At the Ranch - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Monday Musing and Frosty Pictures

February 13, 2017 by Allison

Mondays are for musings. You look back over the weekend or figure out what’s happening ahead in the week. You plan. You schedule. Sometimes you give yourself a pep talk. But it all happens on Mondays.

So here I am musing.

We went to Montana to visit my parents over the weekend. It was refreshing and exhausting all at the same time. My mom works for a small k-8 school and they had their ski day, so we trekked up there late Thursday night to join in the fun. We had the whole spectrum of weather that day- icy rain, sleet, massive flakes, blue sky and fog. There was a point we decided to bite the bullet and invest in some goggles for everyone and that was the turning point of the day. Its amazing how much more fun skiing is when you can see and your eyes aren’t being pelted with ice!

There were high school boys and girls basketball games going on while we were there so we spent Saturday night cheering on the Drummond Trojans. It may have been the third game I have gone to watch since graduating 11 years ago. It was like I never left but at the same time I felt so old. There were kids playing ball that weren’t even in kindergarten when I was in high school!. I only knew 2 of the kids on the boys team. Yikes… I am getting old… But at the same time, I still call my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Verlanic and my science teacher Mr. Schindler so I guess I don’t feel all too old.

Remember how I married a cowboy that doesn’t talk? That made for a super long drive home. It really was the fastest we have ever made the drive (we didn’t speed, just didn’t have to stop 12 times for the kids…) but it seemed so long. He seriously said only a handful of words. Anybody want to come hang out with me so I can have someone to talk to?

And to make the drive last even longer, my kids are to the stage that they ask the dreaded question- “are we there yet?”/”how long until we are there?!”/”how much longer?” And I think that they eat more when we are in the car than the entire week before. I can never pack enough treats. I’m afraid its only going to get worse when my son becomes a teenager… Yikes!

Its Valentines this week… Yay… Actually, for the first time in a long time I will actually get to see my valentine. Really I should only say I SHOULD get to see my valentine. We might sneak in a kiss or two between taking care of the kids and cows, but who needs February 14 to say I love you when there are 364 other days, right? I’m sure a batch of his favorite cookie dough and an early bed time will make for just the V-day he wants!

So I posted last week about how we were buried to our eye balls with snow. And then just like that the snow shut off and the sun came out and everything has started to melt! Its not gone or even close to being gone by ANY means, but there is significantly less. Its like Mother Nature is trying to discredit me. I say its crazy and snowy and she brings out the sunshine. If I said it was a beautiful-blue-sky-kinda-day, I’m sure we would get socked in with the fog for days… So I’m going to post the last of my snowy pictures and hope that the temps stay up. The heifer hill is slowly drying out to calve on so its helping The Rancher, right?

Speaking of calving… We had 1. Soon enough we will be swamped with babies and I am so excited! Last year I was too busy swooning over my own new babe that I didn’t soak in the babies outside as much so this year I will have to make up for it. But the fact that we are calving does mean my baby is almost a year old and I just can’t believe it. I’m crying inside. It just happens too fast!

Have I mused enough for you? There is still plenty going on up here, but I will stop for your sakes. I’ll just muse to myself…

Happy Monday!
The RW

Oh ya… We sold the calves!

February 4, 2017 by Allison

Seasons on the ranch go by so fast. One minute we are calving and trying to keep babies warm and alive and then before you know it, we are selling them. And then you sell them, and you forget to put it on your blog to say “HAPPY DAY!”. It may not seem like a big day, but those few hours on that frosty November morning are what we work for all year long.

So I am taking the opportunity now to celebrate selling and shipping calves. Hooray! It was such a s muddy, messy day because it had been raining and raining. The downside to the rain and subsequent mud- sloshing and sliding around it poop and goop up to your eyeballs! The upside- probably a few extra wet and dirty pounds on the calves!

Shipping cows isn’t all that hard, but sort of time consuming. When you have hundreds of calve to weigh, you can see how that will take some time. Let me walk you how that day goes…

First, it starts before that day. A week or so before, we sort the steers from the heifers and pull out any of the sick, lame, or small calves (hopefully not too many of these!). Up to this point we just keep them together to feed them. While we are sorting the heifers, we pull off the ones that we want to keep for replacements somewhere around 100 depending on the year.

So on shipping morning, we start with the steers. We bring the herd into the corral and move them back to the scales. We weigh them 10 at a time to get an average weight. Can you imagine if we had to weigh them one by one? We would be there all day. After we weigh all the steers we look at the herd average and see what that compares to what we contracted them at. Obviously, we want to hit the weight we contracted at because too light means a smaller check. Too big usually isn’t a problem.

After the steers are done, we do the same with all the heifers.

Once everything is weighed, counted to the number we contracted at (we have more calves than what we contract…), and the broker is happy with what we have, we load them up. It takes someone with a masters degree in math to figure out the loading. Not really, but it does take some time to figure out how many calves at what weight can fit in each section depending on which truck they are loading. Glad that’s not my job. Once all five (or sometimes six!) trucks are loaded they head out.

And then we stand there and listen to the silence.
And then heave a sigh of relief for having the calves gone.
And then shout HOORAY!
And then we check the mail…

Then we go back to work because the job is never done. Every year we have the same day of shipping calves with the same guys, the same routine, and then same cinnamon rolls. And its a great day. The day we work all year for and the day that lets us keep working for the next year.

Happy (belated) Sale Day, friends!

Feeding Frosty Cows

February 1, 2017 by Allison

Did you read the title and let your eyes roll back because its another post about feeding cows? It is that time of year, ya know… But don’t worry. I knew you would be tired of the same (awesome) ramblings of feeding hungry cows with my crazy crew.

So I did a little something different. For your benefit and mine.

Since I had The Rancher corner, I though I would take the opportunity to do a little Q&A with him. Its good for you because its something new for you to read. And you get to know him a little better, and everyone wants to know The Rancher a little better. The upside for me, is that I have an intentional conversation with an adult. Being the CEO of this ranch house full of little people can be lacking with adult conversation. Oh, that’s starting to show? Oops!

So for the next few hours, in between me jumping out of the tractor to open and close gates and cut the wrap off of the bales, and juggling the baby and big sister, I asked him some stimulating questions.

Here goes…

About that Super Bowl…
Me: So what do you think about the Super Bowl coming up? It’s this Sunday, right?(I’m super up to date with what’s happening in the world right now…HA!)

Him: Well… (long pause)… Since I’m so into football… It should be good. But you know me… I’m really just in it for the commercials and food. And the commercials haven’t been that good lately, so I’m really just there for the food.

Me: Right… So what food should we have?

Him: I dunno. Something good. (This is the conversation we have every day when I ask him what he wants for dinner. He’s so much help…)

“We feed cows…”
Me: So tell me about feeding cows.

Him: We feed cows.

Me: … Yes… I know that. How much? How much have you already fed this year? How long will this feed last?

Him: Well, we have fed at least that stack… We figure that we have enough hay to feed 20 bales of hay for 40 days.

Me: Oh… That’s not enough, is it?

Him: Nope. Having to feed cows in Locomotive has thrown a wrench in things this year.

Me: So we feed 5 bales to the cows on the pivot pasture, 6 to the cows at the feed yard, 1 to the bulls, and 1 to the horses, old cows, and whatever is in the corral by the barn… and 5 to Locomotive. So… I guess we need to buy more hay…

Him: Yep…

Ranch faves
Me: So, what is your favorite thing to do on the ranch?

Him: I dunno…(its his favorite phrase…)

Me: Well, what is your least favorite thing to do?

Him: Feed cows.

Me: Oh. (Hmmm, do you not like it because that is like all you are doing right now?) So what is your next least favorite thing to do?

Him: Fix fence.

Me: Oh. (That one actually surprised me… I thought he liked it more.) And then what is your next least favorite thing?

Him: Changing water.

Me: What’s the next?

Him: Checking water.

Me: You don’t like the things that you have to do over and over again, do you? You wouldn’t make a good mom. That’s kinda all I do. So what’s your next least favorite thing?

Him: I dunno… I guess I like all the rest just fine. But it all depends on the day.

Me: Yes, moving cows when the sun is shining and the cows are moving good is a way better day than a blizzard when you are working cows through the chute.

Him: (Nod… Silence… conversation… OVER)

Baby driver
Me: He (the baby) is in his favorite place- at the steering wheel. That makes you the coolest dad for letting him be there.

Him: Yep… (he’s big on words…)

Me: Aren’t you glad we have him?

Him: Yep. I guess we will keep him.

Me: Are you ready for the next one?

Him: (silence… stink eye…) NOPE. (silence… conversation over…)

You can see that riding with The Rancher is GREAT conversation. To his credit, he is sick (currently fevering and sleeping on the couch) and since talking when he is feeling great gives limited conversation, I really should expect less when he is feeling crappy. But even sick, he’s still great, don’t ya think?!

Until next time, Friends!

Priorities

January 25, 2017 by Allison

Preg checking. It isn’t glamorous, it isn’t picturesque but it certainly is exciting and entertaining. Not the actual preg checking itself… that is somewhat boring and redundant. We make the day entertaining and exciting any way we can, which most often includes some kind of razzing about ~~somebody~~ everybody.

On this fine fall day, we were working the cattle we run on the forest ground. It is a considerably smaller herd of cows than the group we do out to Black Pine. Don’t get me wrong, with three different ranches pooling cows together, there was still a lot to do, but we were able to slow things down a bit.

And slowing things down for a bit was kinda nice. I’m sure that the guy that got put on the fence a few times didn’t think it was a take-it-easy kind of preg checking day. Or the guy that was doing the preg checking… There’s nothing nice or easy going IN the OUT end of a cow!

Every rancher will tell that there is more work to be done than there are hours of the day. Even if the cows are settled and the haying is done and the water looks good, there is fence that could use fixing and equipment could do with servicing. There comes a point that you have to decide just how hard you want to push yourself. You could work a neck break pace and get a lot of work done, but that leads straight to burnout and once you hit burnout you hate your job. And where this is more than a job, its a lifestyle, we can’t afford to reach the burnout stage.

So what do you do to avoid burnout? I don’t know that we have totally found the answer to this question. Unfortunately there are those days and weeks that you have no choice but to push hard. But even though we don’t have the complete solution, I will tell you that there is one thing we always keep in mind and that is our priorities.

There are a lot of things that are important to our family and our ranch. Obviously, as far as the ranch goes, the cows have gotta be happy. Its hard to swallow that hundreds of other girls get my cowboy’s attention over me, until you take into consideration that they are cows. Then its all good. Beyond the ranch, our priorities are God, family, and community because without God we are nothing, with out family none of it is worth it, and its all so much better with good friends and neighbors.

Our priorities have to be family priorities with a common goal because on the long days where my husband is nearly non existent and I am being both mom and dad, it can get overwhelming. If I didn’t have the ranch’s success as one of my priorities I’m pretty positive in would be a real cranky wife being put second. And knowing The Rancher’s priorities include taking care of his family helps me to know that he is doing everything he can to make it back home as fast as he can.

So on this day of preg checking, we certainly had getting the work done as our top priority. But enjoying our time working together with our family and friends was a close second. And because it was, it was a fun day even if it was spent at the back end of a cow.

2017 Cowboy Calendar

December 3, 2016 by Allison

I don’t know what kind of terrific mood I was in this fall, but I was DETERMINED to get my calendar up and going way earlier this year. And I did! It was a good thing that I did since it took a while to get the proofing and shipping and what-not done.

But…

No more waiting! The calendars are here at my house waiting to send them to you!! If you are interested you can either email me directly at theidahorancherswife@gmail.com or you can find it on my etsy shop online HERE.

Here is a little taste of the photos featured in this year’s calendar!

The Family That Brands Together, Stays Together

May 16, 2016 by Allison

I’ve been feeling somewhat emotional about family this week. It could be leftover mushy feelings from Mother’s Day extra stirred up from all those post-partum hormones flowing through my veins and totally exaggerated from looking at all these photos of my favorite people.. but I dunno. Regardless of the why, I have a mega-sized dose of love for family and all I keep thinking is, “I love my life!”

Seriously, how often do families get days like these? How many times do you have a chance to take your kids to work? It happens pretty much daily around here. How often do you see three generations of men working together? Yep, every day. We are pretty lucky that even the brothers come around the ranch often. And when I say often I mean, like, weekly! I know guys that would give anything to be able to work with their dad and brothers like these boys get to. Of course, the fun doesn’t stop there- we have sisters-in-law that love this life too and that, my friends, is no easy feat. Honestly, its hard enough for brothers to marry wives that like each other, but then to find wives that love ranching and cowboying too?! Good work boys… Good work!

We all have varying jobs at what we do to help or entertain, but no one is sitting around. Some come packing the camera and some bring the cinnamon rolls (thanks to The Cattlewoman, for sure!). The kids are always elbow deep in the work (sometimes making more work for the rest of us, but at least they are out there wanting and willing to work!) Some live the dream life on the back of the horse and some do the dirty grunt work. Even if you think that you are just going to spectate, crazy things happen to get you moving.

Check this out. Quick story time- The Buckarette… This girl was 39 weeks pregnant on this fine day of branding (which is why there isn’t a SINGLE picture of her… hmmm…) She came out planning to just sit on the back of the truck and, ya know, just take it easy. Then she starts holding the calves back and helping sort out the already branded calves. Then she starts helping with shots (which is admirable in itself because that meant bending over and if you know pregnant ladies, that gets a little difficult when you are growing a human being in your middle!). And then she suddenly swings her way up on the horse to get out and rope! We teased her that she had better be careful where she dallied because her belly was a little close to the horn. She got up there, turned her horse to the calves and before you knew it, she was back dragging one in. She gets extra kuddos in my book because it had been a good long while since she had roped and she was as smooth as ever. Honestly, we should have had her out roping lots earlier because she caught every calf she swung at! She told us that she as only going to rope one, but once she got started, we couldn’t stop her. Ok, not really… but she did have her good handful of them.

Anyone can tell you, working as families can be rough. One person wants something done one way and someone another, and some crazy fight ensues. One person feels like they are doing all the work while the others get the benefits. One suddenly thinks they are the boss and the others stop working dead in their tracks. It can really happen… But I don’t think feelings like these have ever come up around here (I’m crossing my fingers that even though I am saying it out loud, nothing changes…). Sure we have our moments of frustration or disagreement but I have never seen an operation run so smoothly. Family comes first and with that, everyone works together towards a common goal that brings us together. At the end of the day, we are all apart of making Eliason Livestock successful and sustainable. More importantly we are apart of a family legacy, building from our heritage something for the future that we can all be proud of.

Revisiting 2015

January 5, 2016 by Allison

Our New Year’s Eve was pretty uneventful. We had an early dinner, watched a movie and just relaxed at home, which in reality was the best way to end our crazy, stressful, busy 2015. With the new year well under way, I’ve finally taken a minute to look back over the last year and realize that it was a HUGE year for us. And before you contest my observation (because I didn’t blog hardly anything that eventful and if it didn’t happen on the blog, it didn’t really happen, right?!), I’m gonna list it all out for you!

Lets just start at the top, shall we?

We started the first of last year with a bang, literally, as we began demolishing the old ranch house to build our new home. When the walls came crashing down we knew we had committed ourselves to this adventure! Although it was oddly satisfying to take a sledge hammer to the old house, it did get tiresome and the work seemed long but after 3 months we got it down!

In January we realized that there was nowhere near enough feed to calve out all of cows in Locomotive so we kept back an additional 250 cows at the ranch. Luckily we had an easy winter that helped things go more smoothly, but calving was a lot more intense. And because there was such little feed in Locomotive, we ended up hauling a lot of hay down south, putting a lot of extra miles on the feed truck.

When we weren’t busy on the ranch or demo-ing the old house, we were busy studying to be EMRs (aka first responders). The Rancher and I took a class to test and certify to run on the ambulance in our little valley. The long weeks and late nights of studying took me back to my college days and I was so glad when we tested and PASSED the beginning of May. Don’t worry, if you get hurt out here in Holbrook and need assistance, you have a ready, willing, and terrified crew to put you back together!

The spring was its normal craziness of branding, turning out, and praying for rain. Luckily, we were blessed on all fronts with a successful branding season, fast turnouts and a lot of rain!

The busyness of spring only got busier with summer as we were full swing into building a house, haying, hauling heifers to rodeos and ropings, and summer fun. I worked on my bucket list and scratched off hiking Mount Timpanogous with my siblings (it might have been a few days before I could walk normal…). Being the cool people that we are (and humble, I promise…) we volunteered in our community at every chance we could! A few highlights included our 4th of July where we cooked breakfast with Farm Bureau as the Young Farmer and Rancher’s chairman, had a fire truck in the parade to represent the Holbrook/Stone fire crew, cooked dinner with the Search and Rescue and put on a fire work show with the Malad fire department. I planned and took (with help!) the 12-18 year old girls on a week long camp trip (that had its own ups and downs with beautiful sunny mornings and snowy afternoons!). And we ended the summer with a week long of fair fun where I helped organize rodeos, a hypnotist show, vendor booths, and horse races all while doubling as EMS after a huge meth cookhouse was found (don’t worry, it hadn’t been running in years, but still scary to have in our little valley!). And if that doesn’t sound like a crazy summer, lets add in a little morning sickness! Let me just tell you that one of the highlights for our summer was NOT our garden… I don’t know that I have ever neglected it so bad as this summer.

As the summer came to a close, we hit a new milestone when we sent The Rancher’s Sidekick to school for Kindergarten! I didn’t cry, but the house certainly felt empty without him. While we was at school, The Ranch Princess and I spent a lot of quality time at the new house painting… and painting… and painting… Don’t ask me to come paint anything… I’m all painted out…

Even though we were solely focused on getting the house done in the fall, we took time to go on school field trips to the zoo and pumpkin walk and our annual family fishing trip. Of course we had calves to wean, cows to preg check and fall pasture to be moved to. And before we knew it, the calves were sold (so glad that we contracted in the spring!!) We also learned that my dad’s cancer had returned but we are hopeful with a quick catch and aggressive treatment he will beat it again! With appropriate timing, we gratefully moved into our new home the day before Thanksgiving. In fact, we moved our crap in and then jumped in the truck to head to Montana for Thanksgiving all in the same day!

We closed the year out by watching The Rancher’s Sidekick first Christmas program, Christmas shopping, The Rancher breaking a few ribs, a week long trip to Tijuana and strep throat. We were delighted to stay home for Christmas to celebrate the season and enjoy our new house!

Yep, looking back we had a crazy year, but I don’t think that I would have changed anything about it. OK, I could have done without camping in snow in July or the morning sickness or The Rancher breaking a few ribs (I mean, did you have to do it right when we were finishing moving in?!) but we learned and lived and laughed so much! I love and appreciate my family more this year than ever and truly look forward to the coming year. In some regards I’m a little afraid, because I have learned that times can be tough. But I have also learned that together we can get through it all!

Expanding the Herd

December 8, 2015 by Allison

With all the preg checking done with for the fall, we look to be having a great calf crop on its way. The heifers are set to begin dropping calves towards the end of February and the cows to start shortly after that. As always, March will be a busy month for us, but that’s ok… Springtime babies are so fun!

The cows won’t be the only ones to expand their herd in 2016. You guessed it- our little ranch family is expanding by one! As any good ranch wife would, I’m due to calve right with all the other cows the beginning of March. The Rancher has already said that it will work out great to check the cows and check me all at the same time. That comment only got him a swift kick in the pants!

We are delighted to have a another little cowBOY on the way, something that The Rancher’s Sidekick has known from the beginning. Before we even knew pink or blue he was telling everyone that he was going to have a new baby brother. The Ranch Princess is loving the prospect of a baby around the house and tells me everyday that my tummy is getting BIG. Thanks…. The Rancher is excited too, but I see it only through his comments of me being in good shape for calving or that he will be sure to bring the chains along the way to the hospital, just in case. And of course I am excited, and terrified all at the same time. What if The Rancher is in the middle of pulling a calf when I need to go? Who is going to do night calving while we are at the hospital? What if he gets stuck in Locomotive were I can’t call him? Ya know, normal pregnant wife concerns…. When I try to get some answers out of my cowboy, he just says that I don’t really need him anyway and it will all work out.

He is right, it will all work out… Somehow it will all workout…

2016 Cowboy Calendar

December 7, 2015 by Allison

Life has ben crazy but I still couldn’t NOT make a few calendars! After having a few years of calendar making under my belt it really didn’t take too much to put these together and I just love how they turned out.

And now after my yeas of wisdom, I have found a new printer where I have been able to SIGNIFICANTLY drop the prices! Now you can get a 2016 Cowboy Calendar for on $8.49. If you are interested, email, comment on this post or message me on Facebook and I will get your order in!

A Family Cattledrive

November 11, 2015 by Allison

Oh boy was this a crazy summer! With all the ropings, family events, community activities, and building a house we were running in every direction. To help things out, the cows decided they didn’t need much moving for the summer. For real… Between the field rotation we were on and the rains it seemed we hardly had to move the cows. The unfortunate thing about that was that I didn’t have many opportunities to ride with the guys or take any photos.

On the one chance I had to saddle up, the whole family got to tag along. We really weren’t even moving to new field, just pushing the cows to a different trough. So even though it wasn’t too much of a ride, it was perfectly short enough that we knew they would last and have a great time. We have my old horse from when I was a kid that The Rancher’s Sidekick has claimed. And the Ranch Princess bounced around between me, Rancher Sr., Cowboy E, and The Rancher. It might not have been much, but we made a few good memories.