The Idaho Rancher's Wife

The Ranch From the Wife's Perspective

How to Declutter a Rancher (Yes, It’s Possible)

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A practical, good-humored guide to sorting hats, gloves, boots, and everything in between.

No one has written a chapter on how to declutter a rancher. Until now.

Everywhere you look, someone is taking on new habits, breaking old ones, or reorganizing their life. I’ll admit — my curiosity often gets the better of me. I scroll through the upgraded life hacks, improved menus, and color-coded cleaning schedules. Occasionally, I try one. Every now and then, an idea sticks.

But in all my years of perusing cleaning, organizing, and decluttering guides, I’ve never once seen a category dedicated to ranchers. Either no guru has had a rancher in their life long enough to see the need, or they simply weren’t brave enough to take it on. So today, we begin.

The easiest place to start is the hat collection. Every fertilizer rep, banker, nutrition consultant, tractor dealer, feed clerk, and veterinarian has likely contributed at least one. Despite what they may tell you, they don’t need every hat — and they don’t even like all of them.

Some have given everything they have to give. Others were never chosen in the first place. Keep a handful of clean ones for town, rotate a few for work, and let the rest move on.

Once the ball is rolling, turn your attention to gloves. You will hear arguments:

“That one’s still good — its mate just wore out.”

“It only has a small seam popped.”

“That’s my backup pair to my backup pair.”

I understand the logic. Winter gloves, summer gloves — all makes sense. But when there are extra pairs stacked in the corner and seven left-handed gloves for only two right-handed ones, it’s time to intervene.

Boots follow the same rule. Town boots, work boots, riding boots, long-day boots — all fine. But the pair that was replaced three times ago? Let it go. Don’t waver. The chaos they create sitting in the way, tripping people left and right, just isn’t worth it.

Before leaving the mudroom, tackle coats, sweaters, vests, and scarves. Ranchers are loyal to old favorites, but even loyalty has limits.

Closets are next. They make do with the old while still chasing something new. Keep what fits, toss what’s torn, stained, or beyond repair. If there are still too many, have your rancher try them on. There may be whining. Stay strong.

Work pants follow one rule: never mend a patch you’ve already mended. If they’re worn enough to need fixing again, they’ve done their duty.

Once the wardrobe is tamed, gather wire bits, fencing clips, loose tags, and miscellaneous tools that migrated indoors. Send them back outside. They may not end up where they truly belong, but they are no longer in the house — and that’s a win.

Next come the less obvious collections. Bathrooms often house too many bull sale catalogs and ranching magazines. If they haven’t been read yet, they likely won’t be. While you’re at it, clear out outdated vaccines and medicines in the fridge and pantry. Lunch boxes, coolers, water bottles, and ice packs deserve the same reckoning. Even if you never acquire another, you already have plenty.

One final thought: ranchers are excellent at sorting. They do it every day. You just might need to change the setting. If they can call out “by” or “in” while culling cattle, they can manage the same system indoors.

If you’re successful inside, the garage might be next. Broken tools, old truck parts, abandoned projects — all can go. More sensitive items, like worn-out tack or retired hot shots, may take longer.

In full transparency, I have a rancher who could use a real dose of decluttering. There are too many good hats, gloves with a little life left, favorite shirts, magazines worth skimming again, and tools that just need “a little attention.”

This piece is largely theory and wishful thinking, not a record of triumph.

But if you try it — even just taming the hats and gloves — the house feels lighter, and the rancher…well, they keep riding on.

Small Changes That Make a Big Difference on the Ranch

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Why steady, thoughtful improvements matter more than sweeping change in agriculture.

Winter has a way of slowing things down enough to notice what usually gets overlooked. With the cows settled in and the rush of the season behind us, there’s finally time to walk through the shop, study the books, and think a little harder about why we do things the way we do.

Our ranch has been running cattle on the same ranges for more than a hundred years. We still calve, brand, doctor, and wean out on the range with some cows, never bringing them back to the home place — the same way it’s been done for generations. In many ways, those traditions are the reason the ranch is still here.

But every once in a while, we have to pause and ask whether we’re doing something because it’s the best way to run our operation — or simply because it’s the way it’s always been done.

Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of room for keeping to the traditional cowboy ways. Our ranch has been running cattle on the same ranges for more than 100 years. We calve, brand, doctor, and wean out on the range with some cows, never coming back to the home ranch, just like they did all those years ago. We do it because it’s the best way we can run our operation.

But there are also places where we’ve made changes, capitalizing on improvements in genetics, machinery, technology, and management practices that have strengthened our ranching business.

Often when we think about making a change, we imagine it needs to be something big and dramatic — something that produces immediate, noticeable results. But the truth is, most of us resist those kinds of changes. They’re uncomfortable, disruptive, and risky.

What if, instead, we focused on making small changes?

There’s a story about the British cycling team that illustrates this idea well. For nearly a hundred years, they struggled to find success, constantly searching for one big change that would finally turn things around.

That shift came in 2003 when Dave Brailsford was hired as performance director. Instead of chasing a single breakthrough, Brailsford focused on what he called the “aggregation of marginal gains” — the belief that small improvements, stacked together over time, could lead to meaningful progress. As he put it, if you broke down everything that went into riding a bike and improved each part by just one percent, the overall result would be significant.

They went to work making small adjustments — refining equipment fit, improving recovery practices, reducing illness, and even paying attention to sleep. None of the changes were revolutionary on their own.

But together, they worked.

In the Olympic Games that followed, the British cycling team dominated the podium, setting records and proving that steady, incremental improvements could change the trajectory of an entire program.

It’s not hard to see how the same principle applies to agriculture, where progress is rarely dramatic and almost always cumulative.

Small changes are often more realistic, more achievable, and far less painful to implement. Over time, they can quietly reshape an operation in meaningful ways.

One place to start is record keeping. As the saying goes, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. It doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy — a notebook, a small ledger from the feed store, a spreadsheet, or an app will do. Recording herd health, feed routines, start and end dates, or grazing conditions helps reveal patterns and trends that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Maintaining large acreages can feel overwhelming, but simply cleaning up what’s right in front of you is often the best place to begin. Pick up old wire. Gather stray baling twine. Clear rocks that will cause trouble come haying season. One small task at a time adds up faster than you’d expect.

Carrying wire stretchers and a roll of wire makes it easier to fix minor fence issues before they become major ones. There will always be places that need a full overhaul, but plenty more that just need tightening or clipping to keep cattle where they belong.

Routine equipment maintenance is another small change that pays dividends. Keeping tractors, implements, trucks, and four-wheelers in good working order saves time, money, and frustration down the road.

Sometimes improvement means asking for help. Veterinarians, feed consultants, agronomists, or market-savvy sales representatives can offer insight and experience that helps guide thoughtful adjustments.

Getting an early start — whether on a workday, irrigation, or paperwork — is another quiet habit that can make a noticeable difference. Something will always come up to disrupt plans, and starting ahead allows room to handle it without rushing or settling for “good enough.”

Herd health, too, benefits from small improvements over time. Adjustments to feed, more frequent checks, better preparedness during doctoring, and thoughtful decisions around branding, turnout, weaning, and culling all influence the long-term direction of a herd.

Change has never come easily in agriculture, and it probably never will. But standing still isn’t the same as holding steady. Over time, it’s closer to drifting.

This quieter season gives us space to notice the small things — the loose wire that needs tightening, the records that could be written down, the early start that might save a long day later on. None of them feel like much on their own. But together, they shape the direction of a ranch just as surely as the big decisions do.

The goal isn’t to abandon tradition. It’s to tend it carefully — making small, thoughtful adjustments so that what was handed to us not only survives, but remains strong enough to hand on again.

Where Gratitude Grows: A Heartfelt Thanksgiving on the Ranch

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In 1789, President George Washington declared a “Day of Publick Thanksgiving”, continuing the tradition started in 1621 when the early settlers and the Wampanoag tribe held a three day feast to celebrate the year’s fruitful harvest.  During the Civil War in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday as a national holiday simply named Thanksgiving.  He hoped the holiday would help bridge the chasm between the north and the south.

The Thanksgiving season is steeped in history and tradition- taking time to account for the blessings brought in through a year of hard work and intentionally giving thanks to overcome the challenges this life brings.

The few weeks of the season are almost forgotten as so many skip on to the joy of Christmas.  And while the magic of a winter wonderland and the celebration of Christ’s birth is so deserving of our focus, pausing to count blessings and have an attitude of gratitude is always worth it.

In agriculture, an industry that makes it from one year to next by the grace of a higher power, we feel that gratitude deeply.  We see hardships of drought, loss of livestock, dropping market prices, and rising expenses.  But somehow we tend to have just enough rain to make it through another season, enough cattle to fill our contracts, and enough funds to keep our operations running for another year.

So I’m going to take this opportunity to point out the things I’m thankful for, especially those things in this industry that bring peace to my soul.

I am thankful for the buddy seat in our big green tractor. It allows me to come and sit with my husband when I need to chat.  It gives me a chance to see him on days I might not otherwise.  It gives my little boys a place to sit and ride when they want to be like dad.  And it gives my big boy a place to learn to work with his dad by teaching by his side.

I am thankful for slow old horses that might seem broken down and even a little worthless until I throw my babies on their backs.  Carrying my most precious cargo, their plodding pace seems just right.  Their steady gait teaches my young learners to keep going, keep trying, and keep holding on.

I am thankful for weekly water checks that might seem to eat up a day, but provide the perfect excuse for me to go for a quick lunch date with my man.  Some trips we conquer the world’s problems and other days we sit in a peaceful silence as we look out over the beautiful vastness of this country.  Every once in a while there is actually a water issue to take care, and on those days we are thankful for all the weeks that nothing went wrong.

I am thankful for a western heritage, a way of living that we are able to continue to this day.  There may be innovations and advancements in farming and ranching that have progressed the industry that I wholly embrace, but branding on the range like the old timers did feels like a nod to the foundation they gave.

I am thankful to have our work right outside the back door.  Somedays it feels like it never quits, but every day I am thankful to look out the window and see our cattle, watch my husband drive around the corner and send the kids off to work.  Jumping in to help work is just a quick walk away where everyone is welcome and no one is turned away.

I am thankful to be in an industry that feeds the world and feeds the world something they desperately need.  We can debate all day about the health and nutrition facts but no one will convince me that beef at your table isn’t just good for your body, it’s good for the soul.  I know that because the same beef I raise for the grocery store sits on my table to feed my own family. 

I am thankful for a sometimes dirty, smelly, disorganized shop that not only keeps our equipment up and running, but my own rig too.  It’s a place for my kids to take apart their dirt bikes.  It’s a place for new ideas and projects.  It’s a place to huff up a basketball or a flat tire.  It may call for too many late nights working, but it also expands the possibilities for my family.

I’m thankful for bright lights- in the arena, on the tractor, outside the shop, and the flashlight I use to check cows in the night.  All too often I complain about having to use them, that the work is going too long and too late.  But these lights help finish the work and finish it right.

I’m thankful I get to see the miracle of life and also witness the grief of death.  Whether it is a favorite pet or just another cow in the herd, we feel the gift every life is and the loss of every passing.  Instead of becoming calloused to either, the beauty, strength, fragility, and hope of every life has become a counted blessing.

I’m thankful to watch the seasons come and pass every year.  The hope of a new spring is exciting and invigorating.  The eventual growth through the summer makes the hard, long days worth it.  Making an accounting of the year’s production with the fall harvest is satisfying.  And then resting through the winter as Mother Nature prepares for a new year is peaceful.   

I could go on and on finding things to be thankful for.  From the little cowboy hats and boots that line my mudroom to the chickens in the coop, there is something that brings joy and peace to my life.  

If you haven’t taken time to pause this season to be grateful for the blessings around you, take a little timeout and give thanks.  The hustle and bustle of life might have you believing there isn’t a lot to be thankful for.  And while Christmas is in a hurry to splash across your front door, don’t let it push a season of gratitude aside.

Doing Scary Things- Ranch Wife Style

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The comfort zone- a place of ease, perceived control, and little stress.  Let’s be honest, we all want to operate inside our comfort zone where we can keep anxiety at bay, feel confident, and know what we are doing.  We fear failure so we ensure success by only doing those things we have already done.  But experience teaches that the most growth and learning happens when we step outside that comfort zone.  Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do something everyday that scares you. These small things that make us uncomfortable help us build courage to do the work we do.”  

Life on the ranch tends to give us all plenty of moments outside our comfort zone that we can either embrace and learn through or shy away from and stay stagnant.  I’ll admit that embracing those moments feels especially hard when my failures are out on display for so many others to see.  It’s ok for my growing children to learn from failure, but as a grown adult, I too often feel like I should just know, well… everything.

Just last week I took the opportunity to do something new and outside my comfort zone.  For some, this might seem like a simple daily chore but for me, it was a whole new experience- feeding cows solo.  Now I go out and help feed often, sometimes daily.  I know the routine, what to feed, how much, but I’ve always been the crew that opens the gates, cuts the net wrap off and such.  

What I haven’t ever done is be the guy in the tractor behind the wheel.  If we had to choose between my very capable husband and myself in the seat, we choose him because we want to get the job done and move on.  And, really, why should I do it when he is there?

Eventually the day rolled around when all of the usual feeding crew were gone.  The roping that was supposed to get done with plenty of time for the ranchers to get home and feed, went long, lending to one of two possibilities.  Either they would have to feed late after getting home or I could jump in and try to do it myself.  I pulled on my big girl coveralls and jumped in the tractor seat, sure that I could feed three bales of hay without disaster striking.

There were a few things I knew I had on my side as I set out- first I had the basics of tractor mechanics down so that I could drive faster than at a snail pace and move the loader in all the necessary directions.  Second, if I had questions, FaceTime put me just one phone call away from help.  And third, cows don’t care how pretty the feeding is, they just want the hay out.

Getting to the stackyard I found the right hay, and through a little trial and error, managed to get a bale on the forks and grab one with the three point bale squeeze on the back.  It wasn’t as smooth and easy as when the guys do it, but I was doing it.  I headed up the hill to the hungry heifers, planning in my mind how I was going to go about feeding.  I would set the first bale down, cut the wrap off, tip it over, send it rolling down the hill and that would keep the cows out of the way while I put the other two in bale feeders around the pasture.  Easy enough.

Everything started off according to plan until it was time to send that bale rolling down the hill.  What seemed like a simple little push with the forks was hardly so and because it was taking longer than usual, the cows were now starting to get in the way.  To complicate things even more, it was suddenly dark outside.

I was definitely outside my comfort zone, but also so in the thick of what I was doing that there was no quitting.

Scooping up the bale I had intended to roll down the hill, I put it in the first feeder and opted to try again with the second bale, learning from my earlier mistakes.  It took a little trial and error but bale number two was finally rolled out and the cows were content to leave me alone while I fed the last bale.

Heading to the feeder, I saw that it was on a hill and while I might be in a tractor, I had better be smart about how I went about getting there.  Between the snow and mud, the hill was slick and in that moment, a distinct memory of a teenage girl failing to turn a tractor up a muddy hill came rushing back to me.

Putting the tractor in the low, snail pace gear, I carefully headed down the hill, making sure I had a clear plan out of there after dropping my load.  All seemed well as I made my way to the feeder until I stopped the tractor to pull off the net wrap and noticed the tractor continued to slide.  I quickly turned the wheels and that was enough to keep it still.  I knew I could dump the bale but I wasn’t sure how I would get out of my predicament once I straightened out again.

Four wheel drive.  That was the solution.  I really should have thought of that before heading down the slippery hill but at least I was thinking of it now.  The only problem was that of the millions of buttons, levers and switches, I had no idea which to toggle.  And I was sure that the wrong one would probably make the whole tractor implode.

Mustering the courage to make that phone call that admitted a bit of failure, I called my husband and asked for help.  Without laughing at my mistakes or making me feel even more dumb than I already felt, my rancher easily helped me get out of my sticky situation.  I dropped the last bale, skirted around the feeder, and headed for home quite proud of what I had finally accomplished that night.

For some, this was a simple chore, something they could probably do with their eyes closed, although I don’t recommend it.   They made it seem easy but as I went through the very steps they did, it seemed so complicated and almost dauntin.  I hope you chuckle about this little ranch wife willing to help even when the job is outside her comfort zone.  But more importantly I hope you learn a few lessons from her.

Learn that you can accomplish far more than you think you can.  You just have to try.  New things are hard and scary- they are supposed to be!  But, trying, jumping in with both feet is the only way to grow.  Learn that people are here to help you.  Asking for help isn’t admitting failure, even though it feels like it.  Learn that the only real confidence in life comes from conquering those moments of fear, big or small.  I might not be on the “A team” when it comes to the feeding crew, but if the job needs doing, I know I can do it.  Next time, I just might have to start a little earlier and find the four wheel drive a little sooner.

When You Give a Ranchkid a Pocket Knife

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Nothing is safe at our house right now.  We have three little boys, ok one is a teenager and not quite so little, that have begged to have their own pocket knives like dad.  Between babysitting, Christmas and birthdays, somehow they all have their own shiny multi-tool and belt toting pouch to keep them in and I’m just not so sure how we got to this point.  The teenager, yes, I’m on board with outfitting him with some tools that will help him be more useful.  But the recently turned five year old… we must be crazy.  Before anyone falls into the state we are in, let me share a few little nuggets that we have learned when you give a ranchkid a pocket knife.

Learn From Me…

First, like I said earlier, nothing is safe.  It seems that everything is begging them to try that little blade out.  From just random pieces of paper to the box of your most recent packages to the first stick they see, they just have to start slicing it all up.  And somehow they don’t see the trail of destruction they leave behind as annihilated boxes, paper shreds and whittling shavings mark their owner’s territory.  I don’t know if it is some sort of premonition or warning but my greatest fear is finding one of my knife-toting little boys carving his name into the wooden baseboards or window trim that is just his height and so inviting.

Next, if they insist on wearing their new multi-tool in the very cool new pouch on their belt, make sure that belt is cinched up as tight as possible, for two reasons.  Between the belt and the tool, those pants are going to weigh ten times as much as usual and are highly likely to sag straight off their ranchkid rears.  And secondly, if that belt buckle isn’t on good and tight, it isn’t the pants that will bounce off, it will be that new little tool filled pouch.

Cheapest is best in this scenario…

Which leads me to my next lesson- if you are going to buy a forgetful, carefree, inattentive, neglectful five year old a pocket knife, make it a cheap one.  It won’t be long before he sets it down somewhere or it slips out of a pocket or falls off of his belt.  The loss will be much less painful for you if you haven’t put in a large investment.  He will still be devastated, but at least you are somewhat prepared.

The minute you find your ranchkid digging up rocks or cutting in the dirt (or cutting the dirt…), you will be grateful you didn’t spend even an extra nickel on their shiny new knife.  If they manage to not lose it right away, that fun new tool will take a beating, literally, because even though there isn’t a hammer tucked up inside there next to the can opener, it will be used like one.  Trust this all too experienced mama…

Now, I still can’t decide if it was better to buy the multi-tool or if we should have just stuck with a simple, plain-Jane pocket knife.  With the knife, I’m sure more things would have fallen victim to its blade, something we don’t need to tempt these already spellbound, curious little boys to.  But it seems that giving them a knife and pliers and screwdrivers and the like just leaves a bigger swath of destruction.  Sister’s dollhouse has screws, let’s take ‘em out with my new screwdriver!  Crackers for snack time, let’s see how many I can crunch with the pliers!  How many of these soup cans can we poke holes in with the can opener?! See what I mean?

After a day or two, your friends and neighbors might question if your kids have been wrestling the barn cats because I can almost guarantee that all that fun with their new knife will lead to scratches up and down their arms.  No matter how many times you teach kids the boy scout knife safety rules, they will still manage to cut themselves.  Here’s my advice- buy a large package of bandaids when you succumb to your insanity and buy a ranchkid a pocket knife.

Finally, expect your work to take a little bit longer now that you have equipped your little helpers with their own tools.  There is no twine you can cut, screws to pull out or fences to be fixed without them jumping in to help you work.  And really, that isn’t a bad thing after all.  Oscar Wilde said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” and it is in that moment of imitation that every ranch dad swells with pride as he sees his kids want to be like him.

We just might be mad for handing over wrecking gear to a kid that is sure to destroy them and everything is their path.  But for the chance to help them work and be just like dad, it is worth the little bit of crazy that we will have to endure.  There will be a day when a tool in their hand will be second nature and they will be able to build or fix anything.  And it will all have started with that long lost little pouch and multi-tool you were sure they were too small to have.

Just Bad Luck Days on the Ranch

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“If I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all!”  There might not be a truer phrase for a rancher to admit to than that.  Some days it feels like all the stars have to align for the work to get done without any hitches, hiccups, or holdups.  Whether it is Mother Nature the parts man or ornery old boss cow, someone, somewhere is cooking up a disaster to derail even the best laid plans.  You can always count on the fact that in the middle of the cattle work, farm work, machinery fixing, fence fixing or anything else on the never end to-do list, something, without fail, will go wrong.  And while I don’t have any research data to back me up, I’m pretty sure that the probability and the size of such a disaster goes up exponentially when its a high stakes situation, and goes up even more so when there is zero time for a breakdown and a do-over.

Okay, yes that may be an overdramatization, but you have to admit that there are days when things, not only don’t go right, but seem to go especially bad.  It’s those sort of days you might have to concede the victory to fate, turn in early so nothing else can go wrong and laugh at the day to keep from crying.  Looking back, we have had our fair share of bad luck days, some we can laugh at now… some that we still need a little more time.  

This last winter felt like one stroke of bad luck after another.  I mean, to begin with, it had to be bad luck that after years of drought and praying for moisture, it all comes pouring down in one, unending winter.  Of course, we never look a gift horse in the mouth, but if I could have been in charge of the timing of said moisture, it certainly wouldn’t have come in a near record breaking winter fashion.  

In a season where we really needed all the things to go right, I swear everything would go wrong, especially on the days when we were far from home and help.  We put one fire out after another (not literally fires, but that surely would have warmed things up while we were freezing our fingers off).  If it wasn’t the tractor door shattering (on a rented tractor, no less) to keep the work from being done, it was the blown hydraulic hose on the back.  If it wasn’t the flat tire on the backhoe that kept us from feeding, it was the massive sinkhole that swallowed the newly fixed tractor.  Not only did the gator break down but the snowmobile wouldn’t start either.  You’ve heard of the hand Midas that turns everything that it touched to gold?  We had the exact opposite.  We touched it and it died, quit, or broke.

Sometimes it isn’t the hand that is cursed, it’s just the machine that refuses to stay in running condition. Our problem child of a pivot is simply dubbed “the old pivot” although it might be more accurate to call it the-leaky-run-down-dilapidated-old-pivot.  As soon as one hole is plugged or fixed, a new pinhole starts gushing.  Aside from its leaky bits, there are computer problems and electrical problems.  You might say that running an old pivot just signs you up for breakdowns, but I think this pivot runs at a higher level of breakdowns.  If we have any luck this year, it’s getting that old thing replaced… hope I didn’t just jinx it!

We might just make our own bad luck for the number of times we say things like “we are all caught up with the shop work” or “all the cows are settled.”  It’s like those darn cows know when we breathe a sigh of relief and work to stir things up.  If I had a dollar for everytime we think the cows are settled and then get a phone call that says the cows are out, we could pay someone else to keep them in.  They are masters at finding the down wires, gates left open or just barging their way through.  And with the sort of luck we run, we get those cows back in but can’t find the hole they are crawling through, so they just keep getting out.

Mother Nature especially likes to throw a wrench in our carefully planned out days.  Despite knowing the old adage that you bale hay while the sun shines, it always seems we get into the wrong project for the weather.  We meticulously check the forecast, make plans to best fit the conditions of the day, only to find the weatherman was wrong once again.  It’s spraying weeds or cutting hay because it’s sunny for days on end to only have thunderstorms suddenly come in, day after day.  Or planting fields just before the predicted storms never roll through.  We move cows or plan to brand, sure it’s supposed to be a nice, sunny day, only to be caught in Idaho’s blustery wind, something we should learn to count on anyway.

 Oh the luck of a rancher.  It seems the ball never bounces our way.  But truth be told, we are far luckier than we deserve with the great industry we have to be a part of.  We have the great fortune of working the land, having the satisfaction of working as a family, and doing a work we love.  There may be moments, some days more than others, that it feels like we have nothing but bad luck.  But I will take these bad luck days on the ranch over any other day.  Who needs luck when we live a life so blessed.

Christmas Wishes On the Ranch

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Top of the holiday traditions for excited girls and boys is making that all important Christmas wish list.  Whether it’s mailed off to the North Pole, whispered to Santa in person or just shared with mom and dad, every excited child makes such a list.  I’ve never seen a list with anything like “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!” or “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” but my ranch kids write practically the same list with just a few variations year to year, even though Santa and I do a darn good job checking things off their list each Christmas

 Their Christmas lists always include tractors, cows, corral setups, trucks and other fun ranch life replicas and since you can never have enough tractors or cows, they find their way on the list again and again.  All of those tractors and cows just make for more possibilities, ideas or storylines to play out.  Whatever it is that they come up with that day, there is one thing for sure,…

It’s usually pretty easy to know what sort of stuff dad is doing out on the ranch because from the sand pile to the living room, the kids are recreating the same set up with their miniature versions.  When it’s haying season, they have their own hay to bale and stack.  When it’s branding season they gather in their little herds to put brands on all the new calves.  I wish I could remember all of their different storylines over the years, but there are some that standout that I will never forget.

Throughout the summer months we have a herd of heifers we haul around to various roping and sorting events.  After seeing dad take his cattle on the road, my little ranchers often do the same.  They load up their toy bull wagon to their freshly erected rodeo arena for a day’s worth of roping, riding and rodeo fun.  Their setup includes the littlest details like the watering trough, the various sorting pens and even seats for their spectators.  To truly capture complete reproduction of such a day, they even borrowed a few Barbie kitchen snacks and toys because no day at the arena is complete without mom packing a cooler of snacks and a bag of toys.

During the fall months of weaning, preg checking and prepping to sell each year’s set of calves, we spend a lot of time at the squeeze chute.  In fact, we have coined our own term such work- squeeze chuting.  At the end of a long day squeeze-chuting with dad, the littles come in and squeeze chute their own cows.  They aren’t even afraid to get in there and do the preg checking, just like dad does. 

Now replicating some of those days at the squeeze can be a little dicey.  Like when we pretend to squeeze chute the day we semen test the bulls.  I vividly remember sitting at the counter as my son set up his alley and chute and then proceeded to line up the bulls.  He was very specific to not include any cows or steers, just the bulls.  After putting a few bulls through the chute he looked at me with his curious eyes and his wheels turning, trying to figure out just what we are doing when we bring the bulls through the chute.  Let’s just say that day’s play was a great conversation starter for the birds and the bees sort of talk.

Even the simple day to day chores make for fun memories as the kids work to haul hay to the corrals to feed, whether it’s in the mud or the rain or the snow.  There is always something new they add like the horses sneaking out as the tractor came in, putting mineral in the bunks or checking the water.  I’ve even heard a few of their dad’s favorite phrases about those darn cows and pray they don’t repeat EVERYTHING dad says.

Make believe ranching isn’t a new ranch kid past time.  Generations share some of the same stories with their own little spin on them.  My mom used to talk about what a gamble it was to walk through the living room minefield of invisible cow pies.  She was never sure where to step but very sure it would always land right in the poop and she would be told about it.  My husband remembers not letting anyone in grandma’s family room as he was midharvest.  No one was going to mess up that cutting!

It’s always exciting to see just what toys end up under the Christmas tree, but I’m pretty confident that there will be some sort of ranch life replica under there.  And not long after the wrapping paper is gone, the creativity will take over and a new ranch will come to life.  It will have some new fun and flare with the new toys but it will always point back to the life we live on the ranch, because truth be told, nothing is better than the real, deal every day life on the ranch.

A Strong Ranch Kid Immune System, Brought to You by Dirt

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The weather has turned colder and one of the unfortunate downsides of everyone congregating inside is that we pass our germs around much faster. We look for sorts of remedies and quick fixes because being down and out with sickness is no fun. It’s not a quick fix, but ranch life has it’s own way to help keep colds at bay.

Wanna hear about it? Simply put, we just get down and dirty.

In a lot of ways, it’s hard to believe all those folks that say that ranch raised kids have stronger and healthier immune systems than their counterparts that live in the city.  Someone might argue that just the opposite should be true, that all that exposure should lead to all sorts of illnesses and infections.  But years of first hand evidence, plus a lot of official scientific research can’t be disputed.  Kids raised in the country with animals, pollen filled air and a little extra dirt under their nails have been found to have a lower occurrence of asthma, allergies, seasonal colds and many other illnesses. 

Like any good mom, I try to keep my kids clean, wash their hands and faces and lease once in a while.  But now that I think of it, letting the dirt go a little longer isn’t such a bad thing.  In fact, I’m doing them a favor, right?  

There’s too many ways to count how ranch kids keep boosting their immune systems so let me just give you a snapshot look at some ways ranch raised kids are working on having those strong immune systems.

There is no one more defenseless and appealing for a dog to steal a lick from than that ranch kid that just isn’t eating his ice cream fast enough.  The family pup is only trying to help and keep it from melting too fast or making such a big mess.   On top of that, man’s best friend will share a few germs to help him have a good, strong immune system.  Just don’t think what that cow dog was last licking on before he went for the sticky cheeks.

Along with the weekly water check, the range salt has to be checked and the kids are always willing to be on that.  Not only do they check to see if there are salt blocks out but they check to make sure that they are indeed, still salty.  There is only one way to check that and that is by taking a big ol’ lick.  Of course there is no thought as to what last licked the salt block or anything else that might have come across it.  Nope, just a big, salty lick and a good dose of germs to keep that immune system running at peak performance.

Moms are always concerned that they give their kids enough vitamins, but ranch moms never have to worry so long as the kids keep tasting the mineral supplements they put out for the herd.  A lick here and there is a double wamy- vitamin boosts and immunity support. 

If there is one thing a ranch kid will never run short of, it is dirt.  Ranch kids are some sort of magnet for dirt.  The instant they see it, they are all over it, or rather, it is all over them. It’s in their hair, on their cheeks, in their boots, all over their hands… it’s everywhere.  And it’s a pretty safe bet that ranch dirt isn’t straight dirt but probably has its fair share of other run things… like poop in it.  Nothings better than poopy dirt all over a ranch kid to boost her immune system.  

A smart ranch mom will always make sure that there are plenty of snacks packed for any outing.  The fun part of having snacks with a ranch kid is that they will usually come with a side of dirt.  With so much dirt around, what’s the big deal of having a little with the fruit snacks or crackers.  Just brush it off, it will be fine, or helpful for the ol’ immune system if nothing else.

There comes a point in a ranch kid’s life that they can’t help but lick EVERYTHING. IN. SIGHT.  It’s like some terrible right of passage.  They put their mouths on the gate, on the 4 wheeler, on all the tools… and if they survive it all, they will never get anything more than a sniffle during the cold season for the rest of their lives.

At home they might wash their hands before dinnertime, but out on the range, there isn’t a kitchen sink to get the job done.  So dirty hands and peanut butter and jelly sandwich just happen.  Dirt, grease, mud, poop and a whole host of other things will be all over their hands but it’s all good.  Dad is right, a little dirt builds character or at least builds strong immune systems.

When a kid gets thirsty, there is no stopping him from drinking out of the nearest water hole.  If it’s clean enough for the animals, it has to be clean enough for the kids, right?  Who cares if it’s an old wheel line pipe or rusty trough?  I’m sure the giardia is only temporary and that his immune system will come back stronger than ever.

If kids are a magnet for dirt, it is only multiplied when there is a little water added and that dirt turns to mud.  Whether it is a muddy puddle from the night’s rainstorm, the muddy ditch bank or a little mud from the sprinkler, you know it is calling their name and they can’t resist.  Sure it’s a big mess, but it’s also some good immune system therapy. 

Every ranch has its handfuls of fun critters little ranch boys and girls can’t help but pet.  From the dog to the chickens to the horses to the barn cats to the bottle calves, those little ranch hands are all over those many legged friends.  Washing hands after such fun is low on the priority list for busy kids that are already onto the next thing.  No worries, they are just multitasking- growing strong immune systems as they play all day.

It can be a real laugh when you think all the germs ranch kids come across, day in and day out as they play.  We might cringe to think about it all, but those dirty hands and faces are keeping them healthy in the long run.  And there’s a lot to be said about a dirty faced, happy and healthy ranch kid.

A Heartfelt Thanks to a Rancher

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Thanksgiving week is often the pinnacle point of heartfelt gratitude.  The holiday helps us to slow down and take time to see all of the goodness in our lives.  We give thanks for the families around us, the homes and careers we have, the opportunities for growing and learning and the many luxuries we have that we surely take for granted.  

High on that list of thanks should be the farmers and ranchers that help feed families around the world.  This may seem like an obvious choice but I wonder how many people actually realize that without the backbreaking work of the agriculture industry, their thanksgiving would look very different.

From the turkey at the center of the thanksgiving table to the stuffing and corn and mashed potatoes and even the sweet potato souffle, it all began in someone’s field.  Those tasty rolls began as a small wheat seed that was cultivated, harvested, milled and prepared into the flour you used to make great-grandma’s best ever roll recipe.  That sweet whipped cream started at the dairy and made its way to the shelves for you to whip up for a tasty pie garnish.  That beautiful garden salad is brought to you by the row crop farmers tending their lettuce, carrot and onion fields, just to start.     

There isn’t a single bit of Thanksgiving dinner you could have without the management and stewardship of farmers and ranchers. No, I take that back.  In this day and age there are plenty of synthetic food alternatives and imitations that you could choose from.  But synthetic foods only imitating the real flavor of a savory plate of meat and potatoes could never compare to the real thing.

Besides thanking farmers and ranchers for the foods you get to enjoy, not only on Thanksgiving day, but every day, we owe them a thanks because without them, there is so much of life we wouldn’t enjoy.  Imagine if you can, a world without large operations growing masses of food products to sell around the world.  Imagine what life would be like if you were responsible to grow and provide all of the food that you and your family would eat.

Tending to animals and crops, harvesting the meats and vegetables, processing the farm products into kitchen ready goods would be all consuming.  Think back to our pioneer ancestors and the time they gave to butcher their own animals, church their butter and grind their wheat.  If we were completely dependent on providing all our own foods we would either have very little or spend all our time growing it.

With advancements in technology came great improvements in agriculture that allowed farmers and ranchers the capacity to take on more crops and more acreage to feed more families than just their own.  As people could purchase foods, it in turn allowed them to use their time and energy in other ways.  People could follow their dreams and new ideas, whether it was an exciting career, traveling adventures or enjoying the arts.

Today we have celebrities, stars and popular figures that do very little to provide for themselves, but rather spend all their time entertaining us.  Around the world are presidents, leaders and dignitaries that work to make our countries safer to raise our families.  Our children have chances to learn more things in more ways than our forefathers could have ever dreamed of.  And all of these opportunities and more are afforded to us because we have an agriculture industry that takes on the responsibility to feed the world.

This week as you count your blessings and all the good you have, remember that so much of it comes from the good men and women that labor in fields across the world.  They deserve your thanks in so many ways.

The Rancher’s Wife Bloopers

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If there was a reel for this ranch wife’s time spent on the ranch, there would 100%, hands down, for sure be a bloopers cut at the end.    One that was dedicated to all of the blonde moments, huh-ohs and flops that add a little excitement to our ranch life.  Now don’t worry, the ranch is still standing, our marriage is still solid and nothing that had to be undone, couldn’t be done.  Truth be told, once I moved passed the shame of my failures, some of them were actually pretty humorand added a little humor that we can use a bit more of.   

Not a Chicken-Herder

I’ve said it before and will likely say it again and again, but I don’t like chickens.  Like, really don’t like chickens.  I don’t do chickens.  And even less so with the herd (flock?) of chickens that we have now.  These chickens apparently don’t have a personal bubble and aren’t afraid of anything because they like to get all up in my business.  Anymore I don’t gather eggs or check chickens without someone to protect me, like my kids.

 Super impressed with my mothering, right?

I feel like I have been plenty patient with these hens wanting to peck my hands and toes and try to fly up in my face but when they had me cornered in the coop I decided this was no longer a one mom job.  Someone walking past might have thought the scared screeches and squawks were coming from the chickens, not the other way around. These days I brave the chickens with my courageous four year old taking the lead, boldly shooing away the chickens as we walk across the coop to the nesting boxes.  Then I hoist him up to gather the eggs as fast as he can while I keep watch.  Every time I wonder if this is the day I will have to call retreat and leave the eggs in order get out of there in one piece. 

I know.  Its ridiculous.  They are just chickens and it only takes a few minutes to gather those eggs.  I should totally be up to the task but when it comes to the chickens I have a faint heart and fall short.

Backing up is Just Like Going Forward, Just in Reverse.

 The science of backing up a horse trailer is beyond brain surgery and rocket science.  Ok, not really, but when it comes to this rancher’s wife there is a lot of room for improvement.  The Rancher just laughs at my deficiency and reminds me over and over the backing up is just like going forward, but in reverse.

Genius.

I understand the principles of it but applying it can be a little challenging.  If I’m lined up with a straight shot and all tires are straight and I’m praying really hard I can usually pull it off.  Or if someone is there to tell me which way to go and shake their head when I turned the wheel the wrong way I can manage to get backed in where we need.  (Why someone would let me back up instead of kicking me out of the driver’s seat kinda blows my mind…)  But if I’m on my own it can be somewhat problematic.

Like the day we decided to move a group of heifers on our way home.  The Rancher hopped on his horse and asked us to drive the truck and trailer around to open the gate.  Sure.  Easy.  I am a professional gate opener.  So we get there, open the gate and wait. Unfortunately the heifers weren’t having anything to do with the truck and trailer there by the gate and wouldn’t go through.  That meant I had to roll up my sleeves and back ‘er up.  I was doing so good, backing up with the trailer heading where I wanted it and then I turned too much this way and that and before I knew and I was taking up the whole road.  Traffic isn’t all the busy down our road so I wasn’t too worried but one glance up and down the road proved me wrong and I couldn’t just wait for The Rancher to bail me out as he has done more times than I would like to admit.

Don’t worry.  Common sense prevailed and I just pulled ahead enough to be out of the way of traffic and the heifers and all ended well.  Something I probably should have done to start with.  But my rancher’s wife ego took a serious blow.  I mean what kind of ranch raised  cattlewomen has such a handicap?

From Hero to Zero

Its not very often that The Rancher calls me to save the day to help him out of a pickle and I relish the chance to be the hero.  More often than I would like, there are those days that my triumphant moment turns to a flop.

One of these days stands out in my mind so distinctly because I quickly turned from rescuer to rescuee in a hurry.  It was a cold January morning, The Rancher was out feeding cows and was pushing to get done quickly.  The ground was covered in snow and the intense wind had blown drifts in some places and bare ground in others.  The Rancher had thought he would be safe to drive through some snow but realized too late that he had just sunk the truck into a well disguised drift.  He gave a good effort to get out to find that he was too stuck to get out alone.

With no one else around to help, The Rancher called me to bring our truck down to see we could get him moving again.  I come charging in to save the day, beaming with pride that he would call me to help (pretending that it was do more to my skill than to his desperation).  I pulled up to him to get my set of directions- pull around in front so we can yank the truck out.  I put the truck in gear and start to go around where I was so sure The Rancher had told me to go.  Seconds later I realized that was NOT the way I should have gone and sunk my truck up to its axels in snow.

What a rescue…

I’m sure The Rancher was kind and patient and understanding at my less than helpful efforts.  Maybe not, but we can’t help but be sympathetic to his situation of having not one, but two trucks to pull out  when we were already running behind…

With true stick-to-it determination, The Rancher managed to first dig his own truck out, and then pull mine out.  He has been brave enough to call for help again, but jumps in the drivers seat before things go from bad to worse.

Helping in the Wrong Direction

While I love every opportunity to jump in and help, I realize that there is some amount of time that I am going to need to get caught up to whatever the guys are working on.  Sometimes it takes just a second and I’m ready to roll.  Then there are those days that I am rolling in the opposite direction. 

Literally.

On the hot summer evenings, I think that moving wheel lines is a great way to end the day.  We load the kids up, enjoy riding across the field and cooling off in the sprinklers.  Its refreshing, even fun!  Having my own pipe-moving-experience I have no problem jumping in to help.  I consider it one of the perks of marrying me, that The Rancher got a wife willing to do a little irrigation.

On occasion, he just might think otherwise.

After a few irrigating oopses, there are always two things The Rancher is sure to tell me before I head off to move any lines on my own.  First which direction the wheel line is moving and second, how many turns I need to go.  Even as I’m writing this I’m second guessing how many we should do.  To be fair to me, it can be hard to notice which direction you are moving across the field.  Sure you may go the same direction year after year and it isn’t that difficult to see what is wet versus dry.  But when the alfalfa is tall, the kids are distracting and you are just trying to get the work done, you just start moving and its entirely possible you are rolling in the wrong direction.

Maybe this sort of sub par help is why we have gotten rid of most of our wheel lines for pivots.  Hhmmm…

I hate to admit that  some of my out on the ranch skills have gotten a little rusty.  Don’t get me wrong, I am helpful, more often than not.  But in all honesty, I have my days that I just can’t win.  Part of my charm has to be helping the rest of the crew look good.  I’m sure that if all of my time and energy was dedicated to just the ranch, I would sail along, no problem, day after day.  But its not and  so I will take the ranch wife flops and laughs along the way.  They always say, “laughter is the best medicine.”

Photos by the great Kendra Bird at kendrabirdphotography.com

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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