The Idaho Rancher's Wife

The Ranch From the Wife's Perspective

Making the Cut When it Counts

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This summer is just flying by!  I feel like we just barely moved cows up to Badger Hole last week… Ya, they are already long gone from that range!  Sadly, I am just now getting to share it to you. 

The ride to Badger Hole is pretty easy.  That’s why The Rancher’s Sidekick got to go…  They just follow the road for a few miles and then, ta da! We’re there. 

Once we get there the cows bury their heads in the grass and totally forget about their calves.  Ya, know… the typical thing they do once they get to greener feed.  We like to hold them there at the water for a bit until they settle in and remember their calves.  We’ll sort the pairs off slowly to make sure that all the calves have found their mommas. 

Towards the end of sorting we have the less than smart cows left that try to give us a fight.   Those ornery cows just don’t want to be bothered! Crazy at it may sound, it makes it a little fun.  The cowboys have a chance to do a little cutting and show off some real cowboy skills!  There is such a rush when you take off after a cow and have to stop in an instant to change directions.  With a good horse that knows how to move you just slide down in the saddle, glue yourself in, and let her do all the work!  I love watching a horse that knows what to do.  You can see it in how she follows the cow with her ears pinned back, how she spins on her back feet or stops on a dime.  Mmm…  It makes me swoon just thinking about it!

Cutting athleticism at its finest!  Watching a cowboy and his horse working together, making split second decisions and moving fast and smooth out on the range, watching out in God’s arena the way it was meant to be- making the cut when it matters.

Cowboy Engagements: The Buckaroo’s Engagement Photos

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So did I tell you my brother-in-law is getting married?  The Buckaroo has found himself a fine little filly and they’ve decided to get hitched!  We are so stinking excited!  Partly… nope mostly because we are finally getting the gender scale balanced.  These boys have lived too long with too little estrogen in the air! 
I’vve told these boys that I must approve before get all romantic and thus far they have done well getting me some good sisters.  I especially love it when they bring home girls that will get out on the ranch with us.  There isn’t much sweeter than a girl out roping the cowboys!!
But back to The Buckaroo and his almost Mrs. Buckaroo… When it came time for their engagement pictures they really wanted pictures done on the ranch, cowboy style.  So they called me!  We took an evening out through our private range land (the place that actually has a few trees!) and took ourselves some cowboy engagement pictures. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Day at the Blackfoot Team Penning & Branding

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I already told you how our day ended when we took the heifers to the team penning and branding, and as promised I have pictures of the day.  I have to tell you that I LOVED having my new camera!  Its amazing to be able to stop a rope mid-air or to get the dirt flying.  Mmmm…

When I was telling a friend what we on the summer weekends he couldn’t believe that when we have time off to play, all we do is sort and brand heifers.  Yep, we love being cowboys so much that its pretty much all we do!

Now if you’re wondering what a team penning and branding is, I’ll tell you.  The first event is the team sort.  They throw out 10 heifers (numbered 0-9) and the cowboys are given a number for the first heifer that they sort out first.  Once they find her, they find the rest in the sequence until the time runs out.

The penning is really similar.  Instead of finding the heifers in a sequence they have to find 3 heifers, all with the same number.  Then they push them to the other end where a pen is set up (hence the reason it is called penning…).

And the late (and probably my favorite to watch) is the team branding.  The teams have 4 heifers to head, heel, and brand (with pancake mix, of course).  There are 4 guys to a team, 2 to rope and 2 to do the branding.  They switch in the middle, so that everyone gets a turn to rope…  It wouldn’t be fair if they didn’t, now would it!

I’ll admit that sometimes it can get a little long, but there are some dang good horses that can make an awesome cut.  There are a few little bloopers along the way that always make it exciting.  They did a youth penning team that was so fun to watch.  These kids are on the way too be some stinking’ good cowboys (sadly I had my camera put away at this point…).  Then we end the day with some dang good ropers!  That certainly includes my cowboy, The Rancher… he got 2nd place!  Enough winnings to pay for supper, what more could a wife ask for!

Ranching Memories: Magic, Mishaps, and Mischief

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With it being a long weekend, most of the crew (except for Cowboy Pete- he is in Bulgaria!) came back to the ranch to play.  The best part about everyone coming home is the times where sit around and visit.  We always end up talking about days on the ranch.  Those crazy branding days that The Buckaroo’s horse would always buck.  Or the days of near tragedy that were too scary to laugh at.  There is a theme running through them- somebody did something a little crazy!  We were laughing so hard my sides hurt… I wish you could have been there.  Some of the stories were just too perfect to NOT share! 

Three Boys Means no Boys
Any smart ranch dad takes advantage of the free labor that comes with raising kids on the ranch.  One day Rancher Sr. and The Ranch Boss went out to Locomotive to work some cattle and took along a few of the boys for some help.  It was a typical dusty and windy day, which meant that these kids couldn’t hear or hardly hear what they were being told to do.  That’s kind of a must when you are the gate man on a sorting day.  Even when they figured out some hand signals, the cowboys would forget to use them!  The Ranch Boss just told them, “When you have one boy, there is one boy… two boys there is a half a boy…  three boys means no boys!”

Magical Ranch Mornings
Mornings on the ranch really can be magical. The fields smell incredible, the sun streams over the hills, and the birds are singing.  Those moments just make you want to stand still to soak up every bit of the promise of a new day.  Some mornings are a little magical than other, like when The Ranch Boss headed out for morning chores to find the old farm hand tractor running in the stack yard. What’s so magical about that?  No one was there and no one had been there.  The tractor started up by itself!  They actually figure that a few mice got chewing on the wires, crossed them, and started the old tractor up.

The Beginning of Crop Circles and BE Farms
Being observant and industrious ranch kids, The Rancher, The Cowpoke, and a few fellow farming friends started their own farms- The BE Farms.  They had their own patch of dirt to plant their hay and grain in and despite their clever schemes and earnest efforts their crops didn’t produce well.  Buts really no problem when your little field neighbors dad’s big hay field.  Just grab your best pair of kindergarten scissors and cut some yourself a supplemental hay crop!  Don’t be surprised if the carefully cut pivot circes are mistaken for deer getting in the hay! The Rancher Boss was sure there was a herd of deer… nope- just a herd of little boys!

The Rooster Story
We love having chicken for fresh eggs, but once upon a time the ranch raised their own chickens for the meat.  This meant that they had a rooster.  And not any ol’ rooster.  He was the nastiest, meanest old thing.  So mean that the boys wouldn’t go gather the eggs for fear of that rooster chasing after them with his lethal beak.  Rancher Sr., tired of the boys not getting the eggs, decided he was going to do something about it.  His solution- a 2×4.  He left the rooster for dead in the field, sure that the problem was solved.  Weeks later, The Rancher was crouched down working on his snow mobile in the shop when all of the sudden, this rooster jumps up on his leg.  He perched up there, ruffled his feathers a bit and just stood like he was some sort of pet!  Rancher Sr. must have knocked something loose on that rooster, because ever since then he was pleasant as ever!  But they tell me he did walk with his head cocked to one side…

It’s just ON FIRE!
The Cowpoke came back to help on the ranch between semesters a few times.  It’s the sort of thing these boys live for- dad telling them that he needs them to stay to work on the ranch with them.  What they don’t live for is the tractor catching fire on them!  While The Cowpoke was doing some farm work he started smelling a little smoke.  Being a good farmer he stopped to check under the hood only to see a bird’s nest on fire and shooting flames out the side!  Lucky enough he was parked right next to the ditch.  Unfortunately he didn’t have a thing to haul water in!  He was clever (and probably calm) enough to notice the 4 wheeler there that he was able to jump on to find a 5 gallon bucket at the stack yard.  Rancher Sr. was there too, curious as to why The Cowpoke would leave his post on the tractor a bucket.  Um, ya… it’s only ON FIRE!  Maybe that was the beginning of the Eliason Fire Brigade…

The Buckaroo’s First Catch
The Buckaroo has a knack for twirling a rope.  Will Rogers has nothing on him! Well, I’m sure that he will be that good someday, soon!  This roping craze started young, like 2 years old.  The beginning of his roping career was marked with his first tie down.  He had been outside playing with the dog, typical boy thing.  But after a bit he randomly ran in the house. A minute later he ran back out… with his rope.  Then not too much longer he can back inside… without his rope.  When mom asked where the roped was he simply replied, “I tied the dog to the tree…”  True enough, that little cowboy had roped and hog-tied the dog to the tree!    

A Needle Stick

One fine branding day, I was in charge of giving the shots.  I was double fisting even.  Before we would get to work on the calves we had to have them rolled on the right side.  If there wasn’t a free man to do it I would jump in and try to help.  Easy, not a problem.  Except the time that as I rolled the calf and bent down so did The Rancher’s uncle behind me.  It was like two magnets coming together- his bum and my needle.  AH!  If there was ever a terrible place for a needle stick it had to be there!

Boys and Hot Shots

Little boys and hot shots are always a scary combination, but give them to a little boy that wants to zap his neighbor.  There was a little cousin that loved the hot shot and would just come up to whoever and give them a little zap.  The boys got so sick of it that occasionally they would give him a taste of his own medicine.  And then came the day that he accidentally got The Buckaroo.  He was so sick of this kid doing it and not knowing it wasn’t on purpose, he turned around and got him back so bad!  Needless to say, he didn’t get anyone with the hot shot again!

God Given Green

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You probably already know this, but ranchers are God fearing people.  We have been through too much to not give credit to a higher power.  There have been too many almosts, close calls, and “if I was one step closer!” moments.  I’m pretty sure that the fact that ranchers keep going year after year is evidence that they believe that there is someone out there that will make it better.

Not too long ago there were hundreds of thousands of ranchers, farmers, and families praying for rain and praying for this draught to end.  But there is one prayer I have to tell you about from one humble cowboy that strengthened determination to keep asking for the rain.

This prayer was given at a conference where he was asked to give the blessing on the food. He began with the usual stuff, like any other ordinary prayer.  But then he began thanking God for the heritage and legacy of ranching. He was thankful for the calling to be stewards over the land and for the opportunities to pass it all on to our children.  Then with a humble, yet strong plead, that cowboy prayed for rain and for the resources we ranchers need to feed the world.  And it was that last little bit that struck me.

I think a lot of times we pray for the rain for our own skin- and rightfully so.  If we don’t get the rain, there is no way our operations can continue.  If we go too long without rain, we will lose the means to provide for our families.  But this rancher was thinking bigger than himself, or even his neighbors.  He saw the bigger picture of what we do as ranchers.  Because the rain means more than just supporting and feeding my family, it means feeding so many other families.  Sure, there are other ranchers that produce beef and if we were to go under there would still be meat in the market.  But it might make a difference for one family somewhere around the world. 

Do you want to know what ranchers do?  Ranchers fight world hunger.  They put out there a super nutritious, affordable (and delicious) product that people need.  And that is why we are praying for rain.  We pray that we will have the resources to feed world.

I think that someone out there is listening, because we are getting rain.  A little at a time, we are getting the rain.  The alfalfa is starting to grow, the new seeding is sprouting, and even the sage brush is turning a little green (its been brown for a long, long while…).  Yep, I’m a God-fearing woman- because that is the only way that we will be able to feed the world.

A Roundup- Ranches Branding From Montana to Kansas (and some in between)

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We aren’t the only ones busy branding this time of year.  And I’m not the only one blogging about it (although with my number of posts over the last few weeks you might think I own the corner on it!).  Its always fun for me to see how others ranches do it and the pictures that they put up.  And I love reading the histories of branding that they write.  Do you check them out?

Its ok if you don’t, because I grabbed a healthy handful of the ones I found lately.  You should read them!

Some of these have great photos, others have great descriptions of how they brand.  Two are posts from people that don’t normally brand, and its interesting to hear their take on it all!

Almost as Good as a Photo Shoot

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I love taking pictures on the ranch- that’s why I have this blog.  And branding time is one of my FAVORITE times to take pictures.  The gathering, roping, riding, and fun times together are just too awesome to not capture.  In fact, last weekend I took like 1,400 pictures!  Its almost like having my own cowboy photo shoot!

A lot of the pictures were duplicates (which have been deleted…) because I set my camera to burst mode to make sure that I don’t miss a thing.  And some don’t turn out, so its not like I have 1,400 picture to share.  But I do have a lot!  You’ve been warned, there are a lot of photos here… (like more than a hundred…)

 
Click “Read More” for the rest of the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Days of Branding: Why we brand

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Branding can be a touchy subject when we talk with some people outside the ranching world.  It can seem like a harsh or cruel thing to do.  So why do we still brand?

The best answer is because it is required by law.  A brand is a rancher’s signature, saying which ranch these cattle belong to.  Its nice to know which ranch to call when the cows get out, but its more important to know when its time for those cattle to be harvested.

If a cow were to go in without a brand, there is no way to know who that cow belonged to, where it was, what other animals it was running with, and what region it was in.  Its important to know this because we want to be VERY sure that there is nothing wrong with the meat. We don’t want to spread disease or sell contaminated beef.  Ya, that’s a good reason to brand…

When cattle are sold, cross state lines, or head to be harvested they must be checked over by a brand inspector.  This makes a record or a paper trail of where and when the cattle come and go. 

But even if we didn’t HAVE to brand, we still would.  I don’t know that there is any method out there that is as effective and efficient at marking our cattle as our own.  Yes, it is stressful for the calves.  It is probably painful and I really feel bad about that.  But until someone finds a method of marking that can’t be altered, we gotta stick to branding.  Did you know that cattle rustling is still prevalent today?  (and in the state of Idaho it is still punishable by hanging!). Too many of the ways to mark cattle can be changed and someone else can claim them. 

So we brand our calves.  We do it so we can track our cattle so we can put out the best product possible!

Days of Branding

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Branding.  So much branding.  But that’s normal.  Every year at this time we pull out the iron sharpen the knives, start the fire and get to work.  The ranch trucks have an eternal burnt hair smell.  Its stinky and dirty but we love it. 

The boys especially love it because that means LOTS of roping.  The long days are totally worth it when the work is more like play!

There is a lot going on when we are out there.  And you are going to hear all about it!  This week I’m going to show you the how’s, why’s, and what’s of branding on the Eliason ranch.

 

5 Lessons in Cowboy Jargon

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If there was one word to describe April it would be branding.  Every weekend (and a couple of days in between) we spend out on the range branding.  We have our cows out with other ranches, so naturally we have more than just our herd to brand.   I mean it’s not too neighborly to not help our rancher friends!  With so many cowboys around, it’s easy to get lost in the cowboy jargon.  Usually I would say to just smile and nod your head but out here you can’t always fake it!  So here are a 5 words and phrases from the Cowboy Jargon Dictionary (… there is no such thing… I totally just made that up…). 

1. A cowboy’s outfit: No this isn’t in reference to his clothing choice of the day.  A cowboy does have some… different clothing choices but that’s because they choose function over fashion.  But when one cowboy compliments another cowboy’s outfit, he’s talking about his truck and trailer.  Can you imagine cowboys sitting around talking about clothes?  Me either, but it doesn’t take ANY stretch of imagination to see them talking trucks.  Isn’t that written in their DNA?

2.  The green broke horse:  Let’s just start by saying there is nothing “broken” on a green broke horse.  It isn’t “broken” like it doesn’t work.  And it’s not really green, unless it was just rolling in the manure…  A green broke horse is a horse in training.  This means it is inexperienced, or more like unexperienced.  Usually these are young horses with high energy and are a little ignorant to what they are doing.  Just think of your favorite T-ball team- a lot of energy but most of it is spent playing in the dirt.  Eventually they come around to learn the game and pull their weight.  And if they don’t, we trade them off the roster.

3.  Heading… or heeling… you choose!: Most often you hear these words together in reference to falling in love.  You know- head over heels?  But I’m not talking about that, although a branding would be a great place to pick up a cowboy!  When you are talking heading and healing with cowboys they are talking about roping.  There’s two ends on a calf to rope- the head (hence “heading”) or the back feet or heels (yep you got it, “heeling”).   I guess you could rope the front feet, but you really don’t have much control even though they are caught. 

4.  Roping a dogie:  (doh-gee) Don’t get caught thinking we are talking about The Rancher’s dog.  We are referring to the bovine species, not canine.  Put simply, a dogie is a calf without a momma.  I’m not sure how dogie ever got to be part of the Cowboy Jargon Dictionary, other than some cowboy long, LONG ago just started calling his motherless calves dogie.  These calves can make branding a little tricky when you have several ranches worth of cattle together.  Without knowing who the momma cow belongs to, we can only guess who the calf goes with.  Nobody wants to be the guy that put the wrong brand on the wrong calf!

5. “Drag ‘em to the fire”: Those are your instructions once you’ve caught your calf.  The cowboys drag the calf to the fire, where we have the branding irons set up, hot and ready to leave their mark.  A real fire in the middle of a corral with calves, cowboys, and horses sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.  It is if you’re not careful!  But how else do we get branding irons hot?  There are electric irons put there, but there aren’t a lot of electrical outlets amongst the sage brush!   But don’t imagine a big bon fire or even an open fire on the ground.  Back in the day they would dig a hole in the ground and light up the fire.  These days we have a not-so-fancy branding box with a burner (like the burner on a gas stove) to keep the irons hot.  Still plenty hot (I recommend watching your step) but not as likely to reach out a burn a cowboy!

I’d say the last bit of cowboy jargon you need to know is the call to “rustle up some grub,” but I’m pretty sure that you know what that means!  Now that you have some awesome cowboy vocab, you will be ready to get to work and definitely earn your dinner!

About Me

Hello! I'm Allison, The Rancher's Wife! There's nothing I love more than being out on the ranch with my husband and kids. Join me for a look at what goes on here at the ranch and the life being a rancher's wife!

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