didn't have to throw all the calves in the trailer this time as the majority jumped in themselves, and the cows always load easily looking for their babies.  M was very happy (and amazed) with how smoothly that all went.

The next morning we moved our replacement heifers to pasture from the neighbor's where their fencer had been feeding them for us.  The nice thing about moving heifers is that it doesn't take long! After that we moved bulls to the pasture the pairs had been in so that we could eventually move some pairs to the pasture where the bulls had been. Sounds like work, but logistically it makes sense.  The we loaded up the last of the pairs and R took them to Opheim while M headed to the field.

R has been pulling a little double duty himself as he's the head go-fer, and the other day he ran M's drill in the morning and J's in the afternoon.  I helped him tag 8 calves in between.  We're down to the last 50 cows to calve so things are slowing down a bit in that department.

I have had a pretty easy week just running to the field as needed and checking the cows when everyone else is busy.  I was happy to ride the hills the other day and see all the crocuses on the hillsides.  I also got to hang out with Kade on a beautiful day and play some baseball.  Brought back memories of all the hours I played baseball with R.  I always wanted him to make the big leagues and say " I owe my success to my mom who played with me for hours and hours". 😉

I've actually had today to myself (after helping R with some tagging) so finally started working on Sawyer's birthday gift.  (My dog made the project a little more challenging after he chewed some holes in the fabric, ugh!). The day is not over yet, however, and now I'm on cow cam duty.

Damn Weather!

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.

Musical Mamas

Ranch life never ceases to be interesting. We had nasty weather with wind and snow one day so had to put a couple of calves in the warmer and leave them in the barn for awhile.  They were both fine after getting warmed up.

Thursday night R took his girlfriend out to supper so we were in charge of Kade and of watching the cameras.  We noticed a heifer that was acting funny so we kept an eye on her.  About the time M was heading to bed I noticed that she was lying down and pushing.  R was on his way home so he checked on her and put her in a pen.  There was no water bag or feet yet.  I went to bed but woke up a couple of hours later and checked the camera.  Still no feet visible.  R and I both thought it was odd so I woke M up and we headed over to the barn thinking that the calf might be backwards or some other weird thing was happening.  By the time we got there R had her in the maternity pen and was hooking up the chains to pull the large calf.  It took the three of us to pull it.  Gotta love the bonding time at 3 am.

The next morning when M went to check, two heifers had calved side by side so he didn't know which calf was which.  One heifer was not playing nice and had pushed one of the calves under the fence and out of the corral.  It took him some time to figure out whose was whose and made one mama happy, but the other was a bit nasty.  She acted like she wanted the calf, but once it was with her she'd butt it all around the barn.  We had to separate them to keep the calf safe and hope that she'd settle down.  We mixed up a bottle of colostrum for it and fed it in case she didn't come to her senses.  In the midst of that M had to pull another calf.

One of my cows had lost her calf a few days before so we thought about giving her the new calf and not bothering with the crazy mama.  However, a trip out to check the cows changed our minds about that when we found our first set of twins of the season.  Sometimes a cow will only claim one of the twins and leave the other.  This cow seemed okay with it, but twins generally don't grow as well so we usually try to take one to another mother.  My cow is a nice, gentle thing and "too good to not have a calf" according to M.  He had been trying to convince me to buy one from a neighbor, but I was dragging my feet so we decided to give her one of the twins.

She wasn't resistant to the idea, but she also wasn't as receptive as we thought she might be.  We taped some of the hide from her dead calf to the new calf so that it would smell like hers.  Then we put her in the chute so that the calf could suck.  We've had to do that a couple of times.  She likes her ground feed so we bribe her with that while she's in the chute and the calf is eating.  M doesn't think it will take too long for her to come around.  I hope so....for the sake of the poor calf.

The crazy mama went into the chute so the calf could eat, and she finally came around a bit.  However, she will still push other calves around so she needs to be segregated somehow.

During the nasty weather we had a new calf die before we found it and could get it to the warmer.  The cow has been guarding the calf out in the pasture so we brought it in and got her to follow it to the barn where she'll get a new calf from a neighbor.  He owes us money so we're hoping it will be a freebie.  We'll see if he thinks the same thing.

It was a beautiful morning today and we had 11 new calves to tag.  Unfortunately, the forecast is calling for more wet snow for the next few days.  R is worried about filling up our pens with grafted calves and the crazy ones in case we need to get cold, wet calves to the barn.  I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  On the bright side, we're about half done calving!  Keep calm and carry on :)

Welcome to the Sh** Show

It’s been a wild few days at the ranch.  On Friday M and J had to go to Glasgow to finish signing up for the new Farm Program and pick up a sprayer and pay for another drill.  M wanted R and I to try to get some cow-calf pairs into the pasture adjacent to where all the cows are now.  That was much easier said than done although we did get 18 pairs sorted out and moved in the morning.  We thought we’d let the cows settle down a bit and then try again in the afternoon at feeding time.  It wasn’t any easier at that time and we only got 3 more pairs out.

We are doing things a bit differently this year since our herd has grown, and we have some of our neighbor’s cows on shares.  We decided to keep the heifers and their calves separate from the big herd so they move from the barn and corral to what we used to use as our calving pasture.  The calving pasture for the main herd is where we had new windbreak built and where we used to move cows to after they had calved.  So, the cows aren’t quite used to the new system and there are quite a few more of them so it just makes life more interesting.

On Saturday morning M thought we’d try to get more pairs cut out, and he found out first-hand how difficult it was trying to do it on foot like he likes to do.  (Sometimes we feel like he thinks we aren't trying hard enough so it's nice when he has the same difficulty that we did)  We had Kade with us and he may have been a distraction since he is NEVER quiet.  Eventually M and R resorted to the 4-wheelers and moved another 13 pairs.  From there we moved to hauling heifers and their calves down to a pasture near Richland.  We always try to gate the calves separately so that they don’t get trampled by the cows in the trailer.  Loading calves is a lot of work since you basically have to throw them in one by one and then try to hold them in.  We were taking 8 pairs at a time.  The first load they tried to get all 8 calves in at once and have Kade try to keep them in.  That did not work well, but we finally got them all loaded and the cows in behind them.  Then M got stuck in the mud with the pickup and trailer trying to get out of the yard and had to be pulled with a tractor.  Not a great start to the day.

While he went to drop them off R and I sorted off another 8 pairs and messed around in the barn during a passing rain shower.  For the next load they each grabbed a calf and put them in the trailer and I held the gate in the trailer until they brought two more.  That worked much better although it was probably more work for the guys.  R made me lunch and showed me how his drone works while we waited for M to drop of the load.  We ended up taking 30 pairs down.  Kade helped me get the last six pairs from one pen to the next so he felt like a good helper.  We still had to feed and tag a couple of calves and in the meantime another heifer had calved.  Busy day!

We were all beat by the end of the day and I was determined to have a lazy Sunday and get a sewing project finished.  It almost happened.  R and I saw a new calf when we went to tag a different one on Saturday afternoon.  When M went over to check on Sunday morning there was a calf crying and looking like an orphan while the cow was trying to claim every other calf she saw.  He watched them for awhile and then determined he was going to have to get them to the barn and pen them together.  He tried to get her down to the barn himself and couldn’t get her so just as I was getting to my sewing he called for help.  R and family had just left to go see friends and their new baby so I had to go help.
By the time I got there he had her close to the barn, but we had to push the heifers into a back pen and run her into the corral and to the barn.  Did I mention how much slop there is around the corrals?  It’s really hard to run in ankle-deep (or deeper) mud.  We did get her in without too much trouble.  I almost fell once and that would have been a messy fall and did fall another time but caught myself so only my glove got nasty.  We put her in the maternity pen and let the calf suck and then they were both fine…..and I went to finish my sewing project.

I was pretty happy to go to my town job on Monday….especially after M called at lunchtime to tell me how his day was going.  A sick calf, a calf out of one of my cows that couldn’t get up (and difficulty getting the cow to the barn), and then half the herd rubbed down a gate and mixed  in with the pairs we had worked so hard to sort off.  R is pretty laid back so when he gets fired up you know things aren’t going well.  I guess he was fired up.  They did get a large portion of the escapees back where they belonged.  R’s girlfriend had the day off (she and I job-share both on and off the farm) so she got in on the fun instead of me.  It was her turn!

M had me up early this morning to try my hand at feeding the weak calf.  He was actually surprised it was still alive and had moved a little.  He’s not sure if the cow had trouble delivering it or what exactly is wrong.  I never did get it to suck but I would squirt some milk out of the nipple into the back of its throat, and it would swallow so I felt like I got a little something into it.  We’ll have to try again later.  They’ve been giving the sick one electrolytes and probiotics, and it has improved from yesterday.  M always comments that he feels like most people wouldn’t try so hard to save them, but he just has to.

Today is M’s birthday so we have the boys and their families coming for supper.  I’m just hoping for enough uninterrupted hours to get a cake made, my house cleaned, and supper cooked.  So, I’d better get to it before something else happens!  I wonder if other ranchers have days like these....

Vacation is Over!

I was home from Daytona for a couple of weeks and then headed off to Phoenix for five days to visit my mom and sister.  Another sister and her husband and our cousin from Kentucky were there at that time as well so we had a mini reunion.  I’ve not have the opportunity to spend much time with my cousin so it was fun to hang out with her some and hear about her life.  We took in a Marc Cohn concert that I really enjoyed and one sister and I went to the NASCAR race because my husband said “it would be stupid for you not to go if you’re there while it’s on”.  Okay!  Sure wouldn’t want him to think I was stupid.  My guy blew a tire, wrecked and caught on fire so that was a bit disappointing, but still a fun day and great bonding time with my sister.  She’s going through a rough time so I’m glad I could be there for her.

It was hot there, though, and I was glad to be home where it’s a bit cooler.  I felt like I hadn’t caught up around my house since we got back from Daytona so the first day or so home I stayed at home and tried to get my house in order.  It smelled and looked a bit like a bachelor pad—ugh!  The night R had to play darts M and I were on cow duty so I went over with him to do a check.  We had started calving two weeks early and that was the first time I had even seen a calf this season.  Then I looked at the calving record book and counted to 30 and really felt like a slacker.  M’s comment didn’t help….”it’s like you went on vacation a month ago and haven’t come back”.  Ouch!

Hopefully, I redeemed myself last night.  Just before I was going to go to bed I checked the cow cams and saw that R had one in the pen.  I thought by the time I finished my bedtime routine she’d have progressed well, but she hadn’t.  I was willing her to hurry up so I could go to sleep knowing all was well, but I watched for an hour or more.  Finally, I called R to see if he thought he was going to have to pull the calf.  He said yes.  I asked if he wanted help.  He said sure since I was up.  Sometimes it’s nice to have an extra set of hands.  By the time I got there he already had her in the maternity pen and was putting the chains on.  I really didn’t have to do anything, but bonding with my son over a cow’s rear-end is priceless, really.  We took a walk through the rest of the heifers and I went home to bed.  M  was dead to the world and didn’t even know I was gone until I told him this morning.

Calving season always brings some interesting moments and some bad luck.  We’ve had a calf with a foot back that they didn’t get to soon enough and it died.  We also had a cow die for no apparent reason after calving several days earlier.  We have a cow that is just not healthy so we’re concerned about her calf and one that has hardly any milk.  We had one that wouldn’t take her calf for awhile so we had to get her in the head gate and tie her feet so the calf could nurse.  She snapped out of her funk quickly, thank goodness.  We’ve supplemented a few calves so I’ve gotten in on that.  Again I quote “it needs a mother’s touch”.  That translates to “you’re much more patient”.
Just as things dry up we seem to get some wet snow.  I had almost forgotten the fun of being in muck up to my knees but had to help M with gates when he was feeding the other day and came home a mess.  Didn’t help that I had to push Kade’s 4-wheeler out of a mud hole.

We’re having a little blast of wintry weather today with some rain and wet snow.  I’m hoping the roads have cleared a little because I have an appointment for a haircut and I really need one!