Blog - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Spring-time Babies

March 22, 2017 by Allison

Is it spring at your house yet? We are nearly there out here on the ranch. I couldn’t be more delighted! There is such an energy with spring. Its full of potential! Everything is just so fresh and new. New crops, new flowers, new leaves, new grass, new weeds (for a minute they can be pretty!)… And of course new babies!

Ya know, I figured out why we have new babies in the spring. I’m sure its Mother Nature’s way of giving us a little something cute while the pretty-ness isn’t in full swing. We are right in the kind of ugly spot between winter and spring. The snow has melted, but all we can really see is the gray-ish brown and brown-ish gray of the fields and hills. The creeks have that muddy murky look to it still and even the sage-brush is looking a little more dull.

The green is coming, you can see it struggling to pop through the bland vista. But it still needs a good shot of warm sun and spring rain to really get going!

That’s why I thinking the cute babies come to distract us from the ugly in between season. Because really, who can’t smile at a cute baby?! Ok, I recognize that it isn’t the real reason babies come when they do, but its an added bonus for sure!

In ranching there are a lot of different calving seasons and its all dependent on what that rancher expects from his calves. In Montana where I grew up, there were a lot of ranchers that switched over to summer calving because it was so much easier calving in the non-sub-zero temps. I don’t blame them for not wanting to go check calves during those long and cold Montana nights. There are seed stock ranches that push their calving as early as they possibly can, to give their bulls just a little more time to grow and mature before they head out to the pasture to breed.

At our ranch, we take the late winter, early spring approach. Early enough that they sell well in the fall and we don’t have to keep and feed them all winter long, but late enough we miss most of the cold and snow of winter. Of course, crazy things happen and sometimes winter drags right on through winter, but for the most part, this plan has worked well for us!

I couldn’t let this calving season slip by without taking the camera out and capturing the cuteness and sharing it with you! I almost caught one baby as it was just being born, but that momma was camera shy and kept running away (I don’t blame her!). Even without those play-by-play shots of birthing, there was still so much see and love with those new calves.

I love the little kisses and licks from mommas. I love the tired sleepy calves nestled in the straw soaking up the sun. I love watching the calves running and jumping with their tails up high. I just love all the babies!

Learning Problem Solving One Stuck 4Wheeler at a Time

March 20, 2017 by Allison

The Rancher’s Sidekick loves to drive the 4 wheeler. All the time. Typical boy, right? I tell him we need to go check heifers, he starts the 4wheeler. I tell him we need to help dad move cows, he volunteers to drive. We say lets of load up in the feed truck and he asks to drive the 100 feet from the house to the shed where it is parked.

To be totally honest, its our own fault. Mostly The Rancher’s, but I am the supporting wife so I will take my share of the blame. For quite a while, we had been letting the boy drive out in the field while we were moving pipe or “help” us drive around the ranch. But it didn’t take too long for him to start asking to drive on his own.

Is anyone surprised?

Nope.

This kid has known how to start the 4wheeler since he was 3 so I guess it was inevitable, right? I thought we had done pretty good to distract him from wanting to go hot-rodding on his own, but once he realized he could actually reach the handle bars and turn the thing, he decided it was time to be a man and drive solo.

So we let him.

There were two important rules. First, he had to stay in low gear and second, he could just drive around the ranch yard where we could keep an eye on him. That was good enough for him! Being a big 4wheeler driver was all he could have dreamed it to be.

That was last summer. Fast forward to now with a few more months of experience and new adventures in driving through the snow and mud and puddles and he decided to go at it again.

It has been a beautiful few weeks lately and what boy could resist cruising around. One afternoon, he decided to buzz around the ranch while we finished tagging and doing chores. No big deal. Until all the sudden the bruummm-brruummm of the 4wheeler was silent. I looked around and there was the 4wheeler, driverless and stuck in the snow. Seconds later, The Rancher’s Sidekick came waltzing back to his chariot carrying a shovel. After finishing the barn chores we walked out to him to see just what was going on.

When we reached him, he started a very detailed and animated story of how he was sure he could have made it through the snow and that it was all ok until, bam! it wasn’t (I’m not sure what the bam! was other than just his dramatics with the story!). So he decided to go and get a shovel to dig himself out with.

Proud momma moment RIGHT HERE! I was so pumped that instead of just leaving the 4wheeler for someone to find or even coming to find us to tell us it was stuck, he knew it was his responsibility to get it out. So he figured out a solution and went to it. I almost thought I could hear the heavenly choir as I had the parenting-for-the-win moment but not quite. We left him to dig himself out as we headed back up the heifer hill to do a last check before heading in.

Our last check wasn’t a very fast check (heifer caught on her back as she finished pushing her baby out which was promptly mothered by some other cow… The struggle is real, friends…). By the time we made it back to The Rancher’s Sidekick the 4wheeler was still stuck but there was a lot more story to tell.

After shoveling for quite a while, he was looking for a better way to get rid of the snow. To his credit, he really did bury the thing so it was going to take a lot of work to dig it out. So his Plan B was to use the hose to “wash away the snow” (I’m assuming he meant melt it but whatever…). But the hydrant by the shop was frozen so that didn’t work. Plan C was to start a fire to melt away the now.

Did you just get nervous? When he mentioned fire, my eyebrows shot straight up and my eyes doubled in size. But I calmly asked how he planned to do that. “Oh, I just started that heater thing (the diesel heater) in the shop and tried to start that square bale string (baling twine rather than the net wrap we use on the round bales) on fire. But it didn’t ever really burn, it just melted. But it gets HOT! I burned my finger! I wanted to use the torch but I didn’t know how to do that…”

Wow… At this point it was my only thought. I was super impressed at his problem solving and critical thinking. School for the win! But I was also terrified at his independence and his own confidence in his abilities. Don’t get me wrong, I was still super proud of how he was figuring it all out, but maybe he was doing just a little too good for a six year old. Like, maybe he needs a little less shop time with his dad. Hallelujah that he couldn’t figure out the torch for a fire!

Ultimately he had decided to go back to the shovel because that was the only way he had been making any progress before. Lucky for him, his dad had a better idea to get him out- the tractor. That little boy grinned ear to ear as The Rancher chained the 4wheeler to the tractor and gave him instructions on driving it out.

I still laugh every time I think about this story. I hope its recorded in heaven for me to watch on repeat when I get there because it is a winner! That story right there, is a clear illustration of my son. He loves the ranch and wants to do everything his dad does. Maybe there are some things he still needs to learn to do and not to do, but he isn’t going to let anything slow him down. If there is a problem, he is determined to find a solution. It might take several plans and a little burn on the finger, but he will get to it!

And I couldn’t be anymore proud of that.

That is what the ranch life is really about. Yes we raise cattle, but more importantly we raise kids and the ranch is a tool to teach them all of the lessons they need to make it through this life.

Weekends at Locomotive

March 17, 2017 by Allison

One of my weekend highlights is always heading down to Locomotive. There is something about the wide open and empty range that soothes my soul. And maybe its just because I love getting away from the house work and cleaning, but I’m pretty sure its more than that.

Working down to Locomotive isn’t anything crazy exciting. We all pile in the gator and drive around checking the water and cows. We tag a few calves here and there and we make sure every baby has a mama. Until the snow melted, we took some time to dump a little hay around. Every once in a while we find a baby that has been abandoned, usually they were a twin, and we bring them home to the ranch with us. After we give everything a good once over, we load up and head home.

See? Nothing crazy. But I love it!

I love it when my kids get to spend time with their dad. What better way to learn how to be a rancher than to see their hero do it. They ak question, jump in to help, and soak it all in. Its a chance that they have to disconnect from the world that is happening around them. Even as little as they are, they can still get sucked into the tv and computer and what not. But when they are out on the range, they are in a whole different world of their own making. In seconds they can find adventure.

I love it that we can go somewhere and its almost like time stops. The rush and hustle of life just disappears. That is something precious when you are a mom that lives by a never ending to-do list that keeps you hopping from job to the next. Somehow, the list doesn’t matter out there.

I love it because we can just be ourselves. There is no judging that I didn’t put makeup on that day. In fact, if I did, it would only get covered with the layers of dust so no one would see it anyway! The cows don’t care what clothes you wear. They don’t care how rambunctious and rowdy the kids are. We can just rock it how we like to!

Everyone needs a place like Locomotive. Somewhere that they feel safe and at peace and totally confident. Somewhere that provides a little perspective when we get so consumed with what keeps us going from day to day. Somewhere that when we go home, we feel a little stronger and ready to take life on again.

In this crazy world, that can be hard to find.

Where is your “Locomotive”?

Battling the Winter Blues One Blessing at a Time

March 6, 2017 by Allison

I love winter. I really do. I think I’ve told you that… lots of times. You are probably tired of me talking about it.

But its been sorta hard.

I love it, but its hard.

With so much snow all at once, that meant there were days and days of dealing with it. Pushing snow in the stack yard to get to the hay, pushing snow in the field to feed the hay, pushing snow around the ranch just to get around… and then pushing snow for our neighbors that really couldn’t handle it without a tractor.

God bless that rancher of mine and his tough, sweet heart because he spent nearly a whole day plowing snow for everyone in the valley just because he could when there were so many other things that needed to get done! He’s good man.

Back to the snow… You get my point that there has been lot of work because of the snow. Aside for the physical fatigue of dealing with it, I feel like we have been emotionally fatigued as well. Maybe its just me, but I feel drained. Super drained.

I think I have the winter blues…

And I don’t like it.

I’m a happy person. I’m the glass half full kind of girl.

So to battle my bit of winter blues, I’m going to count my blessings. Ready?

Actually, I have to tell you something else first… When I came home from my first year of college I thought I had died. I was happy to be home and happy to be back working on the ranch, but in some ways my life was over. None of my friends were around, our little town of 300 people had nothing going on and I was sure that I wasn’t going to survive the summer. Dramatics of a 19 year old girl, I’m sure… So I decided that the only thing I could change was my attitude. And I decided that the best way to change my attitude was to be thankful. From then on, everyday I was determined to find one thing to be thankful for and I was going to write it down and make a collage out of it.

It worked, friends. By the end of the summer, I had this huge piece of paper with so many things that I was thankful for and it was beautiful and inspiring. And I was happy.

So when I’m starting to feel down, I try to be thankful. Because when I’m feeling down, epecially about myself, I start making a different list. Something like an I-suck list… You know, the ones of “I can’t keep up with the laundry” and “the house is always a mess and I can’t keep up with it” and “I’m so behind on this project” and “I just burnt the 12th piece of toast this morning”… Those kind of lists can happen without us even knowing it and they can really beat us up.

So here goes!

1. Messes… Yep. It means that my kids have been busy playing and growing and being creative. And that is a mom-win.

2. Snuggles, especially from my older babies that are not babies anymore.

3. Propane. We ran out last week so I couldn’t have a hot shower before bed. Now it is full again and I’m thankful!

4. Snow… rain… MOISTURE! Our livelihood depends on it and although it makes life hard sometimes, we need it.

5. Cows. They make me laugh. They are cute. They are tasty.

6. My bed. My warm, snuggly bed. Its like a magic reset button.

7. Exercising. Its almost as magical as my bed for a good reset, but it takes a lot more work. But really, exercising keeps my body strong and healthy so I can enjoy so much more of life!

8. My home. Its still not finished. I have tape over the stairs that has been there for 18 months. But it is mine and I LOVE it.

9. Snow clothes. We couldn’t have made it the last few months without them. They have kept us warm and dry and saved my washer a lot of dirty clothes!

10. Hot chocolate. This is almost its own food group at my house. My kids drink it every morning. And I almost love it as much as them.

11. MY CAMERA! I love photography and the different perspective it has helped me look at life. Especially when I have had to stay on the sidelines- something I don’t do well!

12. My kids. Of course! They are messy and crazy and busy, but they are also sweet and helpful and kind. I watch them and in so many ways I wish I was more like them.

13. School. I know that everyone has there own opinions about school for their kids but I am so thankful for the little school I get to send my son to. He has learned so much that I couldn’t have taught him from home. No, its not perfect. There are issues. But when I see his growth, I’m so thankful that I can send my little boy to school.

14. The gator… Silly, I know, but its the best way our family of 5 plus 5 dogs can get around the ranch together. And it is a much smoother ride than any 4 wheeler.

15. Soup. Nothing is better than a warm bowl of soup at the end of the day. Or in the middle of the day. I think I could even handle soup to start the day.

16. Me. I am thankful for me. My determination, my endurance, my emotional side… (it keeps things in perspective, right?), my body and how it can nurture my family. I’m hard on myself a lot, but that’s because I have high expectations of myself.

17. Me bed. Oh… I already said that… Still thankful! Do-over… My boots! I have worn the tread off of my favorite boots. There are holes and cracks but they are my favorites. They have walked a lot of miles and gotten a lot of work done.

18. Music. I turn on tunes everyday. And all sorts of kinds. It has a way to drive and inspire me.

19. Books. I don’t have a lot of time to read these days. But it is an escape to adventure and excitement without ever having to pack my bags or leave my cozy bed.

20. My husband… My good, hard working, giving husband. He does so much for so many. And he loves me for being me. That right there is something so worth being thankful for.

21. Home made bread… it goes great with soup (haha). The smell of bread baking in the oven in the smell of comfort and home.

22. God. I’m a religious person. I believe in a higher power and that without it, I don’t know where I’d be today. He inspires me, He comforts me, He guides me and He loves me.

23. Good friends. Everyone needs a support system and I am so thankful for mine. Especially when you live so far from civilization, each other is all you have. And having friends that have farming/ranching husbands is an added blessing because they get it. They know what I’m going through.

24. Technology. Its actually a curse and a blessing. But today I’m going call it a blessing. It helps me pursue my passions. It helps me stay connected with old friends and far away family.

25. Winter…. Yes, I’m so thankful for winter. It is beautiful. There is a sort of renewal and cleansing that comes from the snow and cold.

I could go on. There are a lot of things to be thankful for! We take for granted so many of the luxuries we have and taking the time to remember them is good for the soul. What are you thankful for today?

A Good Winter Day Sorting Cows

February 27, 2017 by Allison

Last week sorted cows in Locomotive. Scratch that… It was actually like SEVERAL weeks ago that we sorted. In fact, its been long enough ago that we sorted, that the snow has melted and we have mixed the cows back up. I had a twinge of hurt when they mixed up the cows again. Because I feel that we just did the work of getting them unmixed up… Oh the work we do…

That day of sorting had a lot of emotions running through it. There were those overwhelming feelings of just being totally exhausted from the added work with dealing with the snow. There was the tension of not knowing how the day was going to go, if it was going to go at all. Then there was the final relief and thankfulness of finally getting the work done.

You can imagine we slept well that night.

I’ll admit, I had my own doubts about how the day was going to go down. They had never had to sort all those cows there. They never had so much snow to work the cows in. I was afraid for the worst- cows not cooperating, horses slipping on the ice, and cowboys coming home hurt and discouraged.

That is always my fear. Because I have seen it.

When I was a little girl, I saw the hard days that my dad had. There was the day that he couldn’t take his own boots off because of the 4wheeler accident. There were the days that he came in exhausted from no sleep trying to keep calves alive in the cold. There were the days he couldn’t keep the equipment running to get the hay done before the storms rolled through.

But there is one day that comes to mind above all the rest as being hard for my ranching dad.

It had been a long winter. The calving was over and breeding season was in full swing. Doing the spring work in the still winter conditions was getting long and tiresome. Eventually there was a break and the thaw finally came. It only took a few days for things to change. The frost thawed, the ground dried and suddenly it was hard again.

He was bringing in a heifer to AI. He saddled up his horse and headed out as he did every time. Now let me tell you a little about his horse. She had a long, long ugly nose. And that was about the only bad thing about her. Ok, not really… everyone horse has her issues. But this girl was good. She could cut a cow as good as any other. Once she knew what cow she was bringing in, you just let her do the work. She could drop her back end and change directions in a second. If you didn’t hang on she would move right out from under you (and I know that from personal experience!). She loved the work and worked hard.

The heifer my dad and his partner were bringing in was a little feisty. No surprise and really, no big deal. And for my dad, it was even a little fun. Like most cowboys, he enjoyed the rush of the ride. But then the heifer cut back and Whitney, his horse, went to spin. And then she went down.

In those couple of days that the weather changed, my dad was busy. Are you surprised? He is a rancher, they are always busy. Busy enough that he hadn’t had a chance to take of the cleats on his horse.

When she turned back, those cleats dug into the ground, and she spun, but her leg didn’t. And it broke.

My dad knew instantly that it was bad. So bad. He was right.

He called the vet and he was able to come in and help Whitney. They were able to set and cast the broken leg. But she would never chase a cow again. It was devastating.

My dad says that every cowboy gets one good horse and one good dog. She was his.

Ya know, despite the great days we have on the ranch and in this life, there are some really hard days. We take risks. We work in sometimes dangerous conditions. We work with animals that can do a lot of damage. And when those bad days come we just have to take it in stride.

My dad couldn’t put his partner down that day. He just couldn’t lose her. She meant to much for him. So he decided to turn her into a brood mare. Now her babies are on the ranch, doing the same work their momma did.

Thankfully, our day sorting on the range had a good ending. A great ending. The work went well and the cowboys came home safe. Not everyday turns out so well and we are grateful for the good days. Its the good days that keep us going when we have those hard days.

Monday Musing and Frosty Pictures

February 13, 2017 by Allison

Mondays are for musings. You look back over the weekend or figure out what’s happening ahead in the week. You plan. You schedule. Sometimes you give yourself a pep talk. But it all happens on Mondays.

So here I am musing.

We went to Montana to visit my parents over the weekend. It was refreshing and exhausting all at the same time. My mom works for a small k-8 school and they had their ski day, so we trekked up there late Thursday night to join in the fun. We had the whole spectrum of weather that day- icy rain, sleet, massive flakes, blue sky and fog. There was a point we decided to bite the bullet and invest in some goggles for everyone and that was the turning point of the day. Its amazing how much more fun skiing is when you can see and your eyes aren’t being pelted with ice!

There were high school boys and girls basketball games going on while we were there so we spent Saturday night cheering on the Drummond Trojans. It may have been the third game I have gone to watch since graduating 11 years ago. It was like I never left but at the same time I felt so old. There were kids playing ball that weren’t even in kindergarten when I was in high school!. I only knew 2 of the kids on the boys team. Yikes… I am getting old… But at the same time, I still call my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Verlanic and my science teacher Mr. Schindler so I guess I don’t feel all too old.

Remember how I married a cowboy that doesn’t talk? That made for a super long drive home. It really was the fastest we have ever made the drive (we didn’t speed, just didn’t have to stop 12 times for the kids…) but it seemed so long. He seriously said only a handful of words. Anybody want to come hang out with me so I can have someone to talk to?

And to make the drive last even longer, my kids are to the stage that they ask the dreaded question- “are we there yet?”/”how long until we are there?!”/”how much longer?” And I think that they eat more when we are in the car than the entire week before. I can never pack enough treats. I’m afraid its only going to get worse when my son becomes a teenager… Yikes!

Its Valentines this week… Yay… Actually, for the first time in a long time I will actually get to see my valentine. Really I should only say I SHOULD get to see my valentine. We might sneak in a kiss or two between taking care of the kids and cows, but who needs February 14 to say I love you when there are 364 other days, right? I’m sure a batch of his favorite cookie dough and an early bed time will make for just the V-day he wants!

So I posted last week about how we were buried to our eye balls with snow. And then just like that the snow shut off and the sun came out and everything has started to melt! Its not gone or even close to being gone by ANY means, but there is significantly less. Its like Mother Nature is trying to discredit me. I say its crazy and snowy and she brings out the sunshine. If I said it was a beautiful-blue-sky-kinda-day, I’m sure we would get socked in with the fog for days… So I’m going to post the last of my snowy pictures and hope that the temps stay up. The heifer hill is slowly drying out to calve on so its helping The Rancher, right?

Speaking of calving… We had 1. Soon enough we will be swamped with babies and I am so excited! Last year I was too busy swooning over my own new babe that I didn’t soak in the babies outside as much so this year I will have to make up for it. But the fact that we are calving does mean my baby is almost a year old and I just can’t believe it. I’m crying inside. It just happens too fast!

Have I mused enough for you? There is still plenty going on up here, but I will stop for your sakes. I’ll just muse to myself…

Happy Monday!
The RW

Our Snow-Pocalypse

February 7, 2017 by Allison

Hello from the land of snow!

Can you finally see us out here? The snow is finally settling! If you add up the total inches accumulated, we have had like 71″ of snow. Is that not insane?! That is over 5 feet of snow! But don’t imagine that all fluffy 71″ are still standing like they just fell. Some of that snow was way heavy and packed everything down with it. We had a week of warmer weather that helped melt things down a little too. And we actually had a couple of inches of rain that dropped the level down even more.

We have been praying for the moisture for so long and we feel so blessed to finally have it. But in the dry spell that we have been having the last few years, we might have forgotten the not so awesome side of so much moisture.

Now, I want you to know I AM NOT COMPLAINING! Just simply explaining the challenges of having so much snow. Because there are challenges, friends. Besides the obvious road closures keeping us from going ANYWHERE, school snow days, and hours spent cleaning off my roof so it won’t fall in (I might have been stuck up there for a while…), the biggest challenge has been keeping the cows on the up and up.

I’ve told you before that we winter our cows down in Locomotive (some come home for the fall and until mid-February, but then they end up back down there…). Its a great place to have them for the winter because, generally, there is no snow. Or just a little bit of snow. That makes it better for calving, less sickness, and not having to feed them everyday. But when you have so much snow their bellies are dragging through the snow, they certainly can’t get to the feed underneath it.

So this winter, with the snow-pocalypse and all, we are having more work than ever!

When the storms first started coming through, we pushed the cows as far south as we could where the the storms had been less severe and there was more feed available. Ironically, it always happened to be on a Sunday that the guys from the association wanted to move them. You might not think that would be any worse than any other day of the week, but wrestling 3 kids alone in church is rough, friends. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, come visit next Sunday…

Back to the cows…

So even after getting the cows south, enough storms came that NOT feeding them wasn’t an option anymore. So then they had to bring them back up to where we could get to them with hay. And that was a lot of work.

First they had to find all the cows. And if you know cows, once a storm hits they just start moving- moving to find shelter or feed or whatever… But they just start moving and when there are hundreds and hundreds of acres for them to go, it takes a while to finally find them all. The Rancher didn’t complain too much at this. I mean, when you HAVE to go snowmobiling all day for your work, it can’t be all bad, right?

But after finding the cows, they had to get them up to the feed yard. That was definitely a challenge… Of course the cows were going to struggle moving through the snow and would fight you nearly every step of the way. I probably wouldn’t want to move my big pregnant self through so much snow for miles either. So the guys pulled out all the graters and tractors and … (I don’t even know what all equipment they had!) and they plowed a path to trail the cows back.

And now to have 1,100 cows are rounded up together, it takes a lot of hay and a lot of time to get them all fed. I’m pretty sure right now, all the guys do is push snow and feed cows. Feed cows here at home, drive to Locomotive, feed cows there, and if there is any time before dark, they push snow. Seriously, it is all they do.

And it is exhausting.

I think it wouldn’t be near so bad if we were all healthy, but we are not. Sickness has gone through the ranch, not to mention other issues (like being run over by a cow and lacerating your liver…). So while we are trying to heal and get healthy, we are using all our energy to keep the cows on the up and up.

I’m honestly a little worried about the guys. This is the time of year things are slow and they get to recuperate before calving and then branding and then turnout and then summer… But I don’t think anyone is feeling rested after these last few weeks! It could be a long few months ahead of us.

But we are still SO thankful for the snow!

Now we just pray for the energy to withstand it all… Did you know there is more snow in the forecast? Yay… (I might be crying inside….) !!

Thinking happy and warm thoughts,
The Rancher’s Wife…

I tried taking pictures of the horses in my back yard, but there was so much snow my camera couldn’t focus!

Taking hay down to the cows and unloading without a tractor…

Its snowy and beautiful even if its so much work!

The upside of so much snow!

Oh ya… We sold the calves!

February 4, 2017 by Allison

Seasons on the ranch go by so fast. One minute we are calving and trying to keep babies warm and alive and then before you know it, we are selling them. And then you sell them, and you forget to put it on your blog to say “HAPPY DAY!”. It may not seem like a big day, but those few hours on that frosty November morning are what we work for all year long.

So I am taking the opportunity now to celebrate selling and shipping calves. Hooray! It was such a s muddy, messy day because it had been raining and raining. The downside to the rain and subsequent mud- sloshing and sliding around it poop and goop up to your eyeballs! The upside- probably a few extra wet and dirty pounds on the calves!

Shipping cows isn’t all that hard, but sort of time consuming. When you have hundreds of calve to weigh, you can see how that will take some time. Let me walk you how that day goes…

First, it starts before that day. A week or so before, we sort the steers from the heifers and pull out any of the sick, lame, or small calves (hopefully not too many of these!). Up to this point we just keep them together to feed them. While we are sorting the heifers, we pull off the ones that we want to keep for replacements somewhere around 100 depending on the year.

So on shipping morning, we start with the steers. We bring the herd into the corral and move them back to the scales. We weigh them 10 at a time to get an average weight. Can you imagine if we had to weigh them one by one? We would be there all day. After we weigh all the steers we look at the herd average and see what that compares to what we contracted them at. Obviously, we want to hit the weight we contracted at because too light means a smaller check. Too big usually isn’t a problem.

After the steers are done, we do the same with all the heifers.

Once everything is weighed, counted to the number we contracted at (we have more calves than what we contract…), and the broker is happy with what we have, we load them up. It takes someone with a masters degree in math to figure out the loading. Not really, but it does take some time to figure out how many calves at what weight can fit in each section depending on which truck they are loading. Glad that’s not my job. Once all five (or sometimes six!) trucks are loaded they head out.

And then we stand there and listen to the silence.
And then heave a sigh of relief for having the calves gone.
And then shout HOORAY!
And then we check the mail…

Then we go back to work because the job is never done. Every year we have the same day of shipping calves with the same guys, the same routine, and then same cinnamon rolls. And its a great day. The day we work all year for and the day that lets us keep working for the next year.

Happy (belated) Sale Day, friends!

Feeding Frosty Cows

February 1, 2017 by Allison

Did you read the title and let your eyes roll back because its another post about feeding cows? It is that time of year, ya know… But don’t worry. I knew you would be tired of the same (awesome) ramblings of feeding hungry cows with my crazy crew.

So I did a little something different. For your benefit and mine.

Since I had The Rancher corner, I though I would take the opportunity to do a little Q&A with him. Its good for you because its something new for you to read. And you get to know him a little better, and everyone wants to know The Rancher a little better. The upside for me, is that I have an intentional conversation with an adult. Being the CEO of this ranch house full of little people can be lacking with adult conversation. Oh, that’s starting to show? Oops!

So for the next few hours, in between me jumping out of the tractor to open and close gates and cut the wrap off of the bales, and juggling the baby and big sister, I asked him some stimulating questions.

Here goes…

About that Super Bowl…
Me: So what do you think about the Super Bowl coming up? It’s this Sunday, right?(I’m super up to date with what’s happening in the world right now…HA!)

Him: Well… (long pause)… Since I’m so into football… It should be good. But you know me… I’m really just in it for the commercials and food. And the commercials haven’t been that good lately, so I’m really just there for the food.

Me: Right… So what food should we have?

Him: I dunno. Something good. (This is the conversation we have every day when I ask him what he wants for dinner. He’s so much help…)

“We feed cows…”
Me: So tell me about feeding cows.

Him: We feed cows.

Me: … Yes… I know that. How much? How much have you already fed this year? How long will this feed last?

Him: Well, we have fed at least that stack… We figure that we have enough hay to feed 20 bales of hay for 40 days.

Me: Oh… That’s not enough, is it?

Him: Nope. Having to feed cows in Locomotive has thrown a wrench in things this year.

Me: So we feed 5 bales to the cows on the pivot pasture, 6 to the cows at the feed yard, 1 to the bulls, and 1 to the horses, old cows, and whatever is in the corral by the barn… and 5 to Locomotive. So… I guess we need to buy more hay…

Him: Yep…

Ranch faves
Me: So, what is your favorite thing to do on the ranch?

Him: I dunno…(its his favorite phrase…)

Me: Well, what is your least favorite thing to do?

Him: Feed cows.

Me: Oh. (Hmmm, do you not like it because that is like all you are doing right now?) So what is your next least favorite thing to do?

Him: Fix fence.

Me: Oh. (That one actually surprised me… I thought he liked it more.) And then what is your next least favorite thing?

Him: Changing water.

Me: What’s the next?

Him: Checking water.

Me: You don’t like the things that you have to do over and over again, do you? You wouldn’t make a good mom. That’s kinda all I do. So what’s your next least favorite thing?

Him: I dunno… I guess I like all the rest just fine. But it all depends on the day.

Me: Yes, moving cows when the sun is shining and the cows are moving good is a way better day than a blizzard when you are working cows through the chute.

Him: (Nod… Silence… conversation… OVER)

Baby driver
Me: He (the baby) is in his favorite place- at the steering wheel. That makes you the coolest dad for letting him be there.

Him: Yep… (he’s big on words…)

Me: Aren’t you glad we have him?

Him: Yep. I guess we will keep him.

Me: Are you ready for the next one?

Him: (silence… stink eye…) NOPE. (silence… conversation over…)

You can see that riding with The Rancher is GREAT conversation. To his credit, he is sick (currently fevering and sleeping on the couch) and since talking when he is feeling great gives limited conversation, I really should expect less when he is feeling crappy. But even sick, he’s still great, don’t ya think?!

Until next time, Friends!

Priorities

January 25, 2017 by Allison

Preg checking. It isn’t glamorous, it isn’t picturesque but it certainly is exciting and entertaining. Not the actual preg checking itself… that is somewhat boring and redundant. We make the day entertaining and exciting any way we can, which most often includes some kind of razzing about ~~somebody~~ everybody.

On this fine fall day, we were working the cattle we run on the forest ground. It is a considerably smaller herd of cows than the group we do out to Black Pine. Don’t get me wrong, with three different ranches pooling cows together, there was still a lot to do, but we were able to slow things down a bit.

And slowing things down for a bit was kinda nice. I’m sure that the guy that got put on the fence a few times didn’t think it was a take-it-easy kind of preg checking day. Or the guy that was doing the preg checking… There’s nothing nice or easy going IN the OUT end of a cow!

Every rancher will tell that there is more work to be done than there are hours of the day. Even if the cows are settled and the haying is done and the water looks good, there is fence that could use fixing and equipment could do with servicing. There comes a point that you have to decide just how hard you want to push yourself. You could work a neck break pace and get a lot of work done, but that leads straight to burnout and once you hit burnout you hate your job. And where this is more than a job, its a lifestyle, we can’t afford to reach the burnout stage.

So what do you do to avoid burnout? I don’t know that we have totally found the answer to this question. Unfortunately there are those days and weeks that you have no choice but to push hard. But even though we don’t have the complete solution, I will tell you that there is one thing we always keep in mind and that is our priorities.

There are a lot of things that are important to our family and our ranch. Obviously, as far as the ranch goes, the cows have gotta be happy. Its hard to swallow that hundreds of other girls get my cowboy’s attention over me, until you take into consideration that they are cows. Then its all good. Beyond the ranch, our priorities are God, family, and community because without God we are nothing, with out family none of it is worth it, and its all so much better with good friends and neighbors.

Our priorities have to be family priorities with a common goal because on the long days where my husband is nearly non existent and I am being both mom and dad, it can get overwhelming. If I didn’t have the ranch’s success as one of my priorities I’m pretty positive in would be a real cranky wife being put second. And knowing The Rancher’s priorities include taking care of his family helps me to know that he is doing everything he can to make it back home as fast as he can.

So on this day of preg checking, we certainly had getting the work done as our top priority. But enjoying our time working together with our family and friends was a close second. And because it was, it was a fun day even if it was spent at the back end of a cow.