The Idaho Rancher's Wife

The Ranch From the Wife's Perspective

A Midnight Bust

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I was looking back over the posts from last year.  Sort of reminiscing about what was happening this time last year and then just kept scrolling.  As I was going through, I realized that there are some stories that I never shared.  These are the stories that are worth telling.  You know that because they are the stories that I can still remember after so much time having past… 

I live by the theory of better late than never (you know that already for all of the times I’ve taken you back!).  Looking back this was a crazy, comical night but at the time it was frustrating, nerve racking and …  I guess any issue that begins after dark at the end of a long day is doomed to be a hair puller

We had just gotten out of the shower (I say we because we everyone had to go through my shower that night… Why do we have 2 bathroom when we only use mom’s?) when I heard the 4 wheeler buzzing around.  People usually don’t go for a moonlight ride so I knew something was up.  The Rancher slipped into something more fitting for the ranch then his jammies while I put the babies to bed.  Finally when I made it out to see what was happening (because The Rancher had been gone long enough for me to know that it was bad news- whatever it was) I learned that the most recent batch of weaned calves had escaped the corral and were heading in all sorts of directions.  They went up the highway, down the highway, to the shop, to the haystack and to the alfalfa… awesome… 

The Rancher and Rancher Sr. were buzzing around bringing in what calves they could find.  You see, finding black calves in the dark of a moonless night is tough to do.  You hear them before you ever see them and unless you have GREAT hearing you just might think you are getting around them but really you are heading straight out them.  When I first showed up I just waited for orders from the cowboys.  It was a long wait… So long I gave up waiting for their instruction and took it upon myself to guard the gate.  It didn’t take long for me to see that as many calves got brought in would wander out.  Not very productive… 

So I guarded the gate.  And it seemed to work.  The boys would whoop and holler and bring the calves and I would keep them from escaping.  Every so often there would be a handful that made their way to the gate and I was able to get them in (so proud of myself!  Earning so many rancher’s wife stripes!).  But the handfuls started getting bigger and more frequent and I began to realize that the blasted calves were hopping the fence and walking back to the gate.  I had been putting the same calves in over and over!  GREAT…  Rancher Sr. came in and as soon as I could I explained that we weren’t keeping them in… Making no progress.  So we got what calves we had and pushed them in the corral.  Finally safe.  Locked in.  j

We did this dance of getting the calves in the back pen, running to open the small man gate to the corral, pushing the calves to the gate avoiding the holes in the fence, and trying not to pee my pants every time they scare me as they come around the hay stack. 

Eventually the calves stopped coming and we figured we could call it a night.  All was left to do was lock the gates up good and PRAY that nothing spent the night in the alfalfa to bloat or on the road to get hit.  Come morning we found we were blessed to keep the calves in for the remainder of the night and the couple of strays that spent the night roaming didn’t die. 

Looking back on this Thursday night I remember what an exciting eventful fall night we shared when the calves had their midnight jail break.  You could almost say we had a romantic night with the only lights of the starry sky (and the few flashlights and 4 wheeler headlights) but I’m sure that’s not how The Rancher looks back on it.  A little anxiety and a lot of relief.  Maybe he won’t want to relive this Throwback Thursday memory!

 

Headed to Fall Pasture

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Calling it fall pasture now sounds wrong that it is currently covered with a sheet of white snow, but since the calendar still calls this time of year fall we will go with it.  Fall pasture.  That’s where we headed a week ago. The Rancher asked me one of my favorite questions- do you wanna ride?  Um… YES! 

It really was a fabulous day and a fabulous day for a ride.  Unfortunately… there was one part of that day that wasn’t so fabulous- I didn’t bring my camera!  I was so busy getting kids together and getting out before the cowboys left me that it slipped my mind.  But in some ways it made for a different kind of ride.

I always enjoy being out for a ride and I love capturing the scenes of the day.  But as I’ve been riding and photographing at the same time, I realized that as much as I take in with my camera I don’t personally it take in.  I look around seeing my next photo or noticing some exciting action and then I take the picture instead of internalizing what’s happening.  And that is exactly what I did this ride.

We gathered in the forest cattle, the same bunch we had brought in twice already.  This time it was to sort off all of our remaining cows to head over a couple of hills to the fall pasture.  Luckily they pretty well sorted themselves… a few of them were a little hot and if too many were that feisty it might have made for a bad day…  When they take on the horse in front of them rather than running through the gate, you can see that there was plenty of fun that day.  Once we got all of our cows out The Rancher, Cowboy E and I started moving them down the road. 

It was uneventful.  The cows moved slow because they were busy eating all along the way.  The air was chilly but the sun beating down was warm and comfortable.  We commented about how good and fat the cows looked.  And we called for the dog keep the cows moving (NEVER move cows without a good cow dog… he’s worth his weight in gold!). It was nice to have a moment to connect to what we were doing and take it all in.  The creak in my saddle, the cow’s hooves on the gravel, and the dog running were the only things to really take my attention.

This little uneventful ride helped me realize how beautiful of a life we live, in its simplicity and in its intensity.  We have times of the year that we fall into bed exhausted only to wake up early again the next morning.  Then there are the days that The Rancher gets done early enough to saddle up the horse for the kids to ride.  In all of it we get to live a life where we work as a family to raise beef to help feed the world.  We work hard, play hard, and have beauties all around.  On this ride to fall pasture I didn’t capture the day with my camera, but I certainly captured it with my heart.  If only I could help you to see the imprint it has left on this rancher’s wife.  

The End of a Satisfying Year

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The first week in November is always a big week for us.  Over that week most, if not all, ranchers in the valley sell and ship their calves.  We calved out these babies, grown them over the summer, and then put the weight on them since weaning.  I’ve said it over and over-this is the day we work for.  Sale day is the day that makes every other day possible.  And when its over we can finally relax (its only for like a day until we start thinking about the next year!).

We have had amazing growth over the last two months and it really showed on sale day. They were chubby, so chubby that we weighed in heavy!  Seriously, fantastic!  When we contract our calves, we contract less than what we have (mostly to hedge our bets because occasionally we contract before the calves are even born!).  When we weigh heavy and have more calves than in the contract, that means there are more we can keep and sell on the side.  Its like having two paydays!  We do keep back anywhere from 90-115 heifer calves to keep for replacement heifers the next year.

The morning of sale day we bring the calves, already sorted into steers and heifers.  We weigh all the calves, getting an average weight.  Based on that weight, our broker will pick out any calves that he won’t be taking and then we reweigh those (to make sure we have the MOST accurate weight down).  After the work of sorting and moving and weighing and reweighing its time to load the trucks.  Once those trucks are full, they drive off into the sunset and we all live happily after.  Ok, not really… It was noon so more like driving into the sun…. And its not all sunshine and roses, but having another year behind us is as sweet and satisfying as any fairy tale ending!

Cutting Cowboys

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I married a cowboy, a roping cowboy.  And I’m down with that.  Actually, I love that.  Its what I wanted.  But its definitely the type of cowboys (they were more ranchers than cowboy if you get down to it) I grew up with.  The rancher’s from my roots were more cattlemen than horsemen.  My dad, however, did a lot of riding.  He had this mare that was his partner in crime for years.  She did her best work when she was cutting a cow.  Once she knew what she was bringing in she was locked on.  She had an incredible drive and hustle… so intense.

I fell in love with cutting watching and riding this mare.  I learned a lot from her- mostly to hunker down in my saddle and lean back to free up her front to move fast and easy.  But really, just to hold on…

The boys around here do a lot of roping, and although I love watching them roping and I am highly impressed by their skill, I get really excited to watch them cut.  (I get even more excited when I get to do it!)  After preg checking all of the cows, they have a pen full of buggers that are being sent home and need to be sorted according to each rancher.  This is one of the highlights of the day for me.  Those cows are tired and ornery and put up a good, GOOD fight.  And that means that the horses put on a good show!  I love to watch them put all their weight on their back legs and spin their front around to follow a cow and then launch forward in a totally new direction.  Its so smooth and explosive all at the same time.  Then there are the times that they have to take off to cut off some cow and have to make a quick, hard stop at an instant.  Its pure athleticism.  Can you see how I love it?!  

Unfortunately, I was busy cleaning up during the majority of the sorting.  These darn boys still need to learn how to work around my schedule…  But I did catch the tail end of cutting cowboys.

Wanted: Good Fall Pasture

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Have I mentioned how thankful we are for rain?  We are so thankful for the rain!  Its been incredible what the rain has done for us this fall.  The most recent realization of its awesomeness is that with all of the growth that has come from the rain we have found ourselves in some what of a dilemma.  OK, not a dilemma really, but more of an interesting situation that we haven’t seen…

Every fall when the calves are weaned and we are done with the summer pasture we look for fall pasture.  The more fall pasture means that we can leave our cows out longer and not have to feed them at the home ranch.  Really, that never happens but some years finding enough pasture has been a slight issue.

But not this year!  We have had calls from so many farmers and ranchers saying that they have great regrowth after their last cutting and would have plenty of feed for our cattle to go through the fall on.  In fact, there are some farmers with wheat fields with winter wheat in that may be growing too much (so much it might not make it through the winter!) and want us to knock it down a little.  Can you say blessed?!  Oh, how we love the rain!

So a week after weaning the calves off, we gathered off 150 cows of the forest group and hauled them out for some good fall pasture.  And honestly, we hope not to make the return trip with them for a good long time!

The Chicken Fiasco

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I had to buy eggs today. It’s the first time in like five years because we always had our own chickens. Even when we were poor-starving-college-students we had a few hens that provided “golden” eggs. Moving to the ranch only meant more eggs for us because when you have 18 hens and three families the eggs get shared around fast.

But it seems that every fall we have some sort of chicken drama. It was this time a year ago that the calves found their way into the chicken coop and scattered those crazy chickens all over the ranch yard. We spent all day gathering up those darn critters to try and keep them from the drooling dog that stalked them from the shed to the shop to the tractor…  This year, though, we couldn’t save them from such an end. 
Yep, you heard right. The chickens are gone, dead, no longer laying eggs!  Fortunately for the dog, he wasn’t the one to get them (I’m pretty sure he would be done for too!) and it wasn’t because the calves crashed down the door. The intruder was much more stealthy- coming in the night and nabbing a few at a time. After the first couple nights of losing a few hens we guessed there was a weasel or racoon that had tunneled into the coop and moved the hens. 
But it didn’t stop that ninja critter. 
We tried to get one step ahead of the hunter to save the few chickens we had left- the four remaining chickens. We put them in the horse trailer and left them there for days. The Ranch Boss set traps hoping to nab the intruder and let us feel safe to put the chickies back. But we never caught him. For weeks we didn’t catch him. By this point we figured he had gotten frustrated and moved on. 
So we put the chickens back. They were happy and we were happy to have the few eggs they were laying. The kids and I were stalwart in doing the nightly egg gather and chicken lock up, always careful make sure there was no way a chicken could escape or a creeper to get in. 
But one morning we heard the bad news- the last of the chickens had been attacked and killed. We felt defeated. We lost all 18 chickens. And all this boiled down to one conclusion- no more fresh eggs. 
To appease your curiosity, we did find what got the chickens.  There was a mink that had escaped the mink farm in town and trekked down to our chicken coop. 
Now we know that we need to beef up our chicken coop to prevent any unwelcome visitors for getting their dinner. And until next spring when the next batch of chickens comes in we will buy eggs, coloring eggs as The Rancher’s Sidekick calls them (apparently white store eggs have only one purpose!). 

A Deer Hunt up Quaken Asp

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Our quiet little valley has suddenly come alive this last week.  Our quaint little roads have become a bustling highway for hunters.  The deer hunting season is open and everyone has come to try and pull a big one out of our mountains.  We see hunters of all kinds- on horse back, hauling ATVs, old ones. young ones, smart ones, and … ones that think that they are too cool for orange.  If you don’t wear orange, you deserve to be shot.  Ok, I didn’t say that, but really, why would you NOT be smart and wear something so the other hunter wouldn’t shoot at you?!

Opening morning The Rancher and I decided to join the hunting crowd and head up to our private property in the heart of those mountains.  I guess we went up for two reasons- 1, to see if we couldn’t find something big and 2, to keep everyone else off of our property.  And I guess a fun morning date is a good third reason for going!

We get a lot of mixed reactions when we post “No Hunting” on our private property.  With so many hunters coming in (we can usually count about 15- 20 opening morning!) we try to give the deer a little bit of refuge on our property.  Over the last ten years when the hunt opened up from a draw, the area has really picked through and it seems that only the young bucks are all that’s left.  So we post our few acres and hope that people will respect our wishes and just move on.  There is enough land and game around that it isn’t worth their fight.  At least that is what I am going to believe that they are saying, as we haven’t had a problem yet.

On our hunt this year, we didn’t see much at all.  Day one there was one little two point that popped up with a few doe… and that was it.  We sat for a while and watched them before moving on… kinda fun.  On day two we saw the same little buck, but this time in distress- he was being chased by a coyote!  Poor bugger to have two different kind of hunters after him that day!

Even though we didn’t see much game, it has still been a fun deer hunt.  I definitely deserve the award for the most “shots” taken, although mine are fired from my trusty Nikon instead of The Rancher’s rifle.  The morning sunrises were beautliful, the fall leaves were colorful, and the company was great!

Can you find the little deer hiding in this photo?

Checking Out the Calf Crop

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Every time we look out towards the fields we see the beautiful green speckled with the black of the calves.  Its a beautiful sight…  Actually, the contrast of the beautiful green with the black really is pretty.  But there is a different beauty.  The beauty of a year’s hard work.  The beauty of the rain that has blessed this valley with the feed we desperately need.  The beauty of the healthy calves eating and energetically running through the field. Truly, a beautiful sight.

Throughout the week, we will take several trips through the calves- checking the feed, the mineral and salt, and the overall health.  Its a little routine, but at the same time its a fun little drive we take as a family.  We spend a good part of the time yelling at the dogs to not chase the calves (who invites the dogs anyway?).  That usually follows with them trying to jump on the 4 wheeler, where there is NO room for any extras.  Just picture the Beverly Hillbillies… Now that the calves are really beginning to settle in, they have become quite curious.  They’ll follow us around or chase the dogs, but as soon as we make a sudden move they take off to the other end of the pasture, just to turn back around.  Any typical curious child, right? 

These calves have really taken to the mineral and salt that we have been putting out.  We are doing everything we can to supplement their feed so that we can get them all the nutrients they need for healthy growing.  That means that on a lot of our family drives through the calves we are also loaded down with bags and bags of mineral.  How is the picture you are creating in your mind?  No, no one has fallen off…yet…  But do go so far as to imagine that dumping the mineral in the troughs is a highlight for the kids because it is SUPER fun to play in!

This is the time of year we take a little pride in the hard work we have put throughout the year to raise this calf crop.  A little drive through the calves has such a sweet smell of satisfaction!

Vaccinating in the Rain

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We gathered… we sorted… we weaned… we hauled… and then we vaccinated.  Not all ranchers do it, but we do.  Its like with kids- not everyone has to, not everyone chooses to but we think its well worth it.  There are two times a year that we have all of the calves gathered up that we can give them their vaccinations- branding and weaning.

In the few years that we have been back to the ranch this is one of those areas that I have really jumped in to help.  Maybe that was because the first year we weaned I was big and pregnant and that was about all I could do.  But there is the nerdy medical side of me (the one that likes to think that I can be part of the at-home-vet crew) that likes to give shots… I don’t know why I’ve settled myself in here, but I did…

Having the new chute was so nice.  So so SO nice!  It was fast, it had an awesome neck bar so I could give shots without my hand potentially getting hurt, and even better we didn’t hurt any calves like we have in the past with the old chute.  Thanks Moly Mfg. for the Silencer!

One of our vaccinating days we had to wait for a break in the rain.  Lucky enough we got a few good hours of dry work in before the rain stared again.  But the rain didn’t dampen any spirits.  Especially any of our little helpers.  These kids of mine love to come and help and don’t mind being hours at the chute with bawling calves.  In fact, they each find a hot shot or a stick and find a place to poke the calves as we go through. 

It was a great few days vaccinating, but its great that its over.  They’ve had their booster shots and now its time for them to grow, grow, grow!

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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