Rancher's Wife Stripes - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

The Midnight Rescue

June 14, 2014 by Allison

It was a week ago that I was sitting at the Blackfoot team penning and branding. I had been looking forward to that day for so long because I planned to absolutely nothing. Just sit. And take pictures.

It didn’t start so simple since The Rancher and I were doing it solo. Normally the whole family comes out and we have more than enough help. But The Buckaroo is madly in love and decided to go branding with his girl instead (but really, who could blame him? A weekend of branding is always a great time!). What really took away the help was the fact that Cowboy E was in the hospital in Salt Lake, so he wasn’t around and neither was Rancher Sr. That left the babies and I to be the help that day.

Of course we are the best help he’s ever had, but only so much can make up for missing water troughs, a screwy chute set up, and wound up heifers. It took some time, but we got the heifers ready and out for the sorting.

Once we got things running it was a pretty typical hot, sunny day at the fair grounds. The Rancher’s Sidekick had to check everything out and The Rancher Princess could barely keep up. We fit in a few naps and lunch in between switching cattle and cheering for dad. Everyone had to take a turn sitting on the horse and we roped everything in sight. And I did have a few minutes to take some fun pictures (forthcoming, I PROMISE).

The day ended up long, and just when we thought we were to the end of our busy day things got a little crazy. We left for home about 9:30pm, later than we had anticipated because we had such a great turnout. Things were going good until just before Rockland, about 45 minutes from home. All of the sudden there was a weird knocking sound in the motor of the semi. I figured something must being going really wrong if it was loud enough for me to notice (I could never double as a mechanic…), especially in my tired, worn out state. I looked at The Rancher to confirm my suspicions that we were in trouble and yep… he had that oh-crap-don’t-let-this-be-happening look on his face. Of course we were part way up the hill and it took all the power the broken down semi had to make it to the top. I might have been saying, “I think I can, I think I can…” all the way up…

The Rancher jumped out to look under the hood to see what was happening (and borrowed my phone for a flashlight since it was dark at the point) and saw that oil was shooting out one side (if he was telling you the story he would tell you where, but you already know that I can’t tell you those details of the story!). The final diagnosis was that something had broken and that semi wasn’t going to make it home.

Hmmm… what is a rancher, wife and kids supposed to do with a dead semi and a bull wagon full of tired, sore, hungry, thirsty heifers. I dunno either… Call the calvary, I guess. So we did.

First we called The Buckaroo (who had managed to make it to the tail end of the branding earlier in the night) to turn around and come get myself and our tired kids. To make it a little more tricky, his phone was dead so we had to call his girl (she was following him home for the weekend) to get him to stop and turn around. Then we made a call to some of our dearest friends and neighbors, who farm and have their own semi. We interrupted their night to beg them to come and save us.

It ended up that they needed a little saving (thank goodness for brothers that live close by!) of their own because their semi was dead and had to jump it to get it started. Not a very good way to start a midnight rescue. But the pair of them got it running and headed out.

The Ranch Boss must have had a moment of inspiration because he called us just as we pulled off the road to see how things were going. When we explained what was going on, he jumped in the ranch truck and had the sense to throw in some blocks in the back, just in case.

Once everyone arrived the fun began. They had to unhook and jack up the trailer, still full of heifers. And that wasn’t as simple as it sounds. These jacks aren’t ones that you can adjust. Its a one time guess to have them up to the right length. Being on the road they had to add in the blocks The Ranch Boss brought to make sure they didn’t break through the asphalt. You can imagine that 30,000 pounds of pressure on two small jacks could present some real issues. Once the trailer and jacks were set, they were able to limp our dying semi off the road and out of the way.

The next step was to hook up the rescue semi. Again, not as simple as it sounds. this semi wasn’t as tall as ours (apparently we have big tires- once again I can’t tell you the details…). The guys had to rig up a sort of ramp to get the back end high enough that they could hook on to the trailer and get the jacks off. That only took like 4 tries…

Finally the rescue crew headed home and made it to back up and unload in the dark. I quick jumped in my mom-mobile to help shine a little light on the unloading chute to hopefully make it a little easier for The Rancher to back up to. And here I have to throw in how awesome of a backer-upper (is that even a word? I just made it up…) The Rancher is. He backed that semi up in dark and hit it right on the first time. Amazing! Who knew such a skill existed! All that was left was to convince the worn down heifers to unload.

What began as a long fun, long, hot day turned into an even longer, exhausting day. But we made it, thanks to some incredible friends and neighbors. I’m pretty sure that I owe those boys some brownies!

Changing Sprinklers with The Rancher’s Wife (because I LOVE it!)

May 20, 2014 by Allison

My high school summer work was working for a neighbor on his ranch (no surprises, right?). Every morning we would start the day moving the wheel lines and a few hand lines. I loved it. Every part.

I’m not really sure why- maybe it was knowing that the work we were doing was growing the hay we would harvest. Maybe it was doing a job that I could do well. I would say that it was playing in the water, put at that time in the morning the water was COLD. I actually wonder if I didn’t love it because it was one of the times that my OCD-ness really came in handy- straight wheel lines, unplugged nozzles, the birds standing upright…

It has its bad moments- like when you have to get the heavy mover through the ditch and you fall in. Ya… not so cool. Or you have a riser blow its top, continually. In fact, I have an Instagram buddy say Irrigation=Irritation. So true.

But still… I loved and still love moving sprinklers. And The Rancher loves that I love it. Its not too hard to hard to get me to come help and make the work go a little faster (isn’t that what every rancher wants in a wife?). Thankfully, he does it in the evenings when I can help out (and not egg cold!). He’ll go in one direction to work on a line while I turn off another. We jump between the different lines to get them drained, moved and the pressured up again. Of course along the way there are seals to fix, drains and nozzles to replace, or lines to wash out. It seems that something always needs a little fixing…

Doing this together for a few years we have learned a few things- bring the bag of tools, have a stash of oil and gas, and always wear water boots- even when you shouldn’t be in the water… because Murphy’s Law is a part of changing sprinklers!

** Funny side note- when I asked The Rancher’s Sidekick what I should title this post he said, “Um… Lemonade!” Yes, it is a sprinkler changing, lemonade sippin’ spring day at our house. Summer is on its way!

Delicious, Home-Cooked Steak Dinner

May 9, 2014 by Allison

Sunday is Mother’s Day, and I hope you have big plans for pampering the mother’s in your lives. Maybe you’ll do a little breakfast in bed, beautiful spring flowers, some chocolates maybe or how about a nice dinner to say thank you.

Growing up it was my mom that pulled together those nice holiday meals that added just the right touch to the day. Not to say that dad couldn’t, but it was mom’s forte. That usually meant that when it came to Mother’s Day we were already starting without our MVP. I don’t want you to fall short this Mother’s Day, so here is a SUPER easy, delicuious and easy meal to show the mom’s in your life just how much you care!

At our house you can never go wrong with a nice steak dinner. And when you cook them on the grill, its minimal mess which means minimal clean up (for you… because momma isn’t doing dishes on Mother’s Day, remember?).

The most important step in making this isn’t going to be at home- its at the grocery store. A good steak isn’t made with the rubs, seasonings, or marinades (although they do make for some awesome added flavor!). Its how that calf was grown (ok, so really its starts on the ranch, but you don’t have much control over that!). At the meat counter, take the time to choose a steak with good color and good marbling- the little flecks of fat that are in the meat. This is where you get your flavor and what makes a steak tender. Factor in the cut, or the type of steak, that you are getting. Choose one that is from the rib area. Steaks that come from places like the shoulder tend to be a less tender. Personally, my favorite is a T-bone… yep… I love T-bone steak.

Once you get your steak home the stage is set for some incredible eating with only a little bit of work. Get the grill hot and ready to go and when its hot, its time to get cooking.

After putting the steaks on the grill, add a little salt. Partially for flavor, but also because that helps to keep the juicy flavor in the steak. A LONG time ago you learned about how water follows salt in some science class, right? This is when you are finally gonna use what you learned!

Let it cook for a good 1-2 minutes and then turn in 45 degrees to give it that criss-cross look. Besides looking so professional (which is what we’re going for, right?!), those lines are seared, which sort of caramelizes the surface and locks in more of that delicious flavor!

Once you rotate your steak, let it grill for another 2-3 minutes and then flip and repeat. A little more salt for flavor AND to keep your steak moist. This time we like to add a little more seasonings- just some pepper and good ol’ seasoning salt (at this house, sometimes less is more!). After its cooked for a minute or two, rotate. Give it another good couple of minutes and then you’re done!

Unless you’re going for a well-done cooked steak. Then you’re not done. Keep cooking…

Timing is important to cooking steaks. You don’t want to under cook your meat, pull it off and then have to start over. Ideally, you only want to flip your steak once. But the opposite is possible- over cooking. I’m not a fan of burnt steak… or a dry steak. I don’t know about you, but pink in the middle is perfect.

But however your momma likes it, is what we’re going for. And no matter how that is, she is gonna love your delicious, home-cooked steak dinner. Add some steamed veggies and some fresh watermelon and you will rule the day!

Because really, don’t all the mom’s in your life deserve nothing but your best?

Happy Mother’s Day! (early…)

The Cow With the Uterine Prolapse

March 12, 2014 by Allison

This happened a long time ago (well, just the beginning of the month but that seems SO long ago…). But it did… and I haven’t put up this post because I was scared. I didn’t know how you would take it.

You see there are days that it all goes wrong on the ranch. And we can’t turn away from it. We have to jump in to whatever mess there is. Even if it is a cow with a uterine prolapse.

Remember when I told you the story about that calf we tried to save when I was out on my morning run? Well the day didn’t end there. The momma heifer to that baby had some serious problems not long after. When we went to check her again we found that her uterus had prolapsed.

The heifer had been on her back and pushing for such a long time that morning. Between the pressure of the contractions and the pressure of her awkward situation, it was too much for her birth canal. With everything being stretched and weak, it was unable to keep the uterus from also being pushed out.

Is any of this making sense? I wish you could have been here to see her, because it would be a lot easier to show you than to just explain… But I’ll keep going.

So we saw she was in trouble. As much as we wished we could just do nothing and it would all go away, we knew it wouldn’t. In fact this was an emergency situation that needed IMMEDIATE help. To top it all off, Rancher Sr. was gone to watch Cowboy E at his wrestling tournament with all of the other help. I was the only help The Rancher had… And even though I am the best help he has ever had (hehe), this was more than what the two of us could do.

In fact, we wanted some professional help, like a vet. But vets are busy some days and can’t come. And a cow in this kind of a condition is not one to load up and take in. This meant it was up to us to fix it!

Luckily we have a neighbor that was home and able to come help. And as an added bonus, he had done this a few times so he knew a lot more than what we did. Phew…

The cow was already down from other birthing complications but we still had to do a sort of nerve block. This kept her from moving around or twitching her tail at us. It also worked as a pain block because I don’t know how lovely it would be to have three people pushing your insides back in.

Once we knew she was blocked we elevated her back legs and rear so that gravity could help out. And it also kept the uterus cleaner since it wasn’t on the ground any longer.

The next step was cleaning her uterus off. Its only the nice thing to do when you put a uterus back inside. Don’t worry, we had some heavy duty, yet gentle, disinfectant to do the job. We didn’t want anything to end up growing in there. We had to be careful to not get too rough as we worked. There are several massive raisen looking things lining the uterus called cotyledons (here is a look if you want more of an anatomy lesson). They are what provide the nutrients to the growing baby. If one of these is badly cut or torn, the cow could hemorrhage and die. So we tried to be careful…

That was all the easy part. With all of the prepping and cleaning we were finally ready to shove (with love) the uterus back in. Now image a bean bag the size of a large basketball being shoved into a hole the size of a grapefruit but weighs as much as a big bag of sugar. And add a half a bag more. That’s what we were doing. You would think that it would just slip back in… but it doesn’t.

My job was just to hold the uterus up. Just to keep it there to make it easier for the other guys to shove in. And they had the job of shoving, hard enough to gain ground but careful enough to not cause any damage. Occaisonally we would switch around and I would get shove. It was tough because as soon and I thought I was gaining ground and would pull my hand back to push again, everything that I had just pushed in with the last push would fall out. And then sometimes the heifer would push against us (because ouch!) and we would lose more ground.

It took us about 45 minutes of pushing and holding and working to finally get everything back inside. Ya know, where it belongs… (internal organs never do well outside the body). Our final step was to sew her up so it wouldn’t all come falling out again.

The Rancher had the honor of doing this. He had a sergical string that reminded me of a shoelace. Just remember that we are working on a big cow and she needs more than a few little stitches to keep her insides inside. Then he took a few hog rings (real technical, I know, but it works awesomely) and clamped them along the edge of the vulva. He threaded the string through the rings and cinched it up tight like a duffle bag. This would allow her to still pee and any discharge to go out, but not another prolapse.

With the work done, all that was left was to give her a shot to boost her immune system and let her go.

It seems so easy when I tell it to you, but I was so tired after it all. Especially my forearms, from holding her heavy, heavy uterus.

It was a learning experience for us, not one that everyone needs to learn. I highly recommend a vet to be the man in charge on this kind of a project. Other things I learned that day- 1, how to fix a prolapse (obviously), 2, that a tractor is a great way to elevate a cows backside, and 3, definitely wear work clothes for that kind of a job. And one other recommendation- make sure that your cow isn’t buy a busy road. Just think what those travelers were imagining!

Because the pictures are a little graphic and not all of you will want to see it… click “read more” for the photos.

I don’t have any pictures of the shoving part. My hands were kinda full… But you can imagine how it must of went going from the last picture to the next picture. It was almost like magic!

Done With the Preg Checking

November 27, 2013 by Allison

I wish I had a dollar for every time The Rancher says, “Well everything is done for a while until we have to do the ______.” Like he says that we are done moving cows except for the bunch that needs moving in a week. Or the bailing is done, but there is the field that was just cut that will need bailed in a few days. I appreciate that he is trying to make me feel good that things are slowing down but I have learned better.

Lately we have heard the preg checking is done. Yes, for the forest cows. But then there was the weekend of preg checking the BLM cows. And then the strays that come in need checked. And the other bunch of strays. And the other other bunch. And now it was time the first calf heifers that had been out to pasture near Blackfoot for the fall.

The Rancher called me in one fine afternoon, asking for some help to get the heifers pregged up that night because the weatherman was calling for snow. For some reason they didn’t want to work cows in the yucky cold and wind. I always come running when The Rancher asks for help, mostly because I don’t want him to think he can do anything with out me (ok really I just love to help and I don’t want him to stop asking). Usually I end up giving shots at the front but this time I got to run the back. And I did a great job, if I do say so myself. It didn’t leave much time for pictures but I snapped a few before the night was over.

I think that we are really done with the preg checking. Unless some other ornery cows come from who knows where… But until then, we are done!

With the time change dusk came upon us and the moon lit the way. I zoomed in to get a picture and this is what we got. It wasn’t really this dark, but it turned out kinda fun.

A Rancher’s Wife Chicken Chase

October 2, 2013 by Allison

The day started out ordinary and beautiful, and typical of a ranching day, that was sure to change. The cowboys were gone so something was bound to go awry.

After coming home from getting my hair cut I had a call from The Rancher’s mom across the way. She was somewhat in distress because the chickens were out. You may not think that this is much of an issue but I assure, it is.

I wish that we had the picturesque Little House on the Prairie farm where the chickens and bum calves ran around free… Lovely pets that nestle and come at a melodic call. But that isn’t what we have here folks.

We have wild calves that in their wild roaming they roam into the chicken coop. They reek all sorts of havoc on that little coop, like dumping out the water, turning over the feed and ruining the feeders. Of course this inspires more chaos as the chickens have been terrorized and set free. Chickens wandering free is problematic- first because it means we have to hunt them down and get them back in. But also because there is someone else hunting after the chickens… the ornery dog.

As good rancher wives we dedicated ourselves to finding the lost chickens, saving them from being dinner, and safely returning them to the coop. It was a darn good thing that we were dedicated because it took FOREVER to wrangle up those chickens. Have you ever herded chickens? I think it is worse than cats.

They had scattered all throughout the sheds where the old junk has collected, the new tractors are parked, and everywhere in between. We climbed under and over nasty, dusty, dirty, grimy… I actually don’t know what most it stuff was (but I did find a few treasures that would look lovely with flowers planted in them). But we suffered through it and slowly, but surely, we gathered the chickens one by one back to the coop.

The real hero of the story is The Rancher’s mom, who by the way needs a better “Rancher Wife” blog name than that (if anyone has any great ideas). She is so brave! I don’t really do chickens. I will chase them, cluck at them, gather their eggs, and occasionally squeal because of them but I won’t touch them (read pick them up in ANY sort of way). But this lady scoops them up without the blink of an eye. When she can’t just scoop them up she has a handy hook that snatches those chickens, just as if she was fishing. And as she walks them back to the coop she sweetly reminds them that it is much better to stay in the coop, gives them a pat and lets them gently down. I was so impressed at one point that I almost told her she was one good hooker lady, but I didn’t think that was very nice… She has some sort of chicken super powers that any nasty chicken had better beware.

When the Cowboys are Gone…

June 11, 2013 by Allison

What would you guess would happen when all of the cowboys are gone?

Did you say the horses would get out? And some bulls? Oh you are so right!

The Rancher is busy hauling cows (its one of the other things we do). Rancher Sr. is out shuffling cows around the spring/summer pasture. Of course he took along all other available help- The Ranch Boss (The Rancher’s grandpa) and Cowboy E (The Rancher’s brother). Cowboy Pete (the other brother that is still home) is at State Rodeo (sending positive mental thoughts right now) with his momma.

Its me. And my sleeping. Oh wait, I did have The Rancher’s dog…

But have no fear, the trusty-as-ever Rancher’s Wife got them. Alone.

More Rancher-Wife-Stripes for me!

Some Time Inside for The Rancher’s Wife

May 17, 2013 by Allison

Being a rancher’s wife calls for more things than being out on the ranch. Sometimes it requires days spent in the house. There are the typical cleaning, laundry and cooking that The Rancher always needs done but this is how I spent my morning…

Can you guess what I did? Here’s a better look…

Yes, those are The Rancher’s pants on the sewing machine (and The Rancher’s Girl keeping me company in the back 🙂 ). I had been putting it off for a LONG time (some of them have needed to be mended for over a year!) and I got away with it because there was always another pair of jeans that didn’t have any holes… until there wasn’t . I finally gave into The Rancher’s request after doing a load of laundry and I realized that EVERY pair had holes… So I sat down with the sewing machine and a movie (because I knew it was going to take a while) and got to work. In the end I mended 7 pairs of jeans and threw out 3 because they had too many darn holes. And now maybe I can go another year before I have to mend his jeans again! What do ya think?