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Weekend Adventures in Locomotive Part II

March 28, 2018 by Allison

**If you missed out on Part I of our adventures, find them {HERE}**

While we were out to Locomotive to work, we were also there to get a little vacay in. That meant sleeping in and a good long breakfast. Doesn’t camping call for a hot breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon? Once the dishes were cleaned up and we had donned our work clothes, we all packed into the gator and took off to check the cows.

We run the cattle in a few different herds on our personal rangeland in Locomotive. One herd is what will graze on the Forest Service ground during the summer and then other will join the BLM association cattle in May. The last herd we watch on the range is our first-calf heifers that have calved at home and have been taken to the range as their calves have gotten older.

Checking the cattle is pretty straightforward. We check the calves to make sure that they look healthy and that they are thriving. We watch to make sure that they get up and moving, that they nurse well, that they aren’t sick with scours, drooping ears, coughing or anything else that looks out of the ordinary. We keep an eye on the mommas too, to make sure that they are healthy to take care of their babies. Obviously, we make sure that if they are calving, that there aren’t any complications like the wrong foot or a nose coming first or that they haven’t prolapsed or retained their placenta. The last important thing we pay attention to is to make sure that the cow’s udder is in good condition. If the udder is engorged and her teets are big, her calf will have a hard time getting their mouth on and being able to suck. If the calf can’t suck, then they won’t get the nutrition they need and they will get sick. As we drive around we try to get a look at every calf and cow.

Friday was a big day of driving through the herd. We gave everyone a once over and then tagged a few of the newer ones. Overall, everything looked great! Along the way, we did see a few things that peaked our interest.

Just as we finished going through the BLM herd, we noticed a cow off on her own. We buzzed over to her and saw that she did have a little baby there with her. The Rancher jumped off the gator and caught the new baby to put in a tag and castrate it. Everything looked good, but then he noticed the calf had just one ear! We could see that he had been born with both ears, but somehow he had lost it. It hadn’t been cold enough for him to have lost it to frostbite so the only other likely cause was that something had chewed it off. After The Rancher tagged him, he jumped up and took off after his momma, showing that he really was doing fine. He will just have to go by One-Eared-Tom (compliments of our kids) the rest of his life…

Before we moved on to the next herd, we had a little work to do, like… to gather up the back hoe and trailer that had been abandoned by the road after our late-night-stuck-in-the-mud-saga. Along the way, The Rancher stopped at a water trough and moved dirt around and in the trough to fix the leaks. It only took a few minutes, but those minutes were nice to be in the warm back hoe.

After making it back to the corrals we decided to take a lunch break. A girl can only handle frozen toes for so long and hungry babies never make good passengers.

With thawed out extremities and full bellies, we loaded back into the gator and took off to the next herd. We bounced around the range, seeing nothing but good. The calves were running and bucking while the mommas were busy filling their bellies and keeping their noses to the ground. Of course, when everything always seems to be looking good, there is always something that has to put a kink in things.

What we found was a momma with a big, BIG udder and teeny, tiny calf. That combination means that we needed to step in and make it so that this baby could nurse. We started the pair headed towards the corrals and slowly but surely made our way. I have to tell ya, watching this momma with her big bag swaying from side to side and getting rubbed raw… oh it just made me hurt…

On our way to the corrals, we had to go through a gate and as always, I was the lucky gate girl (hazards of riding shotgun). After opening the gate, I took a step back to help her head out through the gate, except she didn’t appreciate that. I lose no pride in admitting that this old girl had me on the fence when I took one step to push her through.

Getting her to the corral was only the beginning of the battle with this bad-word cow. How do you set up an alley and chute and herd a cow into the alley and chute when she won’t let you step foot into the pen she is in? I’m not gonna lie, the corral itself didn’t give me a lot of confidence of safety because I’m pretty sure it’s as old as the dinosaurs and could come crashing down the first hit of an angry momma cow (ok, not really, but they are old and shaky and I didn’t trust ‘em!). The Rancher and I played a fun game of distract-the-angry-cow-while-the-other-one-risks-their-life-to-get-everything-else-ready. After everything was good to go, we had the next hurdle of actually getting the cow into the chute.

I don’t know that I have seen a cow with such a stubborn streak and rubber sides. We poked and prodded and coaxed and anything else we could think of to get that cow to step into the chute. We could get her almost there and maybe even a step in, but then she would hunker down and quit on us. And then she would change tactics on us and blow right through the chute and we would have to start all over again.

And again.

And again.

There may have come a point that we were the perfect demonstration on the definition of insanity- trying the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

The Rancher deemed this old cow nylon deficient and rounded up a few ropes to try plan B. While it would have been much easier to milk out the cow and help the calf nurse in standing in the chute, we were perfectly fine roping that cow and tying her down to get the job done. We got a rope on her neck and a rope on a hind leg, tied them to the fence and just like that we were in business, milking business to be specific.

In these moments I try to channel all of my granddaughter-of-a-dairyman talent and hope that my little hands can hold out long enough to get some milking done. This had to be one of the more challenging milk out sessions we have had because she was so engorged and that it was hard to gain any momentum to our milking. Good heck, where was a lactation consultant when we needed one?!

Eventually we milked her out enough that the calf could suck without help. We collected a lot of the milk and put into the bottle to give to the calf so that we knew she had full tummy before we let them go. Whether or not this would be a permanent help or not, time could only tell.

Our time out on the range is never dull! From the baby to this momma, there is always something happening that brings a smile to our faces and keeps us coming back. There are challenges and setbacks but most often there is progress and satisfaction.

Stay tuned for Part III of our weekend adventures in Locomotive!

Weekend Adventures in Locomotive: Part I

March 24, 2018 by Allison

** We had a fun filled weekend with loads of stories.  In order to share them all, I’m going to post them in a three part series.  Keep an eye on the blog to get the whole story!

When you can’t take vacation because work on the ranch is true crazy, you find a way to take a working vacation.  For us, something like that looks like a weekend in Locomotive to camp out while keeping an eye on the cows.  Work on vacation, sounds like win to me!

In past years, the only time that we have camped out with the cows in Locomotive is when they needed extra looking out for.  Those times are rare and only happen when it’s so cold and so snowy that we have gathered in the herd to feed and watch the calves through the cold nights.  I always felt bad admitting it, but I loved it when we would head down and camp with the cows.  I didn’t want to hope or wish that we have some time down there camping because that would be wishing for the cold, lots of snow or poor calving and I couldn’t wish that upon The Rancher.

But this year, somehow, someone saw the light and realized that things do have to be so bad down there for us to go camp out for a few days!

Our story of weekend adventures camping in Locomotive starts on the trip down.  Adventure lies not only in the destination but in the journey too, right?  In this instance, it’s a resounding YES.  Let me set the scene so you can fully grasp the exhausting-ness of this night.

We had already spent the day at the Carter Cattle Co. bull sale in Pinegree, Idaho.  And while we hurried to eat some lunch, buy our bulls, settle up, load up, do a little PR with the different ranchers and bankers and such, it was a long day.  I had intended to have done some packing and prep work in the camp trailer the day before but that just hadn’t worked out.  That meant as soon as we got home we had to scurry to get everything ready.  When I say we, I mean me, of course, because The Rancher had chores to do outside as well as to hook up to the camp trailer, load up the gator, and hook that to the camp trailer. 

Can you imagine the long list of things that we needed to check off before we could head out?  And of course we had to get it all done NOW because we had to stop to get propane at the truck stop before it was too late.

Now, let’s add to the frenzy of getting ready, the kids hyped up for the adventurous weekend ahead of them.  They were so pumped and jazzed about the whole thing that they were just bouncing off the walls and begging to take the most random things in the camp trailer (all while forgetting the important things, like underwear and socks…).  There came a point they were just too much and I kicked them out to go find their bikes (… still trying to decide if that was a good mom moment or not).  To top off the chaos and tension you could feel from all the excitement and stress, the baby was running a fever and all he wanted was to be held.  To be more specific, he just wanted his dad to hold him.

I’ll admit that is was stressful getting ready to go- packing bags for everyone, packing food, getting enough bedding, grabbing towels and cooking supplies…  and, of course, I forgot stuff.  I do every time I go somewhere, I swear…  (Ask my sister-in-law, she is always shipping me something after I have been to visit their family!)   

But we got on the road.

Finally.

The sun was setting and it was dark before we even got 10 miles down the road.  Not biggie, we thought.  Sure it will make things a little more challenging, but we could handle it.  We made it to the truck stop, figuring it would only take a few minutes to top the tanks off and get back on the road.  But we were wrong… so wrong…  It seemed everything we tried to do went wrong or took more time that it should have.

As we pull to the back of the station we saw a truck and flatbed trailer parked in the middle of the truck parking lot.  There was enough room to move around him, but not enough room to move around easily.  Of course he was right in front of the propane tanks, making it especially hard for us to get where we needed to go.  With his mad truck driver skills, The Rancher managed to sneak us in to get filled up.  After three trips into the store to get everything right, we were filled up and ready to go, except for the truck in the way.  He had bottlenecked everything and there was a line of semi’s we had to wait to get where they needed to be before we were finally able to make our wait out.

So now we are stressed, sick, excited, and anxious, with lingering feelings of frustration but on our way.

Phew.

Then I realized I forgot the hot dogs and the roasting sticks.  Curses.  (I had plenty of food packed so we didn’t starve, we just didn’t get to have our roast out… bummer)

The trip was uneventful as we pulled our haul down the squishy, gravel road to our corrals in Locomotive.  We were getting close to our turn off and I was thinking that things were all settling down when something on the road looked off.  It was just after the cattle guard and I couldn’t quite tell what it was until eyes started shining back at us.

Cows!  Black cows, all over the road, lingering and meandering SLOWLY in the middle of the dark night.  The Rancher hit the brakes and I silently prayed that the bump wouldn’t be too bad and that we could keep going.  Ya, I didn’t even think we would manage to avoid smashing into a cow.  You can imagine how a truck towing a 30(ish) foot camp trailer and another 16 foot trailer with a gator on it would be hard to stop or maneuver through cows dotted across the road.  By the grace of heaven, a loud horn and good trailer brakes, The Rancher got us stopped and the cows scooted off the road.

Curses!  Heart racing, breath holding curses!  And then, phew…  We refer to those moments as butt-pucker-moments, if ya know what I mean!

I’m starting to think that getting to where we are going can’t happen soon enough but I know that in reality, the hard part was still ahead of us.  We had no idea what the road to the corrals was like.  It could be fine, but it could also be laden with slimy, greasy, squishy mud and that we would have to park it for the night somewhere else.

We turned off the road and I held my breath to find that the road was surprisingly ok.  Not great, but not enough to stop us from going on.  We made it through the first gates just fine and continued down the road until the road started to look more like one huge puddle than a road.  The Rancher figured that driving along side of the road instead of on it would be a better option at this point and we began off- roading.  It really was a good idea because there weren’t any puddles or greasy mud and the grass helped us have a little traction as we made our way across the range.

Our progress was slow but steady and then suddenly The Rancher said, “Uh, oh…” and gunned it.  It didn’t take a genius to recognize that we were about to be in trouble.  And just like that we sank.  When I say sank, I mean sank clear up to our axles.  We sank so deep we didn’t even attempt to get out.  We sank so deep that when The Rancher stepped down out of the truck there was no down part of it.

Curses… again …

I started convincing myself that we would be fine to camp out here for the night and just deal with it in the morning.  I was figuring that my attitude was a good-take-things-as-they-were type of attitude but in retrospect, I was probably just ready to be done with the night.  The Rancher, the great problem solver that he is, jumped into action and made up a plan.

To our benefit, and ultimate salvation, the backhoe was at the corrals and we had the gator hooked on to the back of the camp trailer.  So The Rancher could jump in the gator, drive up to the back hoe, drive it back down, and finally pull us out of the mud hole that swallowed us.  With this being the only real plan we had, he took off down the road leaving the kids and I in the truck waiting.  Now, being the God-fearing, religious woman that I am, I didn’t let this moment escape without gathering my babies close and offering up a prayer that everything would work out to our benefit. 

Where the trailer sank in
The massive puddle we were trying to avoid
Where the truck sank in the mud.

It seemed to take FOR-EV-ER (channel your inner “Sandlot” as you read that) but soon enough we saw the lights of the back hoe approach.  Yahoo!  He made it. 

But now, to get pulled out. 

I was dreading this moment because I would either have to be in the back hoe yanking on the trailer to pull it out or in the truck feathering it just right as I attempted to steer the truck out of the mud and avoid getting deeper in trouble all while in the dark when I couldn’t see anything except from the lights of the back hoe. 

Yikes…

My lot landed in the truck (which was honestly my preference of the two undesirable choices…).  My only instructions were to wait until I could feel the jerk of the back hoe and then give it just enough to drive out, without spinning my wheels deeper in the mud.  I put the truck in reverse and waited for the jerk.  As it came, I began to let off the clutch and slowly push on the gas.  To my immediate relief and total surprise, we were moving!  I had figured there would be some finagling to get out, but before we knew it, we were out!

The Rancher looked at me and said, “It should NOT have been that easy!”  We will take it!  And by it, I totally mean the blessings of answered prayers.  We loaded back into the truck and made our way to the corrals, following the tracks the back hoe had left as The Rancher made his way back to us earlier.

The rest of the night seemed ordinary after so many other high emotional moments.  We made it to the corrals, got cozy in the camp trailer, and managed to warm up some dinner (leftovers never tasted so good!).  The beds seemed a little cozier and sleep came quickly after such an eventful night and we were ready for an exciting day come morning.

Fall in Less Than 50… um 500… um 660

March 15, 2018 by Allison

This post has been a long time coming.  One because its about fall of 2017… which was a long time ago.  I mean it feels like it was just yesterday-ish…  ok maybe more like last week, but certainly not MONTHS and most definitely not LAST YEAR.  But it was… You may be thinking, “Allison… let it go!  It was so long ago, don’t take us back.  Move on!”  But guess what?  I’m the one with the password to be writing here and I love the photos from last fall so… boom… I’m posting.

Its also a long time coming because, man, it has taken me so long to get it all together and edited and play mom… but here it is.

I say that, and it sounds like this is going to be super fancy or exciting or crazy.  And its not.  I mean its nice and a fun look at our fall in its nearly comprehensiveness, but its not life changing or anything.  Just a look at our crazy, beautiful life (in the fall, of course!).

The fall work officially kicks off when the cattle come in from the summer range in Cow Hollow to the fall range in the Bowis fields.  Just before their hit the final destination, they take a pit stop at the Stocker Corrals (not stalker… even though sometimes I write that instead… sounds creepy in steady of beefy, livestocky…) to sort off any bulls or any cattle that don’t belong with the herd.  Mom life keeps me from getting head out with the crew to gather first thing in the morning, but my posse and I meet up with everyone at the corrals and get our fill in the rest of the day.  This is the same place that went to last year and got lost along the way.  Surprised? Anyone?

Once the cattle are moved to fall range, we get to the “fall work”.  We start by weaning off the calves and brining them home.  We have 3 main groups that we have to wean.  Each group has a day of gathering, sorting the calves off, and sorting calves between the different ranches.  After having the calves home a few days, we run the calves through the chute to vaccinate, retag, and do a wellness look over them.  Then we start all over with the next group.  Eventually we kick all the calves out in the alfalfa field to eat down our 3rd crop.

October is prime preg-checking time.  With so many cows that we run with, it take several days to get it all done.  Of course, the work is sweetened with load of candy, donuts, and great range dinners.  I think these guys like the long days working together and teasing the man that happens to make a mistake.  The inside jokes and stories can keep ’em laughing all day long.  Of course, its all kept a little interesting with the feisty, ornery cows that have been penned up for a few days.

We always do a little trucking in the fall too and I’m pretty sure that the whole reason we keep doing it is for the view.  OK, not really.  But getting a scenic drive up Logan Canyon as the colors are at their peak would be reason enough for me!  I always try to get at least one run with The Rancher up there to take in the colors as well as snap some photos of the cowboy life in canyon.

Fall work ends with a bang when we ship the calves.  This is more than the culmination of the season but of the YEAR!  We work day after day throughout the year for this one day that we finally get our paycheck.  We need to keep all the calves alive, healthy, and heavy to have a profitable year.  2017 didn’t disappoint with its ups and downs but we lived, learned, and earned enough to make it to another year.

Calves on the Ground

February 28, 2018 by Allison

Calving 2018 is well under way here at Eliason Livestock!  The few weeks before we start calving, I get all sorts of excited and just long for those cute, cuddly babies to be born.  There is just something so exciting about new babies!  Everything from their wispy tails to their soft noses to their wobbly legs screams “SNUGGLE ME!”

Of course their mommas are sitting behind them, snorting up a storm saying, “Get back before I eat you alive!”

Its not really like that.  Too often at least.  And in some regards, we like it when mommas are protective.  Its their instincts teaching them how to mother and protect their calves.  Them being a little feisty is better than them ignoring their calves completely!

For the longest time, we thought that we would be calving in the most ideal weather.  January couldn’t’ have been more perfect- warm (ish… for Idaho at least), no wind, no rain or snow…  But good things never last, especially when it comes to weather.  Within a week of our first calf hitting the ground, we’ve had storms roll in, temperatures hit the single digits, and the wind blowing like it was going out of style.

So what do we do for the cold?

The Rancher takes a lot of time to prepare the pen that the heifers calve in.  The pen itself is on a large hill which is so great for naturally protecting mommas and babies from the wind.  On top of that, the guys push the dirt and poop around to make hills for additional wind breaks.  Right up against the breaks and in a few other places throughout the pen, they put out straw for a dry warm place to snuggle down into.  Then to top it all off, we have a few calf sheds that are a perfect nursery to keep the calves warm and dry.

So long as it is dry, we can do a darn good job at keeping the calves warm.  We only really have to worry about them getting cold in the first few hours after birth.  Naturally, those babies are wet when they come out.  So naturally, they are going to get cold.  Of course, their mommas help them get warm as they clean them up.  A belly of warm milk goes a long way too, to getting warm from the inside out.

Once in a while, those things just aren’t enough to keep a baby warm.  So we go in and scoop that baby up to bring it into the warmer.  Its amazing how just a few hours in the warmer can perk a calf right up!

Calving in the winter is hard but we hope for the best and plan for the worst.  Instead of waiting for the bad to happen, we try to be prepared and proactive to give our calves the best chance possible.  And then we watch and hope and pray that we can make up the difference when it just isn’t enough.

REAL Taco a.k.a. Carne Asada

February 19, 2018 by Allison

Tomorrow is Tuesday, so dinner calls for TACOS!  Taco Tuesday is something my family can always get behind.  It satisfies my husbands Mexican craving and it is such an easy meal to adapt for the kiddos.  This recipe has a lot of names- Street Tacos, Carne Asada, Steak tacos, Taco bus tacos, but at our house there is only one name I need to say and everyone knows what I am talking about- REAL Tacos.

The Rancher lived in Mexico, near Tijuana, for a couple of years and fell in love with ALL Mexican food and all the things that makes Mexican food so good.  Things like freshly squeezed lime juice, avocado, pico de gallo, and cilantro.  These are some of the critical things that make these tacos REAL tacos.  But the kicker is the beef.  A flank steak, thinly sliced and marinated with lime juice, cilantro, and jalapeno with a little seasoning, flame grilled for just a few minutes on each side and it is SO GOOD! Its so good that you don’t even have to have it on a Tuesday.

Just a few tips when you make this delish dish.  I have seen some grocery stores that carry a cut of meat called carne asada that is made just for sort a thing.  It is thinly sliced and ready for the marinade.  But you could also grab a flank steak and do the cutting yourself.  If this is the case, when I say thin, I mean super thin.  Like 1/8″ thin.  Between the thin slices and the great grain, you have tender bites perfect for a taco!  It will be a little easier to cut thin if it is a little frozen and if you start in the center of your steak and cut towards the ends.

 

When it comes time to grill your carne asada, you are going to want a hot grill.  The idea is that you are only going to grill it for a few minutes on each side so you want a good sear on the outside without losing the juices in the middle.  Salting the meat, even just a little, will help keep the juices from dripping out as it cooks.  Let the meat rest for a few minutes and then cut it up across the grain for the best tacos your Tuesday has ever seen!

Print

Carne Asada

The best tacos your Tuesday will ever see!  These tacos start as thinly sliced steak marinated in spices, cilantro, freshly squeezed lime juice, and jalapeno, grilled hot and end up as taco perfection! 

Ingredients

  • 1/4 Cup olive oil
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • 1/2 Cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 1-1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 lb flank or skirt steak

Instructions

  1. Cut steak into 1/8" thin slices and place in glass baking dish.  In a separate bowl. mix together all other ingredients.  Pour over steak and make sure that all sides are well coated.  Let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

  2. Heat grill up to high heat.  Place steak on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill, wrap in tinfoil and let rest 10 minutes.  Cut into thin slices against the grain.

  3. Serve tacos on your favorite tortillas- corn, white, or homemade!  Top with pico de gallo, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, lime juice, queso or your favorite taco Tuesday fixins!

 

 

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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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Weekend Adventures in Locomotive Part II

Weekend Adventures in Locomotive Part II

**If you missed out on Part I … [Read More...]

Weekend Adventures in Locomotive: Part I

Weekend Adventures in Locomotive: Part I

** We had a fun filled weekend … [Read More...]

Fall in Less Than 50… um 500… um 660

Fall in Less Than 50… um 500… um 660

This post has been a long time … [Read More...]

Calves on the Ground

Calves on the Ground

Calving 2018 is well under way … [Read More...]

REAL Taco a.k.a. Carne Asada

REAL Taco a.k.a. Carne Asada

Tomorrow is Tuesday, so dinner … [Read More...]

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