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

Trailing the Cows Home: If Only We Can Find the Gate…

January 12, 2018 by Allison

Its definitely winter here on the ranch. Not because it is cold and snowy, because it has actually been warm (relatively) and rainy. I’m saying its winter time on the ranch because the cows are here and The Rancher is officially feeding every morning. Slowly over the last 2 weeks we have trailed and hauled cows home, starting with the group up in Quaken Asp.

Quaken Asp is some of private ground in the mountains past our home where we pasture the cows in the fall. Its a favorite of our family’s- a place where we go up for a 4 wheeler rides, hunting, an evening drive… you name it, we do it up there. In fact, The Rancher proposed to me up there. Yep, I love it up there. When The Rancher announced that it was the day to bring the cows home from there, I immediately asked if I could come along too. I would say it was 50% me wanting to go for a ride, 30% that I needed get out of the house and do something, and a strong 20% that needed some quality time in a place that I loved.

Luckily for me, I managed to upgrade my ride from the gator, which I always plan to take because it lets me take all my little people and manage to take photos off the trail, to my horse! The Ranch Boss, my father-in-law, had shoulder surgery a few months ago and the thought of something going wrong and him coming off his horse was enough to make him call dibs on the gator. At first I thought that meant I was destined to stay home or to sit in the truck and wait. But, because I am his favorite daughter-in-law, The Ranch Boss volunteered to take my kids with him and I was free to saddle up and go.

Once we got up the mountain, it didn’t take long for us to realize that the cows were going to be difficult to bring home. We rode to the very edges and corners of the field and only gathered up a small portion of the herd. As cows do, they had managed to tear the fence down in a few places and meander far, FAR away. And not only they were few and far between, but they were also belligerent and stubborn and wouldn’t move. They would sit in the trees, head up the mountain, and no matter what we did, turn tail and run.

Ya wanna here just how stupid and ignorant and frustrating these cows were? Ok, it wasn’t the worst move we have ever done, but still frustrating.

There were four cows that I found in the bottoms, stopped in a groves of trees. Calling them trees is kinda pushing it… It was more like a bunch of overgrown bushes that left no room for a horse to move around but apparently enough for a cow to wiggle under. And there was no amount of whooping and whistling that was moving these cows. I tried coming at them from every direction and something worked because eventually they started moving (I guess I am scary… BOOM!) Of course they don’t take the easy way down and jump in with the rest of the herd but they decide to go further up the mountain, through even more brush. About this time The Rancher rides in and he followed them up and over while I kept looking for others in the rest of the brush.

Things were going pretty ok, but we could see handfuls of cows that still needed gathered in. The Rancher and Cowboy E headed out to gather in whatever they could find, while I grabbed those four cows and kept pushing them. I actually didn’t have to push all that much because they were moving plenty fast on their own. Unfortunately they kept going further and further up the mountain and away from the herd. I would get the leader stopped and headed back down just to see one take off another way. This happened over and over again. Where was a good ranch dog when I needed him?

We were headed in the same general direction as the herd and I knew that we would come out just fine, so I opted to stop fighting those old girls and just see where they were taking us. I knew that other cowboys were on the same side of the mountain as we were and that in reality, if I needed help, I could leave the cows and things would be ok. But, being the good cowgirl that I am (or at least pretend to be), I just kept going. One of the best pieces of advice I ever learned when I first trailed cows was to let them take the lead. They knew the range better than I did so it was likely that they knew the best way out. I was hoping that this little bit of advice wasn’t about to fail me. After moving for a long for a while, I start to see more and more cows. Apparently this group all had the same idea to head for the same corner of field, not realizing that they had passed up the better route of going through the bottoms. About that same time, I see Cowboy Pete push a few more cows in my direction and turn around to head for more so I figured I would just take this group and move on down. We started following the fence, assuming that it would take us to the road and out. But I started to look where the fence headed and all I see are corners.

Who builds a fence with 12 hundred corners in it?! Ok… I know that the where and how the fence goes depends on a lot of different things, but still… I mean, if I kept following the fence, where was I gonna end up. I didn’t bring my map of the range so… I called The Rancher instead. He informed me that occasionally they just take the fence down and make their own gate… Oh. Make my own gate. I can do that. I rode up ahead of the cows and took the wires down. Just then The Ranch Boss called me to explain that I needed to turn the cows around, that there is a gate at the corner already opened. Ya know, the gate that we had passed already. He said it was an easier ride out so, I turned those cows around. And went back to where we had started.

No gates to be found… I might have grumbled a little.

And then we turned around again and headed for the place I knew I could get out, make-shift gate I had torn down. And that is when I saw it. A gate. Hidden in a sort-of corner (as opposed to a nice square corner) that we had passed. Over and over again… These blasted cows, that have been on this mountain year after year, head straight for the gate that THEY want to go out, and then MISS it altogether! Gah! If I was a cursing woman, I would have used all sorts of obscenities but… I held my tongue. And those crazy girls redeemed themselves by sticking to trail for the rest of the ride home.

Mostly…

Until the next ride!

The Rancher’s Wife

Thankful for the Moments

November 25, 2017 by Allison

Happy Thanksgiving! Wasn’t it a terrific day yesterday? A day full of eating and family and eating and sleeping and eating and fun! Actually, I don’t think I got an-after-lunch-nap but that’s ok.

I like my Thanksgivings best when its steeped in tradition and intentional. We can eat a turkey any day and we can over-indulge whenever we want, but to be really be Thanksgiving, this day has to be more than that.

My mom has a tradition every Thanksgiving. Its simple. Its easy. But it helps me keep Thanksgiving more than just a day about eating.

Every year my mom pulls out her hand drawn thankful turkey and carefully puts it on the wall. To begin with he looks a little sad, so bare because he doesn’t have any feathers yet. But as the days surrounding Thanksgiving pass, he is filled with colorful feathers inscribed with the blessings that we are most grateful for. Some of them say “family.” Some of them say “God.” Some of them say “my blankie.” And some of them even say, “my hot wife!” They aren’t elaborate or fancy, but they are true, heartfelt things we are grateful for.

For this first time ever, I struggled to know what to write. Not because I wasn’t grateful, but because I was so grateful for so many things I just didn’t know what to pick. We have been blessed with a beautiful home in a place that we get do what we love to do. We are constantly surrounded by good friends and family. We have so many opportunities to learn, to serve, and to grow. And while our year was so full, it was so full of blessings! I just didn’t know what to write.

As I sat there trying to decide what to put on my empty thankful feather I began to think back through this year and all the things we had done and I began to realize that what I treasure most are the moments. Those special moments you breath in deep because you know just how fleeting they can be. Those moments you pause to take it all in so you can remember the sounds and smells that wrap around you. Those moments that seem to make a place deep within your soul.

Those moments came as I stood with my kids as the heavy snowflakes drifted down from a peaceful winter storm while we were building a snowman. They came as we worked in the garden, planting, weeding and watering lending to our eventual harvest. It was in the quiet that I had those special moments when I rocked my growing baby before bed. More came as we worked together as a family to fill our yard with new grass. Some of those moments were spent late at night as we talked and laughed with our brothers and sisters.

There are so many things in this life that I wish we could have or that I could give to my family. We fill our lives with things or with moments and if I had to choose what my kids filled their lives with, it would be these moments. More than anything, I hope that they hang on to them. That they cherish them. Because all of the things that they have will slip away, but these moments are for them to keep forever.

There was no better thing for me to be thankful and to put on my feather than “the moments.” What are you thankful for in this season of gratitude? There are no wrong answers because being grateful is so much more important than what we are grateful for. If you haven’t, take a minute and look through your life and find those things that bless your life.

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

From a very grateful Rancher’s Wife

The Idaho Rancher’s Wife Braves the Stage

November 17, 2017 by Allison

True to my word, here I am, telling you about my experience speaking at the ICA Annual Convention. I’m still in shock that people wanted to hear from me and ask questions about what I do. I’m also a little in shock that I am posting twice in one week! Maybe this can become a regular thing….

Tuesday I was part of a panel to speak on different forms of advocacy and just briefly describe the how’s and why’s of doing it. Speaking out about ranching and trying to connect with people is become really important these days. It is easy to become disconnected from the things that keep our world running whether it is knowing where our food is coming from or how the plumbing in our homes work.

While I was there to talk about how I reach out through blogging, there was another woman, Cheyenne Smith, there to speak on how she is apart of the ranching and beef conversation through twitter. I was really impressed how she wants people to care about us as ranchers and as people providing food for families. By sharing the tidbits from her everyday life, she helps people really see what ranching is like. If you are tweeter (is that even a thing?), go find her @JLazySAngus. Not only does she have great insight to ranching, but she has a great network to be a part of.

The other presenter on our panel was Matt Brechwald and how he goes about advocating really impressed me. A little back story… After college, he ended up living and working in the city. Eventually, he realized that he was not happy with where is life was taking him. So, he and his wife found some land that they could relocate to and start their own ranching experience. In order to make ends meet, he used his skills, machinery, and tools from the ranch to create a side job. As he was out working one day, he realized what an awesome thing he had been able to do and how he needed to share that. He started doing podcasts, highlighting his journey to what he was doing and how others could do it too. To find more about his story and his podcasts you can go to his site at www.offincome.com.

It was really a great experience sharing the mic with these people and helping to share the importance of advocacy, why we love it and how others can do it too. I’ll admit, I was so nervous to begin with. And through most of it… In fact, there was one point that the moderator asked me a question and I was in the middle of answering it with one of my stories. And all the sudden I realized I couldn’t remember what I had been saying and couldn’t even remember where I was going with it. Haha… You can laugh at me… I am! Once we were done with our two 25 minute session I was finally relaxed enough that I felt ready to start. Pretty unfortunate that it was all over, huh?

You are probably thinking that I am last person that should be telling other people to get out there blogging because I struggle in this realm myself. I can be inconsistent and unreliable, and that is a hard pill to swallow. But yesterday I realized that what I do have is that I keep coming back to it. This experience may have been more important to me that for anyone else because it reminded me why I do this. And maybe now I have recommitted myself with new a new drive and hope for what I can do here in this space to reach out and advocate for something I believe in so strongly!

Changes Going on Over Here

June 5, 2017 by Allison

I love blogging. I LOVE it! And I also hate it… Because as much as I love writing and telling stories and my photography… I hate sitting at the computer. And it is always pulling my chain. The days between posts can slip by so fast and then I feel guilty and terrible and frustrated at not being consistent and organized enough to keep things going.

But I keep doing it because I LOVE IT!

We have had this conversation before…

Usually my absence on here is due to the busy rancher’s-wife-and-little-cowboy-momma life I lead but for the next few weeks you won’t here from me for a good reason instead of my slacking.

Are you confused? Or maybe just wondering what the heck I am talking about… I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. For the last several months I’ve had big plans in the works. Actually I have been dreaming of big things for even longer and now I am pulling the trigger.

I am giving my blog a facelift! Its not that I don’t love how things look now, its just that I want to add more. I want to incorporate so much more for you and for me. Knowing me, it is actually going to go quite slow to get everything where and how I want it. But in the next few weeks you will see the beginning and I’m so excited for it.

So… you won’t hear from me for a few weeks and even though that isn’t uncommon for me, it is on purpose!

Pausing for Perspective

May 24, 2017 by Allison

I love my life. I really do. Its amazing how much joy and satisfaction I find in what we do. I get to watch my kids learn and grow and fail and succeed. They get to watch their dad work and see what it means to have responsibilities and carry them out. It is exhausting and amazing and inspiring… and exhausting.

I love our life but it is exhausting. Most of the time when life gets busy and exhausting, you pause, give yourself some space, do something new to recharge yourself, and then jump back in.

We don’t do that.

Not that we don’t believe it taking a break, but its kinda difficult. With cows, irrigating, haying, feeding, checking water, and all the other things on the never ending check list, we don’t have the time to just up and leave. Not to mention the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere and going anywhere requires plenty of travel time.

But that’s ok.

We may to be able to be world travelers or we might not have the opportunities to visit exotic places. Its all ok, because we have an entire world to explore in our back yard. We have horses and 4wheelers and mountains and trails. We really have everything we need.

What we do, everyday, is what we love. Yes, we get tired of the daily grind, but that is when we load up in the gator and go for a ride. And we take a moment to refocus on what our priorities are and then we get back to it.

I’m in desperate need for such a pause. I am feeling the weight of the work that needs to be done on our home, for our community, in the fields… There is always more work to be done than there is time and energy. Think I can talk The Rancher into taking me on a romantic motorcycle ride tonight?

Growing Some Thick Skin

April 26, 2017 by Allison

One of my favorite rancher wives once told me that she chooses NOT to work beside her husband a lot of times because she doesn’t have thick enough skin. Its not that her husband is grouchy and it isn’t ever her husband that is the problem, but to keep things happy in all corners, she just stays out of it.

From her words of wisdom and my own experiences over the last few years, I have learned two things. First, if I can’t handle what the cowboys say, I’d better stay out of the work. And second, I if I’m determined to work with them, I better grow some thick skin to be able to handle it all.

You know me… although the best way to go would be to go with the first little lesson I learned, I’m taking the harder way and following the second.

There are a few reasons a person might need some thicker skin when working with the cowboys, especially if its your husband. At home, he calls you honey and sweetheart and any other pet name I might not want to know. But those lovy names are totally forgotten once the two of you are out the door to work. All of the sudden, he sounds a little cold or distant and pretty soon, you begin to wonder if you did something wrong. Really, what has happened is that he has his rancher hat on and that is all that is on his mind. Don’t worry, he will warm back up to you when the work is done!

Now, unfortunately, ranch work can be noisy. Really, REALLY noisy. Loud tractors or pumps, noisy, bellaring cows and so much more. Hearing anybody talking to you over any of this noise is nearly impossible. So the easiest solution to this problem is just to talk louder than the noise. Most commonly known as YELLING. Yep, I just admitted it, my husband yells at me. At least that is what I used to think. That quick, “CLOSE THE GATE!” without any tender love or affection can cut a wife right to the heart if she doesn’t have some thick skin to protect her. But once ya learn that he is yelling TO you, not AT you, its not so bad. In reality, anything he might be yelling to you is probably to help you do your job better or to keep you safe. Just read it as his way of saying “I love you.”

Eventually, any ranch wife that decides to help the guys get the work done, is going to make a mistake. Its hard to admit, but we wives aren’t perfect. We try hard to be perfect because there are some pretty intense expectations of the level of work that needs to be done and inevitably we might miss the mark. And without any warning or intention, some words might slip out of somebody’s mouth and somebody’s feelings are hurt. I’ve been there thinking, “I am here helping you get YOUR work done and I am doing MY BEST and you are mad at me?!”

But in all honesty, I had made a mistake.

And I hate to admit it.

But in admitting my mistake, it actually made things better.

I’m sure that there are a lot of other wives out there that have their own stories and lessons they have learned about how to make it working with their husbands on the ranch. But ultimately, if you’re going to work with the guys, you gotta handle whatever they might say. Some of it they mean, some of it they don’t. But some thick skin can go a long way to keep things happy at home.

Because really, it can’t get more true than the t-shirt that says, “Sorry for what I said when we were working cattle!”

Dinner For a Rancher

April 12, 2017 by Allison

The other night I made dinner and, as our life goes about now, The Rancher had to head out just as I was putting it on the table. I fed the kids and myself a tasty dinner of grilled steaks, fresh pineapple, salad, and green beans. Everything I love and my kids too! It went over with flying colors and any dinner that I don’t have to coax my kids to eat every bite is considered a win.

But with The Rancher it was a whole different situation.

He came home sat down ready to eat. I was pumped for the steak and the pineapple was a fun treat. But he looked at me and we had this conversation:

Him: “So where is the rest of the food?”

Me: “The rest of it? I think you got it all out.”

Him: “But, like… where is the filling stuff?”

Me: “The filling stuff? What does that even mean?”

Him: “Like potatoes or something. I’ll eat this, but I’m still gonna be hungry if I eat JUST this!”

I couldn’t help but just laugh and laugh! Heaven forbid he had some fruit and veggies in his diet. He thinks that he is going to shrivel up and die if he doesn’t have meat and potatoes for every meal. Actually, I did hear him say once (and I’m sure it will be the only time in his life!) that he was a little tired of potatoes… But that only lasted a few days.

But seriously, cooking for a rancher can be tough. With such a physically demanding job, he needs some serious calories to help him make it through the day. Over the years I have learned a few things about cooking for a rancher.

Things like how a salad will never cut it for him. It may be yummy and it may be nutritious, but it will only last about an hour before he is back in the house looking for a snack to help him make it to the end of the day. Only once has a salad been ok and that was on a hot summer night when the idea of a hot meal was just more than he could handle. Lesson here is, a salad can only be a side, not the entree!

It may be because we raise beef, but I’ve learned that EVERY meal needs to have meat in it. I didn’t even have to attempt a meatless meal to learn this lesson! I think it came with the wedding proposal, something like, “Honey, will you marry me and not EVER make dinner without some meat in it?” I can’t blame him though. Protein is essential part of a healthy diet and it is even more essential for a physically demanding job like his.

Making sure the menu meets his criteria isn’t the only thing I had to learn when I started cooking for The Rancher. His daily schedule is anything BUT predictable, which means that his dinner schedule is also anything but predictable. So what I do is ask him what time he thinks he will be home, add at least 45 minutes to that, but make sure that the table is set if he manages to make it in early so it looks like I believed him. Ok, not really… I think we have had a few reheated meals or overcooked and mushy noodles or the kids and I eat without The Rancher. Its what happens when dinner is on schedule and a calf needs pulled, a cow gets out or something breaks down. Its what happens when you are married to a rancher!

Dinner for a rancher isn’t typical or predictable. Usually I don’t even know what is for dinner until it was time to get fixing and all to often I have to ask The Rancher what he wants for dinner (and his usual reply is “I dunno…”). But dinner at our house is delicious, nutritious, never meatless, and full of love, because every dinner is a chance I have to take care of my rancher so he can do a little bit better at his job.

What is dinner look like at your house?

Momma-Cow Turned Momma Bear

April 5, 2017 by Allison

Before we moved to the family ranch, we worked our way through college at few different ranches. Of course nothing compares to working your OWN ground or your OWN cows, but we still had some great times and some great memories on the operations we were a part of. Once in a while a story comes to mind from those days and we have a little fun reliving those good times. Every year when calving season comes along, there is one story that always comes up. One of those remember-whens that you actually don’t want to remember.

Any rancher will tell you that a momma cow can instantly turn momma bear real fast. A cow that seems perfectly harmless suddenly becomes anything but as soon as you lay hands on her baby. And really, who can blame her? I think that sometimes I turn into a momma bear when I have sweet little babies, and they aren’t even getting tagged!

But… Even if I do relate to them, sorta, that doesn’t mean they need to eat my husband for lunch!

Actually this story was before we were married. Even before we were dating. I was in the midst of my sophomore year of college and my only sanity was heading up to my brother’s near Salmon, Idaho. He had my horse, cows, and a population of about 50 and it called to me after long hard days of school and work and SO many people. Ironically, I didn’t have a car (probably a good thing or I would have spent all of the money I didn’t have driving up there all the time) and I had to convince friends and roommates that we should take a trip up to the ranch to have a little R&R.

It was on one of these weekends that I met The Rancher. He was doing his internship up there, partially in an effort to avoid the school work and people like I was. Truth be told, I had no interest in him at first. I had sworn off boys because they just caused frustration and heart ache. Cows and horses, on the other hand, only caused frustration. I was determined to take advantage of the little time I had on the ranch and soak in as much fresh air and get as much poop on my boots as possible. To that end, I got brave, and asked The Rancher if I could ride along with him to check cows on his late night watch. Being the player he was at the time (haha…) he shyly agreed and I hopped in the truck.

For the most part, it was uneventful. There was a calf or two born. We tagged them, gave them shots, wrote it all down and moved on. It was cold and bumpy but it was fun. We went out checking for a few nights and it was all the same every night. Until we found one of those momma-bear momma cows.

This brilliant momma, had decided to have her calf in the snow. Something not all that conducive to life if you were just born and wet and cold. We had been checking around the different fields and found this cow exactly where she shouldn’t have been. Labor does strange things and apparently with her, it made her want to climb through a few fences and birth in the privacy found in the wheel-line stock pile. Not knowing that she was calving or had just had a calf, we drove over to get her back in where she was supposed to be.

The Rancher hopped the barbed wire fence, figuring it would only take just a minute to get the cow back in her field. That’s when he saw the baby and plans changed. Getting the two of them back was totally on the back burner and keeping the calf alive was all that mattered. The momma was loving on him, but he had yet to get up and out of the snow. So being the nice guy that he was, The Rancher grabbed a leg and started dragging the calf out of the snow.

It only took a second for that cow to turn momma-bear. For all she knew, someone was messing with her baby and she wasn’t going to have any of that.

Now put yourself in my shoes, or rather my seat. Here I was, sitting in the front seat of an old, beat up ranch truck, riding around with a kid I hardly knew. He was across a barbed wire fence, through drifts of snow and there was a momma cow about ready to have him for a midnight snack.

What was a girl to do?

It was dark and the only light was from the poor headlights (calling the headlights as poor was a compliment!), and he was far enough away I really couldn’t see well enough to know what was happening, just that things were getting a little (or a lot!) intense over there. But, was he ok and wouldn’t need any help? Or was he only seconds away from broken bones and smashed insides? Was there even anything in the truck that I could use to help him? Should I risk life and limb for this kid? I could see myself jumping out of the truck, slipping a time or two as I trudged through the snow, getting tangled up in the wire fence as I tried to cross it in the dark and finally make it to him only to find everything ok and totally unworth my efforts. Or I would do something embarrassing like fall on my face in the snow or rip my pants on the barbed wire…

So I just sat there.

Heroic, I know. But before I made a move, I wanted to know what that cow had in mind. It didn’t take long for her to prove that she meant business. She took off straight for The Rancher, covering the 10 yards between them in seconds. At this point all I could do was pray. Pray that he got out of there in time. Pray that she changed her mind. Pray that even if she did get him, it wouldn’t be too bad. Pray that he wouldn’t need mouth to mouth…

It must of worked because just as she was about to him, a snow drift popped up in front of her and she dropped to her knees. It was the few seconds The Rancher needed to get clear of the calf, sail over the fence, and finally take a breath!

And then, to be terribly honest, I don’t remember much that happened next. I know we had other cows and fields to check and so I’m sure we just moved on with the night. The Rancher might have been a little more weary and a little more spry in case any other mommas had a little bit of momma-bear in them.

Reliving that story every year always brings new things to light, like how The Rancher was actually grateful for the chance to look so brave and he was a little sad that I didn’t need to give him a little mouth to mouth… I, on the other, hand, am just glad that he managed to survive that night so we could have our life together now. Do any of you have a good momma-bear story?

Its All About a Bunch of Bull

April 1, 2017 by Allison

Bull sale season is coming to a close. It ends just as fast as it comes. I kind of have a love hate relationship with Bull Sale season. I love it when I get a chance to go, but I hate it when I get left behind. And unfortunately, with all of my other OTHER responsibilities, it happens more than I’d like. But I usually try to send a child or two if that’s the case (hahaha… hehehe…). My mother-in-law and I were having a great conversation the other night, talking about all the pros and woes of being a rancher’s wife during Bull Sale Season. I’m sure that we aren’t the only ones that have noticed the ups and downs that come Bull Sale Season. In fact, I’m sure that we have it easy compared the wives of the ranchers PUTTING ON the sale.

I’ve actually had the pleasure of both sides of the sale- the selling and the buying. Growing up I loved the prep work of a sale. Trimming everything, photographing them all, sprucing up the sale barn, staying home from school on sale day… Yep, it was a kids dream. But I’m sure as the wife to a rancher, my mom didn’t think it was quite so awesome. When I imagine her at that time of the year, one word comes to mind- STRESSED!

Even though I am on the buying side of the bull sale now, I still love it. There is such an energy at a cattle auction! The combination of the noisy crowd, the feisty bulls, the auctioneer’s ramble, and the anticipation of when to put in your bid gives the air a little extra zing. You can’t help but love it, right?!

While the debate of whether Bull Sale Season is an actual thing is still being decided, I have unofficially dubbed March, plus or minus a few weeks, as such. If you were to come look at our bull-sale-calendar, you might mistake it for a bingo card for as many days as have been scribbled on. In fact you might even think we were going for Black Out! And while there may be so many to go to, you can be sure that every one will be different and every one will be good.

The obvious upside to having so many days out to a bull sale is that I get a free pass on fixing lunch for those days. While we can always expect the sale to be great, we KNOW the meal will be even greater! In fact, it may be so good and we come home so full, that I might not even have to make dinner (actually that’s never happened, but every time I’m hopeful!). Is it bad to admit that I have even asked for a recipe or two after watching my family down their lunch? I figure its a great compliment!

Once you get to the sale and have a chance to look around, you realize that ranchers can actually dress up and they are a pretty darn good looking crowd. You spend so much time seeing them in shirts torn up from the barbed wire or pants covered in what looks like tractor oil and grease (and maybe even something else you can’t even recognize!), or boots smeared in mud and manure and stinking even worse than they look, that you forget how good looking a rancher can be. And I think they will take any chance to get out of their grubby clothes too! Maybe that’s why we hit up so many sales…. Hmmm….

I’ve decided that there is an art to bidding. You don’t want to jump in too soon, because that just might take the price right out of your budget. But you don’t want to get in the action too late because then you might be out altogether before you even got in. Unless you can manage the sneak attack and steal the show with a last second bid. Then there is the whole other ballgame of bidding online. That one really makes me nervous… What if the connection goes out all of the sudden or what if it takes a second longer to register the bid or what if …. something else could go wrong, I’m sure!
Whatever way you bid, you gotta have a game plan!

Usually we go to a sale with a budget in mind and a number of how many bulls we need to buy. I always figure that once we spend the money or we get all the bulls we need, we will head home. But the truth of the matter is, a bull sale is a rancher’s social hour. Believe it or not, ranchers to like to gab! They all hurry up to buy their bulls and then hustle over to the cookie table to chat away the rest of the sale.

At the heart of every bull sale is their bull magazine. You can ALWAYS know it is Bull Sale Season by the stack of magazines on the desk. I wonder if the mail man gets tired of filling the mail box up with them? We’ve seen a few ranches that REALLY want you to come, so they send 2 or 3 magazines to be sure you get a good look at what they’ve got. It makes things easier for The Rancher when there are more, though. He can leave one on the kitchen table to read while he eats, one on the night stand to have his final look before he goes to sleep, and one in the bathroom where he does his best thinking. For some ranches, they send out the whole sale lineup. They figure then you can come to the sale knowing exactly what you want to go home with. For other ranches it is more like a ranch-and-family-year book. They try pulling at your heart strings a bit with those sweet smiling grandbabies. Then there are the ranches that just send their own type of save-the-date card and figure its gonna save them a lot of work if you just grab the magazine as you walk through the bulls.

But without those magazines, a rancher would be lost keeping everyone and everything straight. Besides the fancy names and photos, they are full of the info any rancher needs to get a good buy. Its those EPDs. If anyone ever thought that rancher wasn’t an educated guy, he should try his hand at EPDs… I’m slowing starting to gather what scores are good birth weights, weaning weights, milking and futures. I have no idea how they figured them, but I believe them.

Well, Bull Sale Season… its been real, its been fun, and no we are done. Its just a little more than a month away until the real fun starts and we see just how good of a buy we made! Until next year… (Maybe the season will be official then and we can have an opening day celebration!)

PS- I think the life of a bull is rough… Seriously, who else has a job of pleasure that only has to work a few months of the year and then is literally put out to pasture for the rest of the year?! And to have pasture like we did last spring… Yum…

Favorite Winter Weather Gear

March 28, 2017 by Allison

If you had to have super-hot weather or super cold weather, which would you choose? I go for the cold. My theory (along with probably thousands of others!) is that you can always add layers in the cold but in the hot, eventually, you can’t take anymore off. Thankfully, I don’t have to choose one of the other and I get to have both the hot and the cold. And I’m even more thankful I get mostly warm….

I’d say that I can (usually) handle whatever kind of cold comes our way if I have enough of the right kind of layers. It probably isn’t gear for Antarctic kind of cold, but since I’m not going there any time soon (or ever), I think I’m set. I’m that kind of girl that so long as I’m not freezing, I can do whatever needs to be done. So we pull out our cold weather gear and get to work.

So without any further interruptions, distractions, or whatever else, here is, from one rancher’s wife to another (or anyone else that is interested to know), my top 5 things that helped us survive the cold of winter.

1. Our Muck Boots… These boots are a serious staple at our house, year round. But they are an absolute necessity during the winter. Let me give you the highlights of this boot: water tight, insulated, great tread, and NO LACES! I love these boots for myself but I really love these for the kids because they can put them on and tucked into their snow pants without momma’s help. And they are great for those long weeks when the snow is melting and we are sloshing through the mud.

2. A good wool hat WITH ear flaps… When I was a kid, I always laughed about the look of a wool cap. All I ever saw was Elmer Fudd. But with my cute Stormy Kromer hat, function has totally met fashion. And although looking good out on the ranch for those cows that are really into that is top priority, more importantly, I now have an awesome hat for a super warm noggin to make it through the cold winter days! The Rancher isn’t so concerned about looking good as he heads out (because looking good comes so naturally to him) but he totally agrees with me that a wool cap is the way to make it through the winter. His only stipulation is that it has to have some good long flaps to pull down over his ears.

3. Our Carhartt… everything! We wear so much Carhartt because it is good stuff. We have coats, jackets, and even wool socks! They definitely win first place. A blue ribbon. A gold star. But seriously, they do an amazing job for keeping the cold at bay. Then they last all season long, and the next and the next! I have been wearing some of my favorite winter weather pieces for years! (Not that I have had the same pair of socks on for years, just that I have been using them for years. You know what I mean, right?) I’m all about a product that can do its job well, not once, but for a good, long haul.

4. Good ol’ long johns… The old time cowboys had it right when they wore their long underwear all winter long. They are like a snugly winter coat. It’s that all our critters need, so it sounds like a good plan to me! I don’t have a favorite brand. I’m simple like that. They just need to fit in my jeans and keep me moving!

5. Insulated leather gloves… Every year we pull out the insulated leather gloves I am always amazed at how well they can keep ya warm. When winter hits I’m ready to put on the heavy-duty, snowman building, all-day-sledding, hill-climbing-snowmobiling, sort of gloves. Then The Rancher grabs his trusty insulated leather gloves and I know we are already good to go. Now if only they make them for teeny tiny hands…

There are lots of other winter favorites like our wild rags, vests, snow pants and many more cluttering my mudroom. But when it really comes down to it, this handful was our everyday-go-to winter gear and so long as we had them, we were good to go. What helped you make it through the winter? Anything that isn’t found in the mud room?