My Favorite Things

Guess what came to feed this morning?! Yep, the first three beautiful, feisty baby calves of 2013. Here comes one with his mom to check things out. Seeing the baby calves of spring is among my favorite things in life. Having three of them to oooh and aaahh over today was a perfect way to celebrate what is a big holiday in my world: National Ag Day. While I have a jam packed day of ag-related tasks that run the gamete from writing about the industry to feeding the cows that comprise it, I wanted to take a few minutes and share a few of my favorite things about agriculture with you in honor of this holiday. I have been trying to narrow them down in my head, so this post doesn't turn into a novel - we'll see how I do.

I love cows. From feeding them to working them to breeding them to excel and be among  the best there are, I have what will be a lifelong fascination with raising exceptional cattle. From watching them trail into feed in the winter and mentally listing the traits they excel at, and what needs done to make them better, to marketing them and watching them exceed your expectations, to days like today, when over a year's worth of work sees its reward in the first new life of the year, there is an unending array of tasks and rewards involved in cattle production that is a key part of my family and I's happiness.

The land. When you're raised on a place, personally involved in improving and upgrading it, and especially when you know what those before you sacrificed, and that they worked harder than you'll ever have to work to give you the chance to have it someday, the land gets in your blood. I have helped build miles of fence that is close to perfect in post and wire spacing, put in numerous tanks and miles of pipeline to provide water and improve grazing, rebuilt corrals after the freshly weaned calves tore them down, bogged a horse down in a snowbank, saved numerous newborn calves lives and watched mother nature at her gentlest and most destructive on this land. You can't buy that, and while it would probably be easier in many ways if the emotional attachment wasn't there from a management standpoint, it's the connection to the land that makes us so good at what we do in many ways.

I love my family. I have the best family out there, and I hope all of you can say that with equal sincerity. They are God fearing, honest, hardworking people who lead by example and do a good job of it. They're perfectionists, and doing a mediocre job because of some excuse like it's a fence no one will see hasn't ever flown, or even flapped its wings, around here. They raised my generation to be nice, sincere and fair, to work hard and help people, to stand up for what we believe in and that no one can take our education away from us. They pray at every meal, and among my favorites is thanking God for putting us so close to his creation and giving us a job on earth that we love so much. It is often said in the middle of a pasture or corral, when we're covered in dust or mud, manure and grime, and it is said from the bottom of our hearts.

The people. In addition to my family, I also get to make my living writing for the people in agriculture. I meet new folks in this industry almost daily on the phone or via email, and they don't come any better. I've interviewed people while feeding cattle, calving heifers, and while stopped along the side of the road while shipping cattle, and have had the folks I'm interviewing take the time to talk to me in many of the same situations. I've sat at tables that hosted famous politicians, celebrities and outlaws, talked to families that can trace their history farther back that you know what to do with, and have been welcomed by all. They are the most gracious people I interview, and almost every one will go above and beyond what I'm asking about to make sure that this reporter that called understands the big picture in relation to whatever specific topic I called for. I love that.

I love the work. I love having the sun rise while driving or riding to gather cows, and I love that it doesn't happen that way every day. I love riding great horses, building good fence, watching it rain and the grass grow, completing annual tasks and having it go smoothly, seeing animals born, caring for an animal and having it make a full recovery, and writing about all the things that make this industry what it is. Even better is that sense of exhausted accomplishment that follows a day spent branding big calves, sheering ewes, installing a tank and watching it fill with no leaks, or riding all day and having your equally exhausted horse step out and stop that cow before she cuts back when you're almost to the barn. Agriculture work is hard work, but it's also the best work.

This is just a glimpse into what I love about this huge, diverse industry that ultimately feeds the world, which is another big perk of the job I do. I am very, very blessed, and very thankful to be a part of the ranching and agriculture industry. Happy National Ag Day!

If you would like to know more about agriculture in my home state, click on this link to get started.

Feeding cows with little dogs

 My two little dogs LOVE to go feeding. The mere question of, "you guys ready to go feed," results in racing around the house, whining, jumping on you as you put your gear on, and shooting out the door like two hairy rockets when it finally opens. The same act begins again when we reach the pickup, and sometimes Miss Weenie has to run several circles, tail wagging profusely, until she calms down enough to stop and let me toss her the cab. Emmie can get in herself, thank you very much, through an opening roughly half her actual width.
What is so exciting about the prospect the feeding, you may wonder. Well, the highlight is when, upon nearing the feedgrounds, or a two track road we're going down that day, I stop, and let them out. Yes, that's what it takes to be the best master in the world : )
Their happiness and excitement is unmatched, and they leap, growl, and charge through the sagebrush, literally blowing off steam. After the initial rush wears off, about a mile in, serious sniffing, exploring and excavating ensues. It's almost more joy than they can handle at once.
This all may have something to do with me turning them loose into this:

Do you see Emmie?

 There she is. Chasing rabbits, climbing rocks,...

crawling in and out of holes, racing around...

 and investigating what Miss Weenie may have found.


You may wonder if there is anything that can ruin this. The answer is yes, and the worst part about feeding is when the excitement exceeds intelligence, and the return to the pickup is postponed...until after the cows arrive.

 This is especially troublesome if we're feeding the heifers, who love feeding not only for the food, but also for the chance to chase the hairy toys that I sometimes bring for their entertainment.

I bet there's a rabbit on the hill, laughing at the irony.

Cows of Note: Little Red

 Hello from the long lost writer on this blog. Life has been busy around here, and as a result some things had to give, the blog being one of them. But, I am back, and kicking things off with a "Cow of Note" post. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, these posts highlight specific cows that are noteworthy for some positive or negative reason. This all started when I picked up a PETA magazine, and read that ranchers do not know one of their animal's from the next, and don't care either. This is far from the truth, and these noteworthy cows are one way I highlight individuals from our herd.
While most of our cows are black, or black baldies, today's noteworthy cow is "Little Red." Thus dubbed because of her size and color (we're very original namers). We purchased Little Red as a calf, and you may be thinking that she is a cow of note because she is our only red cow. Nope, that is not the case.

Little Red is a cow of note because she is a fence crawling machine. We could not keep this cow anywhere. She isn't wild, flighty, scared or even concerned. In fact, the above picture is about as excited as she gets. But, in her calm, steady way, she will crawl up cutbanks that are over five feet tall, worm under nicely stretched wires, and navigate around cracks and crevices to find the premier pasture spot within her traveling radius.
This made her noteworthy in a bad way as soon as we discovered this habit, which showed up just after calving this spring. The issue with cows like this is they develop friends, and lead their friends astray. It's like when your child starts to hang out with someone that's a bad influence. This cow is the equivilant of that bad influence. No matter what approach we took to putting her back, she was out again in a matter of hours.

This fall we weaned Little Red's calf, number 28. After the day spent weaning, I glanced out the window and saw calves in our calving lot, which caused a skyrocketing shot of concern as they were supposed to be locked in the correl. Guess who was in the lead. Yes, number 28 and two of her buddies had carefully crawled under a cow panel that was chained to a fence, and were calmly working their way around our calving lot in search of the best escape route.
That was the final straw, and Little Red was culled based on her wandering ways when we preg checked. She was a moderate cow who raised a good calf, was very calm, bred back early (these sorts always do), and otherwise had no vices. But, choosing to exhibit such behavior on a dry year when everyone is overstocked just because of the lack of moisture was a bad decision on her part. I am still dealing with the influence she had on the other cows her age, who now require a pretty good fence to keep them in after taking a class or two from her. Hopefully whoever purchased her enjoys fencing, or gathering.
If you would like to read about other noteworthy individuals in our herd, here is a post on Number 2 and another on a cow who became a mother at a young age.

A Thank You!

In the last couple day's I've received what can best be described as a flood of positive feedback in response to an article I wrote about my family dealing with the drought for BEEF Magazine. You can check out the article here if you would like to.
Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to email, Facebook, leave messages, etc... and tell the BEEF staff, myself, and/or my family what you thought of the article. The fact that people are taking the time to contact us means a lot to my entire family, and we appreciate them all. What a great industry we are a part of, full of exceptional people.
We felt very humbled to be asked to write about our operation and management practices, and that feeling has certainly continued as the publication chose to put us on their cover, and as we've heard people's responses.  We consider this opportunity quite an honor, and are very thankful to the BEEF staff for the chance to write about what so many producers are dealing with this year.
I have a "behind the scenes" post of writing the article planned to share with you. But for now just wanted to relay how grateful we are to everyone involved for making this such a wonderful experience.
From the whole Hamilton family : )

Cow vs. Porcupine

Livestock and wildlife co-exist on all operations. For the most part this co-existence works great for both species because ranchers manage their operations in a way that continuously enhances and improves the land, which means they also improve wildlife habitat. Ranchers also manage nuisance animals that demolish the landscape, encroach upon other wildlife or livestock species, or who are predatory to the point they have a negative impact on other wildlife and/or livestock. 

The porcupine falls into the nuisance category. This animal lives on the bark of trees, and trees are scarce around here. Trees also aid in erosion control, are an important component of our ecosystem  and provide shade, to name a few benefits. Once a porcupine eats a trees bark, the tree dies, so as you may imagine they aren't overly welcome, and are eliminated when located. 

Then there are their quills, which many an animal has found painfully lodged in themselves when attempting to tangle with a porcupine. In severe cases these quills can lodge in the tongue and throat, causing extreme pain and possibly death.

The curious will also get stabbed with quills, usually in the nose as they walk along sniffing the porcupine, who will eventually get mad and whack them with his tail. When we weaned last week we spotted this cow of my brothers, who most likely got her quills as a result of being curious.

 

 

We hauled her home so that we could remove the quills. In this location, the quills would eventually get broken and/or worn off. They aren't life threatening, and more of a discomfort to her than anything. But, we didn't want her to have to suffer, so we readily took the time to remove this poky problem from her face.

 

 

 



Once caught, the guys went to work, using their leathermans to pull each quill, all while trying to keep the cow as calm as possible.

Ouch! But, not nearly as painful as dealing with the quills for several weeks or months. These aren't very deep, and I've seen cows and dogs with almost the entire quill stuck in them before.

 And so it goes, until they're all removed, and the cow is thoroughly checked to make sure none were missed.

Then she was turned back out. While not particularly happy or interested in dealing with a human for a few days, she was otherwise none the worse for wear. Now she will be able to eat, lick, move her nose, etc... without the painful quills constantly poking her.

2012 Summer Grass Report

This year's grass report is short....literally. In case your new, or have missed these in the past, I try to do a post on our grass from time to time to compare the current year to the past few. The idea is to show you what I'm talking about when I say a good year, or bad year, or the grass is great, or doing poorly.
Perhaps you've heard that we are having an odd year out west. It's hot, dry and about as unconducive to growing grass at it gets. We're typically semi-arid where I'm from, and this year calling us arid would be complimentary.
Here's what I mean -

Taken in one of our pastures on 7-18-12. This is as tall as it got this year (about an inch on average), and it was only greener than this for a couple weeks.

 Another photo, taken on 7-2-12. This is also in the middle of a pasture, in the bottom of a draw, which are typically greener than the tops like what was shown in the previous picture.

 Our creek bottom, as of 7-18-12. Anything you see that is green is either Kosha weed or thistle.

 A close up of the forage on our creek, taken 7-18-12.

Now, let's see how this compares to the last couple years

2011:

 Taken in a pasture on 6-26-11, very similar location to the top two photos from 2012.

 Our creek bottom on 6-18-11. I realize this is a month sooner than this year's photos. But, it never even thought about getting this tall this year.

 Creek bottom on 6-16-11. Same tree in the background as the 7-18-12 photo, I'm just turned slightly more toward the east in this photo.

Now for 2010:

 Pasture photo on 6-28-10. This was a great year.

And the creek bottom on 6-27-10. No, they aren't standing in a hole or anything, and that yellow spot on the side of that heifer is the head of a shoot of grass. Yes, we can grow grass like that here....on an exceptional year.

So, just in case you don't want to scroll back and forth. That was 2010, and here the same location in 2012 again, which is anything but an exceptional year.

If you want to see how the years prior to 2010 were around here, you can head over to my 2010 June Grass Report post.

Spring Rush

 (A big thank you to my mom for taking the only branding related photos of the year last week)

We've been running, literally it seems, around here for the past few weeks. Allow me to explain what I've been up to in my blogging absence:

May 23: Branded at my Uncle's
May 24: Gathered stray pairs out of the neighbors. Including three that were in a 4,800 acre pasture. Prepared to brand.
May 25: Gathered for our branding, got rained out. Played cards and visited with the family.
May 26: More rainy weather! Fed steers and worked on trailer house.
May 27: Fed, drove up and gathered for my Uncle's second branding.
May 28: Branded at my Uncle's again. Mom took above photo.
May 29: Shampooed trailer house carpets, more than once.
May 30: Hauled cows for neighbor. I fixed fence, searched for potential escapee cows, caught up with a good friend over coffee, primed bedroom in trailer house.
May 31: Finally branded our big bunch.
June 1: Oh, that's today... So far we've gathered up our dries and they are on their way to the sale. Decided to try to cancel D.C. trip (contingent on conversation with lady in charge of trip) . Fed, and now I am impatiently waiting for the computer repairman  (my new laptop is falling apart, physically) while doing laundry and dishes and preparing supper in my head. So far this repairman has put multiple cramps into my busy schedule over the last week (he seems to think I have plenty of time to sit by the phone and wait for him to call). This afternoon we are gathering up the few pairs we somehow missed yesterday and branding them. Assuming the computer repair man is on time...

And, while that was fairly busy, here's what's coming up next, and is totally subject to change based on weather, attitudes, vehicles breaking down etc...

June 2: Sort first round of pairs to haul to summer pasture. Possibly go to town.
June 3: Possibly go to town, depending on how the 2nd goes. OR, fly out to D.C.
June 4: Shipping first round to summer pasture, and trailing a couple miles to pasture due to recent rain. OR, first day of meetings in D.C.
June 5: Sort second round of pairs. OR, more D.C. meetings in a.m., then flying home in p.m.
June 6: Haul second round of pairs to summer pasture and trail in. Did I mention this summer pasture is three hours away, one way?
June 6, 7, 8 or 13: Sell yearling steers? Otherwise you can add feeding them to every day.
June 6-9: Haul my Uncle's stuff to summer pasture. Ride, sort pairs.
June 6-15: Haul hay from ND (this isn't me, but it will affect my schedule too)
June 15: All bulls turned out with cows, including hauling some the three hours to one bunch of cows.
June 16: Photographing first wedding of summer
June 17: Run errands, drive home from wedding.
June 18: Checking into rehab to sleep.

I truly love what I do, and this is one of my favorite times of year. But, I must admit that I'm also glad the entire year isn't as busy as late May and early June! Bear with me, and I'll be back to posting more regularly after I'm out of rehab bright and early June 19 : )

When I grow up...

I have one more great topic that was brought up by an elementary school student during my Ag Books for Kids presentations and activities. A boy in the last class I met with asked how you become a farmer or rancher, and his teacher tagged on what advice I would have for her students to help them succeed if that was their goal. She told me later that she had a few students who wanted to be farmers/ranchers when they grow up.
I was admittedly tired and slightly shell shocked from seeing more young kids in two days than ever before, and my answer wasn't the greatest. When I wrote thank-you's to the class, I included a list of things students could do to help them get a foot in the door of agriculture.
Possibly the wittiest answer I've heard to the question posed is that to have the best chance of becoming a farmer or rancher in today's world is to select your ancestors carefully. But, sardonically true as that answer is, I do believe there are other ways to enter the industry, and am certainly not going to discourage a young person to become in agriculture. Especially when I firmly believe there is no better industry to work in.
Here's a rundown of what I typed up for those interested to consider as they grow up:

1. Consider joining 4-H, which you can do at 9 years old, and FFA when you reach high school. There are numerous animal and crop related projects that will teach you a lot about agriculture. I also feel strongly about joining judging programs, which can be done through both organizations. Plus, 4-H and FFA offer a lot of fun opportunities for kids and in many cases allow them to travel and see agriculture in other parts of the country.

2. When you reach the age where you're looking for a part time or summer job, try to find one with a farmer and/or rancher. They often hire summer help, or extra help for busy days of the year like branding, weaning, shipping, harvest, etc... Nothing will beat the hands-on experience of working within the industry. Plus you'll meet people who can help answer future questions you might have.

3. Attend some meetings. State Farm Bureau and Stockgrowers/Cattlemens, or local weed and pest and predator board meetings. These groups will cover issues that will be what you deal with should you decide to become a farmer/rancher, and they are often very educational. They may not be overly exciting all the time, but they will cover topics that you will be personally faced with as a working part of the industry.

4. Go to college, it's important. You will learn new things, and perhaps more importantly, meet new people. Go into something you enjoy, whether it's an agriculture field, or something totally different. Lots of farmers and ranchers have an additional job on the side in their degree area to supplement their farm/ranch income. This is one thing to consider if you do or don't have a family operation to take over also.

5. Never stop learning. Some people think they've learned it all after college, and this isn't true, especially in agriculture. There's only so much you can learn about gathering cattle, spraying crops and working around weather while sitting behind a desk. Also never stop meeting and learning from successful people you meet along the way.

6. Consider all your talents. As I mentioned above, a lot of farmers and ranchers have an off-farm source of income. One of the great things about agriculture is you often work for yourself, and if you're willing to work that extra job when it fits your schedule, it can help you get started, or pay off the expenses involved in agriculture. It can also allow you to do multiple things you love, which can be fun and rewarding. We didn't discuss that I am a writer and a photographer in addition to having cattle while I visited the class, but I included that in my letter to let them know what I have to do in this stage of my life as a rancher.

I also mentioned that being a farmer/rancher is a lot of hard work (they asked that too), but also very rewarding and a lot of fun. The work never stops, but you get to be outside, working with your family, at a job that is different every day.

Did I miss anything? What advice would you give a second or third grader who asked you this question? I would love to hear your thoughts before I go back into the classrooms next year, so that I can do a better job of encouraging young people to go after being a farmer/rancher if it's what they want to do.

Sepia Tones

 For some reason my editing has veered heavily into the land of sepia tones over the last couple weeks. This could be due to the fact that although it is spring, the ground really isn't much greener than it is in these photos and I think the effects look nicer than the dry, grim reality.
Here are a few samples for you on your Monday.
P.S. I have no idea why my text is surrounded by white in my last post....that was not intentional.

 

A Rough Start

It's been busy around here lately, and I just haven't had any time to keep things updated on here. I apologize for my lack of posts over the last week. Today I am sharing one of the events that combined with numerous others to keep me so busy.
Last Saturday night my parents were up from 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m., waiting on a heifer to calve. She finally did, without help, and they headed back to bed. On their way, Parent A told Parent B (names withheld for my protection, lol) to just leave the gate open between the calving lot and our yard area.
Later, Sunday morning, my dad left to feed, and found a heifer laying behind our horse trailers, were no one would see her or think to look, in the yard area. She had been trying to calve for several hours based on how things looked, which wasn't good. He and I immediately pulled the calf right there, and were thankful to find him alive.
We went on about our feeding and left mother and baby alone to do their thing. When we returned a while later, the cow still hadn't gotten up, and wouldn't. This was due to a nerve being pinched during birth - my dad compared it to a human getting a spinal tap. We managed to get her up, and my dad helped her balance by pulling on her tail, but she just staggered around the yard and went down again.
A cow will also be unable to get up if a calf gets hip locked during birth, but fortunately that is not what happened in our case.
The cow needed to get up to get blood flowing back into her rear legs to help her regain control of her back half. The calf also needed to eat, and a calf's first meal of colostrum is especially important in life. Here is what we did to help the cow and her calf on Sunday:

We fabricated a strap in the shop from old hay straps and chains.

Then we got the tractor, and prepared to pick her up and help her stand until she got blood flowing and regained control of her rear end. There was no guarantee our efforts would work, but this is a case where you do everything you can to give the animal the best chance of recovery possible. Sometimes, you have to do this over and over for several days until the cow regains enough strength and coordination to stand by herself. Sometimes they don't ever regain that strength.

Thank goodness she was a nice, gentle heifer, and we worked slow and gently around her so she wouldn't get excited. My dad eased the chain and strap partway under her.
My mother thought she might like a drink, which is why the water is there. My mother was also kind enough to take these photos, so I could share this with you. As you can see, photo taking wasn't very high on my list when this was going on.

Then he pulled her hips over and I grabbed the chain and pulled the strap the rest of the way under her.

We positioned the strap under her flank. We used a strap because it is wide, and less likely to hurt the cow when supporting her compared to a narrow chain or rope.

Then we hooked the chains on the tractor...

and began to slowly lift her back end up.

We worked with the heifer until she was standing..sort of.

We tried to get her back legs positioned so she could, and would, stand on them.

When it became apparent that she wasn't going to be able to stand on her own right then, and we would have to continue working with her, we milked her as much as we could so we could feed her calf the colostrum she produced.

Then we gently laid her back down on the ground when her back legs gave out, and unhooked the chains from the tractor. We just left the strap under her for the next time we lifted her.

Meanwhile, we had moved her calf into our calving shed, because naturally this event occurred on a cold and very windy day. He was never dried off properly and we didn't want him to get chilled. I fed him the colostrum we had milked from his mother, which is far superior to any milk replacer product we had on hand and could have mixed up for him.

Then, since he was still wet and it was so cold and windy, we put one of our calf coats (dog coats) on the big guy...

And packed him back outside to this mother so they could be together and not forget about each other.

Which wasn't a problem. This is how they stayed most of the day. He was worn out from being born, and one of those big and slower moving calves anyway. But, as the day progressed she kept trying to get up, which was encouraging to us.

That evening I took a bottle of milk replacer out to feed her calf. We had decided to let her rest until the following morning, then lift her up again. About halfway through feeding him, she got up! Though very wobbly, she managed to stay up. Here she is in a photo I grabbed from the house. Her calf is laying behind that pile of hay we fed her.
I am happy to report that after another couple days in the corral, where we could feed her and ensure she didn't have to travel a lot for food or water, she and her calf were turned out, and are doing great! That's the kind of ending we always hope for and work toward when situations like this occur.

Calf photos

 Happy Friday everyone!