Cornstalks, feedlots and fog

We headed to southeastern South Dakota/northwestern Iowa a couple weeks ago to check out a newer sprayer, and to see our good friends who just happened to buy our steer calves and my in-laws open yearling heifers. They also just welcomed their first baby into the world, and as expectant parents ourselves, it was nice to spend some time around a newborn, and new parents.

While everyone was tired of the cold, foggy weather conditions, it did make for some wonderful photos!

 

We found our calves, looking good.

 

 

 

It is so fun to see our cattle doing well for their new owner, and to see all the performance we work hard to breed into them coming to fruition.

 

 

 

We also went along to check and water cows, who were on corn stalks. I was amazed to learn that the vast majority of stalks in this area go ungrazed each year. Either because farmers don't want cattle in their fields or don't have cattle and don't care to lease out the stalks for grazing.

 My in-laws open heifers, which were weighing right at 1,400 pounds when we were visiting. I love looking at fat cattle, and these big girls did not disappoint!



Practical cattle fashion: Calf coats

What do you do when you start calving and the high, without windchill, is somewhere around zero? For my family, one answer has been to bundle up the newborn calves in their own coat. I brought this concept with me to South Dakota this spring, where it has come in very handy. By that I mean the first four calves wore the coat until the next calf was born.
We came across this idea years ago when someone, another family member perhaps, hooked us up with an actual "calf coat." Made of weather-proof material, and designed to allow the calf to stay dry and warm while also being able to go to the bathroom without making a mess, we were instantly impressed. We had used old vests, human coats, etc... for this same purpose, but a coat designed for the shape of a calf and made from weather-proof material was a significant improvement. The not so impressive aspect was the cost - around $50 apiece in most major vet catalogs. I realize that $50 really isn't all that much to spend, but it never hurts to see if there is a better deal to be had. Plus, when you're putting a coat on an animal that has no consideration for what you paid to keep them bundled up and warm, they rudely rub it on barb wire, stomp on it, chew on it, terrorize their buddies with it, and on and on. All made possible because the same coat kept them from chilling down.
So, we got creative, and found the above dog coats at a feed store a couple years ago for $20 apiece. Score! Show is Tough1 coat in a size large on a newborn calf weighing in the mid 70-pound range. It works great for the most part. The only thing I would change about this coat, from a livestock standpoint, is that you have to put it over the calf's head. With past coats, there was a Velcro strap that went across the chest and under the belly. But, considering I can buy 5 of these coats for the cost of 2 with that Velcro option, I'm happy. It also doesn't fit every calf perfectly, and sometimes the back end flies up a little, but again the affordability, ease with which you can put it on and take it off, and the fact that it's weather-proof material keeps the calf dry and warm means it gets the job done.
What does everyone else do to keep newborn calves warm in less than ideal conditions? We also have sheds at our disposal that are often used, and tried duct taping ears on a couple little guys this year. The baby calves were not at all impressed with that idea.
Fortunately today the weather is 45 degrees above zero and sunny, meaning the calves are happy and the coat is hanging in the basement!

Marital Baggage

 As I type this my most valuable possessions are rolling down a highway to their new South Dakota home. Part of getting married is always the combining of two people's things/stuff/treasures/junk, and mine will be no different. I will bring more furniture than will probably fit in my fiancée's house, a car, a big screen TV, lots of kitchen stuff, enough clothes to fill every available closet - probably twice and dreams of things like a beautiful lawn with flower hedges.
But, what is a little different when two ranchers get married is that there could also be the combining of livestock, which is the case with us.

These two are rolling down the highway right now. Adding cows when getting marriage is a little different than adding a hairbrush and lip gloss to the bathroom vanity. Cows eat grass, cows take up space, cows cost money to run, and it's not like you can just add and subtract numbers on a whim. No, there is a lot of management that goes into running cows, and to be profitable most ranchers are usually running as many as they can with their available resources. So, just adding more cows isn't necessarily an easy thing.
But, I am marrying a wonderful man, who just so happens to be a rancher, meaning that he has the ability to make room for cows more so than most people, and he did make room for mine. Not only that, but he offered to let them come now instead of this fall because it was really dry over here earlier this spring when we were making plans.
To prepare for the move, I applied for my Wyoming brand in South Dakota, and am very thankful to have gotten in on the second try. It was given to my dad, who used it before me, and in addition to meaning I won't have to re-brand my cows, also has a lot of sentimental value to me. It also means I won't have to keep track of two brands as my cattle move back and forth between South Dakota and Wyoming in the future.
My family and I also sorted my pairs out from the rest of the cows and put a bull with them earlier than we turn bulls out to get them closer to being on schedule with calving season at their new home.
Then today he carved time out of his busy schedule to come get them when "Delivery Plan A" didn't work out last week. He has it all worked out on the pasture/bull/summer management side for when they arrive, and is also making sure that over time we we will get everyone the right shots as they convert from our vaccination program to his, which are different.

I'm sure there will be more adjustments and management alterations that will have to be made going forward as we work them into the mix. But, I'm also sure they will all work out. I am very grateful to have a wonderful family, and to be marrying an equally wonderful man that all help enable me to do what I love, which has always included owning cattle. As my fiancée has told me many times since we've met, he had no idea a blonde girl could care as much about a little bunch of cows as I do mine. Fortunately, he considers that a good thing.

I still take pictures!

 I know the photo posts have been far and few between lately. Here's an update on what I've been snapping pictures of the last several weeks.

Emmie Lou and Miss Weenie are always available to help feed, sit on my camera bag, roll in dead things, and have their photo taken.

It has snowed a couple times. Here are our yearling heifers and coming three's heading in to feed one morning.

 

 

And, here is my sister's heifer on the same day after I fed her.

 I've done some cattle photography work for other people (yay!) including taking pictures of these heifers for a sale.

 My fiancee's marker cow.

 Feeding cows, SD style.

 Lots of wildlife out and about on this mild winter.

 

The Summer in photos

In no particular order, here are a few photos of what we've been up to this summer. I hinted at several of these items a week ago, but now you can see what has been happening around here the last couple months.

The weather has been crazy. We are way above normal on average temperature, and number of days over 100 degrees here this summer. Plus, several nasty storms full of lightning, wind and black clouds have rolled over pretty regularly. But, one things these clouds don't have is much rain. For the month of June, average rainfall for Wyoming was .45 inches.

 Our house water pump quit working. Then the line airlocked. So, my dad rigged this system up to pump water back up the more than 2 miles of line to our storage tanks from our house.

 This photo was taken while getting the right shot to accompany one of several writing projects I had going on this summer. From new magazines to my regular work to multiple online projects, it's been fun and busy on the writing front lately!

This is Larry, who is one half of our new Hereford bull duo (the other is Moe) that are going to make us some black baldy calves : ) He has been hard at work.

A wind storm blew the tin off one side of our "new" trailer house. So, instead of finishing prjoects inside so my brother and I can move in, we had to concentrate on this. While move-in won't be for a while now, I am getting my office stuff moved in, which will be a huge help on my work end.

 Lots of time has been spent determining how to best manage our cattle on this very dry year. We've also been diligent in checking their water, grass and how they're holding their condition. We're very thankful that the grazing association where most of our mother cows are located is having a much better year than we are at home.

 We've fought fire, but not nearly as much as the folks east of us.

I watched my first litter of pigs be born, and are they CUTE or what?!

My Second Cow: Lacy

A while ago I share with you how I got started in the cow business with the purchase of my first cow.

Well, Sassy certainly wasn't the last cow I ever bought, and was just the beginning of a long run of heifer and steer projects I showed over my 11-years in the 4-H program.

This being county fair week where I'm from, it seems fitting to introduce my second heifer, and 4-H project, Lacy. Named after my best friend until we moved when I was four, Lacy the cow came from a longtime registered Angus breeder in the Bighorn Basin. My dad purchased several of his 4-H heifers from this same operation, and is who suggested I purchase my first Angus cow from them.



 I do not remember taking this photo, or that we haltered her that day. I do remember that this nice man had several pens of heifers, sorted by price, ready for us when we arrived. We looked through all of them, enjoyed the ones that were too expensive for me, asked if the one that jumped the fence was cheaper since she jumped into a lower priced pen, and eventually selected number 1111.

 I paid for her, received her registration papers, obviously haltered her, and took her home. That's my dad on the right ready to do most of the work on the first attempt at leading.
She proved to be 100% Angus in nature. Where Sassy was mellow, sweet, kind and laid back, Lacy was the opposite. She wasn't wild, but derived particular enjoyment in walking wherever she wanted, dragging me along as I "lead" her. She was also not mellow or very kind. She was quite the eye-opener after my first heifer!

 Despite those attributes, and my sister being born in May of that year, in the middle of a major remodel of our house, I somehow got her as ready for fair as possible when you're 10

 Here we are on show day. By the end of the day that showstick was done from whacking her over the nose every time she tried to drag to me off wherever she pleased.

But, for everything she lacked in her desired show heifer disposition, she more than made up for as a cow. Lacy was a steer maker, and I believe she only had one or two heifers during the roughly 12 years she was in my cowherd. She didn't just raise any ol' steer either, she raised good ones. The people I bought her from were carcass oriented in their program, and her offspring excelled that way. I attempted to show one of her calves as a market steer, but he too lacked the show steer disposition. We ended up having him butchered, and the butcher asked all about him and complimented the carcass extensively. That's high praise if you're a rancher.
Other things I remember about Lacy is that she could flat out walk just about any other cow on our place, and was sneaky. You had to watch her on every gather, but she always had her calf with her. And, while I could always catch, scratch and feed cake to Sassy, it was a rare day to be able to even give Lacy a piece of cake when she was a cow. She was a harder keeping cow, but was always bred and always raised a calf that was among the best each year.
It may not sound like it from this post, but I really appreciate this cow. She was another foundation member of my herd, and she did a lot of good things for me by raising all those good steers. Plus, regardless of her quirks, there is a unique bond when you show an animal, especially when you're young. I loved her.
Just like with Sassy, she eventually got old and lost her teeth and couldn't keep herself in good enough condition. Her gate slowed and her calves started reflecting her age.When the time came I sold my first two cows the same fall, and that was very hard. But, I cared enough for them and what they did for me to do the humane thing and not allow them to suffer through old age in the harsh environment our ranch is located in.

The Cement Slab

(Photo by Double H's Momma)

This cement slab is located on my Uncle's place, and has been a serious learning curve for us since he purchased the land it's located on. To reach his corrals on this place, you either cross this slab or trail 2-3 miles around. Naturally a little extra time at the slab is easier than the several hours involved in going around. 

You also have to hit that gate with the high posts to get in or out of the little area containing the slab. It's a challenge for sure on some days. When gathering, it's through a gate and around a corner, then you funnel everything down across the creek, then up a hill and through another gate on the other side, which is thick with greasewood. It's been known to cause some sort of excitement on most trips across. We've trailed over it on days like the one above, and on days where water was running over the slab. We've had wrecks where cows and calves went back, and days where we spent several hours mothering after crossing this slab.

When my cousin saw this photo, he remarked that it looked like one big wreck to him. Sure makes a nice picture though : )

Feeding in the Snow

 We've been getting some snow this week. Here are a few photos from feeding our yearling heifers and two-year-old cows two days ago. Have a fantastic weekend!

Cows of Note, Number 2

I am back with some more Cows of Note this winter. In case you weren't reading my blog last winter, and don't have any idea what I'm talking about, here is a link to the first Cows of Note post I did.
Well, the link isn't working for me, so in case it isn't working for you either - The reason I do these is because I read in PETA that all rancher's animals are anonymous and that we don't care about them at all. This is simply untrue, very untrue, and these posts show examples of knowing our animals individually. We know them because we care about them, enjoy caring for them as a profession, and are around them with so much frequency that we know most of them at glance, and can recite a slew of general informatin about her and her offspring, any health related issues she's had, etc....
Specific cows stand out more than others for the various reasons I listed above, both good and bad. Sometimes it's how they look, or act, or the calves they raise. Other times it's a specific event she was involved in. Whatever the reason, these specific cows become Cows of Note, and I share some of them with you here.
The first Cow of Note for this year is number 9/2 (read 9 over 2). The 9 represents the year she was born, and the 2 is her number.
Number 2, as we call her, is everyones favorite cow of her generation. She is a beauty, a sweetheart, and she had a heifer calf her first time around. She's an eye-catching cow, and we've all noticed her since she was a baby calf around here.

She epitomizes what we want in a cow as far as how she's built and how she acts. She's moderate in size, pleasant to be around without constantly being in the way, and a good mother.

 As everyones favorite, she has also been given a little special attention, which she enjoys. Cows that will eat cake right out of your hand are called cake munchers, and Number 2 is one of our cake munchers.

And here she is with her first calf last spring, which will likely also be a Cow of Note when she grows up.

For more of our Cows of Note, you can go here or here.

Feeding in the Fog

Some people take hundreds of pictures of their kids, and understandably so. Others of their pets, city, etc... For me it's ranching and cattle. Today we had a fantastic, heavy frost, and it was a feed day! Here are a select few of the several hundred shots I snapped over four hours of feeding in the fog.