Blog - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

More Than Just a Bale of Hay

January 16, 2014 by Allison

Feeding cattle can seem to be a simple thing. Just spread some hay out there and the cows will be good, right?

Nope. You have to realize what hay is- it is energy and nutrition. This is how our cows get all of those essential vitamins and minerals and the calories for energy. There are things that will affect the quality of nutrients in our hay, things like the soil it is grown in, the amount of water it gets while it grows, and lots of other stuff.

After we grow our hay we (or our friend, The Cenex Man) usually take forage samples and have the hay analyzed to determine its quality, especially the quality of the vitamins and minerals. This is like our baseline for what our cows are getting and then we can know where we need to supplement.

About a year ago we really kicked in the supplementing game and oh boy it has made a difference. Our cows are in great condition and bred up better than they have in a while.

The nutrition of our cows is HUGE because it directly influences our calf crop- a healthy momma is more likely to get bred on her first cycle, which means she will calve earlier in the season, giving our calves a longer time to nurse. Her milk will most likely have more nutrients to pass to her calf to help him be stronger and healthier.

Ya, nutrition is SUPER important! ‘Feeding’ is a lot more than what it used to be when you consider that it includes putting out mineral, salt, and liquid protein.

And lets not forget that it is a great chance for this momma (that gets cabin fever WAY too often) to get out of the house. I guess I have my own reasons that I support the extra nutrition we give the cows!

Sharing our Ranch

January 14, 2014 by Allison

I love to share the ranch with others (as is evident by this being my 90+ blog post) and I especially love to share it with the people I love.

Over the Christmas break our dear friends, the Davis Family, stopped by to see us and to see the ranch. We were neighbors in small town Parker, Idaho while we went to school. But with both of our families moving on after college graduations we get to be long distance friends.

While they were visiting we took a quick trip up Quaken Asp to deliver salt, mineral, and protein. It is fun to experience the ranch with others- their reactions to the cows, the poop, the scenery… the poop.

The Rancher’s Sidekick shared a little more than the rest of us. He shared a taste of the salt we were putting out to the cows! Every time The Rancher and his tagalong take salt to the cows, The Rancher’s Sidekick dips his little finger in the salt for a taste. And every time it tastes salty- surprise! He invited our friends to taste along with him. Oh how we love to share the ranch, every bit of it!

Cows Plus Snow

January 11, 2014 by Allison

Here are the last few pictures of our cattle drive home. They may all look the same, but I just love them all. And I just love having the snow- a little something different than our dreary old brown

A Cowboy Traffic Jam

January 8, 2014 by Allison

A cowboy traffic jam is unavoidable when we move cows down the road. And in some aspects I quite enjoy it because I like to see the different ways non-cattle folk respond. I must admit that I do find it a little funny (sorry) but its simply because they aren’t used to driving with cows. I mean, cows are probably not a common issue for most peoples’ commutes.

We usually try to wave them ahead, signaling to whoever is coming or going should just drive on through them. Sometimes that works.

But sometimes it doesn’t. When that doesn’t we might have them follow and we sort of break a trail for them.

But sometimes that doesn’t work. Most often people are afraid of hitting a cow, whether their concern is for their car or the cow, I don’t know… but that hesitation keeps them from busting on through.

What these fellows don’t know is that a cow will just move out of the way and until they figure it out, they are stuck in a cowboy traffic jam.

The Cows Come Home

January 7, 2014 by Allison

There is a movie The Rancher’s Sidekick loves to watch that has a chattering woman that says having caffeinated coffee would make her talk until the cows come home. She continues to chatter about what does that even mean, where have the cows been… And even though its a silly show and a silly woman she’s right- what does that even mean?!

I have posted pictures of the beginning of our cattle trek, of the boys and girls that moved the cows and now I have some photos of our final destination. These cows are now home at the ranch, close by so we can feed them and enjoy lovely cattle filled views from our own window.

A New Year

January 4, 2014 by Allison

Can you believe that 2014 has begun?!

I love new beginnings! Its so wonderful to start with a clean slate. I make mistakes (no one is surprised there) and although a new start doesn’t mean that past mistakes are gone, it does mean that you have the opportunity to rise above them.

Traditionally at the start of the new year we make resolutions. I’m big on that. Its like the ultimate year to-do list! And unlike most of my mom to-do lists, these kind of things can’t be undone, well some at least…

But this year I’m going for something a little different. I heard a quote recently that we are faced with the challenge to become. Become what, you may ask.

That is the beauty of it- you get to decide! So maybe this year I will focus a little more on what I want to become rather than just accomplishing new things. Life gives new avenues of adventure in the must unlikely places, places we may never have dreamt of. And while we may have a great list of things we hope to learn or habits to make, it might not accommodate the new road we are travelling.

Now, what is it I want to become? I’m not really sure… I guess I’m still trying to discover what that is but I can tell you it has to do with enjoying life on the ranch more and sharing it with more people.

I do know that I want to share it new ways with new people.

Any ideas?

Bring it on, 2014!

The Crew Part 2

January 3, 2014 by Allison

(He, he… the title rhymes!)

Do you want to know what was so cool about our family cattle drive last week? Well, yes the winter temperatures did make it a “cool” outing. What else made it especially cool was that we had all of The Rancher’s brothers.

There are five- that’s a lot of cowboys for one momma to handle. Thankfully she is still alive and sane.

We are always privileged to work with Cowboy Pete and Cowboy E while they still live on the ranch, and once again they graced us with their cowboy presence.

With it being Christmas brother #2 and his sweet wife were around to move cows with us. Wouldn’t it be fun to call them Bonnie and Clyde? Except that they are good kids so the name doesn’t fit. So instead lets call them The Cowpoke and The Montana Girl. Right now they are absent Eliason cowboys because they are becoming educated cow-folk.

And completing the cowboy brotherhood was brother #3. Last week we welcomed home The Buckaroo from his church mission to Kansas. In true cowboy fashion he was moving cows the day after he got home!

So already this is fun to move cows with all the brothers but something else cool was that there were four generations of cowboys out there from The Ranch Boss to The Rancher’s Sidekick. Its not too often that four generations get to work together!

The Crew

January 1, 2014 by Allison

Most of the time when we move cows we are with our neighbors and other ranchers. But now that our cows are alone we get to do it just us. Just the family. And what is even better is that we love to do it as a family.

Every family has their own thing that they like to do. We like playing games and working together.

From the Feed Truck

December 31, 2013 by Allison

I’d like to think I’m a tough girl. I mean, I have had babies. A mother by definition is tough, right?

Maybe I should admit that I do have a damsel-in-distress side that does counter my tough-cowgirl side, but as tough as I am, its ok that on the cold morning cattle drive I was invited to stay in the warm feed truck. We used the feed truck to lure the cows home. And it worked. It worked GREAT.

It took only a matter of minutes for all of the cows to come running up the hill. Every once in a while they did slow down. But all The Rancher needed to do to get them moving again was to pretend to drop the hay.

I thought I would get a little creative and take some pictures of the cows in the rear view mirror. Ya, that only works of the mirror is clean. I guess that my picture is proof that we are in a REAL ranch truck.

Moving Cows on a Cool, Clear Morning

December 30, 2013 by Allison

The cowboys decided that it was time to move the cows to the ranch now that winter is upon us. All though there isn’t a lot of snow, there is enough now that we have to feed every day. This means that The Rancher would have to take the hay to the cows each day or bring the cows home. Of course, they chose the latter.

So on a beautiful, clear morning we trailed the cows home. I really shouldn’t include myself in the “trailing” part of the move because we were at the head of the herd in the feed truck, coaxing them to come along. For once I have pictures at the front end of these cows!