Feedin' Hay

One sunny afternoon a few weeks ago, I took the 'little girls', and went with My Cowboy to feed hay. We usually feed round bales, but - thanks to the drought of 2012 - we have some large squares here, that we had to buy for the cows.

I use the term 'we' loosely.

 

 

Driving out to feed, this is what you see...

Awww.

 

 Then, there is the babysitter. Yes, cows do babysit. A couple cows may go to get a drink at the water tank or creek, and their calves will hunker down together, while another cow stands guard. It's touching. Sorta.

 

At the sight of the hay truck, they come running.
And then wait patiently while My Cowboy cuts strings off the bales and starts forkin' the hay off.

 

Or not...

Actually, cows know not the meaning of the word patience.

It's all noses to the hay bale, people! (I mean, cows.)

 

Anyways.

 

    I was doing what I do best, (next to makin' cinnamon rolls): Holding my baby, taking photos and videos by turn, and steering the truck, while making sure the drenching bottle stayed more or less upright. (My Cowboy had to drench a sick calf after feeding.)

  

You see, I dislike driving large vehicles, so I opt out on any excuse I can think up. Like taking videos. Or holding my baby. Or just about anything.

 

I act like I'm helping by reaching over with one hand and steering. But it's not really necessary. He does it every day or so by himself.

 

So I hold the baby and take photos and My Cowboy starts the truck, then climbs onto the back of the truck (while it's moving!) and forks hay. When he's done,  he climbs back through the door and continues driving.

 

Taggin' Calves

One sunny day last week, I rode out with My Cowboy to tag calves. No - I didn't saddle up and ride out - I was far and away too lazy for that! I rode out in my Suburban. Much faster, easier, and more comfy. Yes, that's how us ranch-wives roll. At least, this ranch wife.

I can drive right up and stick my lens out the window. No need for actually braving the elements.

How do you tag calves? Well, it's about as easy as it sounds...you just ride up to a new baby calf, rope it, and tag it.

Ha.

First - you have to know how to rope. Therein lies the first difficulty. Of course, My Cowboy knows how to rope, so no worries!

 Here he has the calf roped...  

 Then you kneel on the rope,(so baby doesn't go bananas and freak out your horse) while writing the mama cow's number on the calf's eartag. You know - so you can tell which calf goes to which cow. That's sorta the whole point...

Then you throw it, like this...

 Then you carefully place the eartag into the eartag-pliers-thingy, so it doesn't fall out... ( I really have no idea what those pliers are called??)

Then you put the pliers over the ear, and squeeze, which, when done correctly - attaches the tag in the ear much like an ear ring. No - I don't think it hurts them much, cause they don't usually bawl. Besides, how many women and girls pierce their ears? Pretty much the same thing, I'd guess.

 Then you loosen the rope...

 And let Baby run back to mama....

 And everyone is happy.

And My Cowboy is off to rope and tag another calf.

Now - multiply that process times several hundred.

Yes. That is a lot of roping.

remember:

Roping = Fun

Have a happy day, and find something to rope!

Faces Of Agriculture...check it out!

Happy Monday!

Don't you just love Mondays?! I love the feeling of a 'fresh start', the burst of energy and ensuing accomplishments that characterize most Mondays for me. (yes, I did say 'most'. Sometimes even Mondays don't go as planned!) I seem to accomplish more on Monday, than any other day all week.

Anyways.

 

Today I am being featured over at Faces of Agriculture. They are a neat blog featuring - you guessed it - Agriculture! Specifically, families in the agriculture business, whether it's farming, ranching, or some other facet of agriculture. You really need to check them out. Very cool stories!  You can find them at: www.facesofagriculture.blogspot.com. Go on, now.

 

I had a town run this morning, to stick some headstalls in the mail for some customers in Texas.

On the way, I saw the damages of the last big wind that blew through here. You'd think that when the overhead sign says: "No light trailers; wind gusts 65+ mph",  people would listen. But do they listen, I ask you? No. And then this happens.

 

 

Then there's the new baby calves that are filling up the fields around the ranch. Cutest lil' things you ever did see. But I'm warnin' ya - don't get too close to their mama! She'll run you over, man.  (I can't blame her - I kinda wanna run people over too, if they mess with MY babies!)

 

 

 

I'm off to do some more productive, fun Monday-stuff.

Today I am thankful for productive Mondays.

What are you thankful for today?

 

How to Graft a Calf.

Have you ever heard of 'grafting fruit trees'? How about grafting a calf?

Ah. I thought that might be new to you.

It's quite a normal, frequent procedure on a cattle ranch. At least the ranches I have been on.

First off, the seasoned mama cows are usually pretty good mothers. But the first time heifers are often less...motherly. Sometimes they will refuse to let the baby suck milk - and that is a bad thing. Sometimes they even kick their babies. (Please don't insult yourself or anyone else by suggesting that we have evolved from any kind of animal or non-human organism....I can't imagine any woman I know who would kick her newborn!)

Anyways, so when the new mama won't let the baby suck, we  try to find a cow who will adopt it. However, since most cows aren't too interested in the social aspects of an abandoned baby - we must convince her to adopt.

Here is an abandoned baby - only a few days old, or less.

 So, My Cowboy has to do the un-fun part of cowboying, and skin a calf that (in this case) has been dead for 2-3 days. This calf died during or shortly after birth. My Cowboy cuts the skin off with a skinning knife.

 Meanwhile, I ooh and aah over the cuteness of baby cows. My Cowboy has tied this baby up by the legs, so that it can't jump off the truck and hurt it's little self.

 My trusty sidekick is always standing ready to help... or just make me smile!

 Despite being tied up - this calf managed to flop off the truck somehow, so My Cowboy had to slip a rope 'round it's neck, and head it back to the barn.

My Cowboy with his new pet. (just kiddin)

He slaps the wet hide from the dead calf over the back of the live calf.

....Ties it on with red twine - always available on any ranch. He makes slits through the hide on each corner, and slips the twine through the holes and under the chest and belly, tying it on securely. The idea is that if the cow smells her calf's skin - she won't know (or care) if it's actually a different calf. Then the abandoned/orphaned calf can live in disguise as her own. And everyone will be happy.

Sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't. Here is the mother of the dead calf, and here is My Cowboy - pushing the abandoned calf inside the calving pen.

She sniffs the calf warily...

Success!!! Within seconds, that hungry baby went for the dinner table, and she let him. Yay! I slipped out to leave them bond in peace... The hungry baby has a new mama, and the sad mama cow has (unwittingly) been comforted by what she thinks is her own sweet baby. And My Cowboy doesn't have to bottle feed this calf. :) Everyone is happy.

...And if you think cows don't get sad, well, you should've seen the poor mama cow whose dead baby I pulled into the barn with the truck a few days ago. She bawled mournfully the whole way in from the field. Sniffing her baby - trying to figure out what was up. And when we put her in a pen, she went crazy trying to get back out to her baby. We had to put the dead baby in with her, just to keep her quiet till My Cowboy could go graft a live calf for her to mother.

I even felt sad for her.

Now I think I should stop writing about sad mamas, or I shall have to find my tissue box.

Valentine's Day in the Life of a Ranch Wife.

My birthday falls a mere 4 days before Valentine's Day. I always loved that as a kid - because my dear, sweet mom would (almost) always make me a heart-shaped cake for my birthday. I loved it. I think it started the love of valentine's day in my life... I have always loved the pink ~ the flowers ~ the candy ~ the lacey, girly, sweetness that is unique to Valentine's Day.

But little girls grow up.

Fall in love with the man of their dreams.

Marry and bear children.

Learn to clean a house and clean up her soul.

Learn what true love is...

...Then they hear a calf bawl.

At 2 am. Seriously. 

I sat up in bed - trying to figure out why there was a cow right outside my window. 

"And the window must be open, it's so loud! Why would My Cowboy open a window in the middle of the winter?"

I know - my thoughts were less than coherent. But in my defense, it was 2 am. Seriously.

I got up and walked out to the kitchen, trying to figure it out... As the light from the laundry room shone out through the crack in the door, it hit me; there was a calf in my laundry room. I cautiously peek in the door, and sure enough - a new calf lay there, bawling piteously.

Where was My Cowboy??

I tiptoed gingerly around the calf - trying to avoid getting my toes smeared with new-baby-calf-slime. What in the world do you do with a calf that acts like it is dying? And the noises coming from that calf were amazingly loud. In the quietness of the night, it was deafening. 

I ran to the kids rooms and quickly shut their doors, hoping that they wouldn't wake up.

Back to the calf...

I didn't want to bug My Cowboy, in case he was in the middle of pulling a calf. (he probably didn't have his phone on him anyways.) So I did the only thing I could think of - grabbed a rag and rubbed that baby hard. Hoping to coax it to live. I had no idea what was wrong with it - but it sure seemed like it was dying - with its neck stretched out stiff, and its eyes glassy.

Finally, 40 long minutes later, My Cowboy showed up. By now I was getting slightly deaf from the incessant bawling. (Slight exaggeration)

Cliff said that it was already born and laying on the snow till he went out for his first check of the night. Pretty cold night for a wet baby to be laying on the snow! He tried drenching it with colostrum, etc, but to no avail. He took it out in his truck to the barn, and awhile after that it expired. Poor thing. Till all was said and done, he finally came to bed at 4 am.

So, my friends, while you were eating heart-shaped pancakes with cute lil heart-shaped strawberries, I was fixing a big plate of eggs for My Cowboy, and his Wranglers were already smeared from hours of wrestling with baby calves.

Love? Oh yes. Not as pretty, but just as true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had been planning to go to town yesterday for some cool Valentine's Day treats for my kids. I wanna be the fun, cool, mom too. But when my littlest one came down with a cough/fever, I decided to stay home. So I made some funny mustaches  for my kids' drinks at lunch. I wished for red punch, but all I had was water. You know what? They didn't even notice what they were drinking. They were enamored with the 'staches! What do mustaches have to do with V~Day?? No idea. It was just something cute I had seen on Pinterest, and was about all my brain could scramble up after a 2-am calf ordeal. (In my defense, I did make red finger jello. It was quite well received. :)

Love? Definitely. Not pink - but love.

In the afternoon I worked on my cinch some more.

The cool frame My Cowboy made for my birthday gift. Is he talented or what?

 Here I am stringing the cinch.

Weaving the diamond.

 The kids were doing whatever it is that kids do. I let them have a holiday from school.

 

Done with my first cinch!

               Several mistakes, but overall I am pretty pleased for  my first try. I am definitely hooked.

 Do I like to celebrate Valentine's Day? Yes. Do I like to get flowers and chocolate and cards? Yes. But when life happens, and my child is sick, and my husband is working his tail off day and night for us - I don't waste even one moment on regret or disappointment. Life is now. Life is to be enjoyed. I sit up late when the family is sleeping, to wash My Cowboy's smeary, caked-on-filth coat.
                                                   Love? uh-huh.
He wanted to go to town and get me flowers, but had to work. It's all good.
                                                Love? you bet.

 I played a game with the kids. I made dorky little mustache straws, and we ate red jello. I hugged my husband, ignoring the odor of afterbirth, and we shared a smile and several good laughs... we are family, we all love being together, and no matter what day it is, we love living this life together. We said: "Happy Valentine's Day!" to each other, because we love each other. We have many celebratory meals, days, and moments throughout the year where we give each other presents, special meals, and fun memories. When a holiday slips by unnoticed - it's ok. Seriously.
                                      Love? Oh, so much love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Calving Season

It's February. We have snow. Drifts and piles of snow.

I think my car is sleeping.

The Boss plowed the lanes.

 That makes me happy- cause I used to plow snow with my car at the X-Bar.

 That was not...ideal.

 My kids call the snow piles: "The Himalayans." That may be stretching it just a tad.
By the way - where does an 8 year old learn to crawl up on a snow pile, beat his chest and yell incoherently: "aahh-yah-yah-yaah-YAAAHHH!"
It must be the male DNA. That's all I can figure. My daughters and myself were quite content to walk around and exclaim about the pretty snow, the cute calves, etc, etc.

Horse Creek in winter.

Winter and cold and snow notwithstanding - the cowboys must saddle up and go to work. Its calving season!

                                             Ridin' through heifers.

         Teaching Cisco to pull the calf-sled. He has pulled one before - but it's been awhile, and he is not very trusting. My Cowboy made this sled. He uses it to pull new babies into the barn, so they don't freeze. If he's lucky, he will get the mama cow to go into the barn before she gives birth, so the baby can be born in the warmth of the barn. And so he doesn't have to drag the baby in later. But sometimes the cows are too quick, and till he gets out for the next 2 hr. check - the baby is on the ground.

                                          Just another day at the office...

                         A fresh baby. Less than an hour old. Still wet. (ok - slimy.)

 My Cowboy takin' Lucia to see the babies down by the willows. These are several days old. Notice the mamas keeping a wary eye on My Cowboy. I don't like getting too close to a mama cow.

                                             Safe by mama.

I really enjoy calving season... well, I enjoy looking at the babies. I feel sorry for the guys that have to check on the cows every 2 hours, round the clock. I am glad at such times to be a woman.