Scenes of Fall

 It is finally cooling off around here. The trees are chaning, wildlife moving, and cattle work is picking up. Here are a few images from the last week, taken everywhere from central South Dakota to eastern Wyoming.

Winding Straps

 Among Holly's jobs around here are rolling straps as often as possible when the guys bring a load of hay to our place. She enjoys the task, and generally is happy to go along with about anything trucking related. Here she is headed down the stack corral with my brother this evening.

 Here she is a few days ago, with another load. As dad or Kyle unhooks the straps on one side, Holly begins pulling them out on the opposite side.

 

 She has her technique down.

 And works down the entire length of the load.

 Once all the straps are on the ground, out comes the "strap winder." This homemade piece of equipment is part of the charm for Holly.

 She drags each strap out like this, making sure they are kink free.

 The she gathers up the end,

 and gets it started on the winder.

 Sometimes she has to work out a kink or two while winding.

 She continues rolling and making sure the strap is straight.

 Until it's all wound up, like this.

Then she slide it off the winder,

 and stows it in one of the places they ride until the next load of hay is loaded and strapped down.

Then she goes on to the next strap. Usually the trucker is busy unloading the bales at this point, but he was waiting for his driver (aka, the photographer) to run him home to get the tractor.
By the time he has the hay off, Holly will have all his straps wound up and ready for the next trip.

Preg Testing Heifers

 In years past I've explained how we use ultrasound technology when pregnancy checking our heifers. I've also posted about preg checking my uncle's cows. Since that's all been covered, I wanted a new angle this year. Since I'm constantly mentioning how producers do things differently based on their unique situation, what better example than comparing the preg checking of my dad and uncle's yearling heifers this fall?

My dad used a younger, female vet from Edgemont, SD, who ultrasounds. We gathered the heifers and trailed them into our corrals to preg.



My uncle used a male vet who has been preg checking for the family for decades, and who arms (reaches in and uses his hand to physically feel for the calf) instead of ultrasounding. He and my aunt set up a temporary corral in a hay yard, and the vet brought his own hydraulic chute.

 

 

 

Here is the vet's table at my uncles, complete with paint for marking opens, lube, a syringe since he was giving one shot and his hotshot to provide encouragement as needed.

 

 

 Here is what took up most of the vets table at my dads preg checking. This is her computer she looks at to read her ultrasound image.

 Every pregnant heifer at my dads received a number brand for the year she was born - this year a 1 to depict she was born in 2011 in case she ever loses her tag. My uncle did not year brand this year.

At my uncles, the open heifers were given a big, "O" in the middle of their back with white paint that will not come off of anything....anything!

 

 

 Looks like this.

 At my dads, the vet drew a bright yellow "O" on each side of the heifers rump with a paintstick if she was open. This will come off most things.

Both days each bred heifer was poured to guard her against common parasites and flies, both internal and external.

 

 

 And all pregnant heifers at both locations were also given a shot to protect their pregnancy.

 My uncle also gave a second shot, and I took a picture of the wrong bottle. I will have to ask what the second shot was.

 When finished, each heifer was let out.

The opens were loaded up and sold, and the bred heifers were turned back out to pasture following preg checking at both places.

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 : )