Tag: cattle

MARCH QUARTERLY ROUNDUP

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WINTER BLUES–NOT!

Usually, winter is a tough time for me–short daylight hours, cold days and colder nights, but this winter hasn’t been, well, winter. Our southern family members in Tennessee received more snow this winter than Montana did, and they may have had colder temps for much of the winter, too! Highly unprecedented. We need moisture in Montana–and across the entire West and into the Midwest. However, the warmer temps and lack of constant snow has been nice.

The wind however…up to 90 miles per hour on some days! It blew a building down on the ranch, but it did need to come down.

Here we are, fixing to head into spring, and it’s felt like spring already. I don’t remember this ever happening before. Maybe spring will bring snow? Time will tell! Rain would be okay, too. Anything to keep the entire west from being consumed by fire.

WINTER PASTURE

The warm temps mean that are ground hasn’t frozen, which is another anomaly we’ve never experienced. Our winter pasture needs to be frozen in order to use it because its a little swampy-like otherwise. My cowboy has been working to keep the cows moving on fresh land, but without the ability to adequately use that pasture, it has made for some complications. Considering the impending drought, my cowboy has spent time on grazing plans and possibilities, planning for the ranch cattle’s best upcoming forage with the reduced pasture possibilities. It’s quite likely we won’t be able to graze several pastures this spring or summer due to lack of moisture. Dryland, native grasses need care anyway, but the lack of precipitation will definitely impact cattle rotations.

EMPTY NESTING

We’ve always enjoyed dates however we could get them. When the kids were little, we made trips to the dump because that was the only place they didn’t want to go! Ha! Local trash pickup isn’t an option on most ranches, so we made regular trips to the dump to dispose of trash.

Cattle supplementation is arguably a wonderful date. I especially enjoyed a recent trip to put salt and mineral out because it was near the swan ponds. Trumpeter Swans floating and flying nearby makes for an graceful excursion! Even the cows were at peace…

FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH

While the horses are definitely more up Billy’s alley, I do enjoy them. With the strange weather, they’ve been in the corral more, so I bought them a ball so they could horse around. Here’s a picture of Bannack checking it out. They’ve been carrying grain pans around and playing with them, so I figured a ball would be perfect. They did not agree. They checked it out and then promptly left the scene. How rude!

LOOKING AHEAD

Our calving is set to start in May, so we’ll likely be getting some babies by the end of April. It won’t be long now! Soon the irrigation will begin and the summer fun will start. It’s busier in the summer, but I enjoy the weather and the activity!

What are you looking forward to? What has happened in your corral these past couple of months? I’d love to hear from you!

Until then, bless you!

Quarterly Corral–Cow Collars, Drought, and Change, Oh My!

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Hello my friends!

Time goes faster the older you get. My mom used to say this and I remember thinking that was the strangest comment, but now I understand it with full clarity. Life gets fuller the older you get and that’s a good thing, but boy does the time fly!

WHAT IS THE QUARTERLY CORRAL?

I’m going to aim this year for quarterly updates, thus the name Quarterly Corral. In between, I’ll be writing in the faith sphere on Substack, so feel free to find me there. I’d love to connect with you. I also have a website for my kidlit work that you’re welcome to check out if that appeals to you.

As for the ranch, life has been interesting the past few months!

COLLARS

We implemented virtual fencing this fall with our cattle herds. A group of Montana State students came out to work with us and learn as well. We love working with students.

We chose to use Halter for our collars, and they’ve been great. There are three towers on the ranch to work between collars and cell phones. We can now create virtual fencing with an app on a phone. It didn’t take the cows long to respect the collars. The collars buzz or pulse when cows get close to a boundary, and they don’t cross that boundary. It takes about 12 minutes to implement new pasture fences.

This doesn’t mean that the phone does everything. The cattle need to be checked. They still are guided when moving big distances. Boundary lines can be adjusted and they’ll often gravitate to new pastures if it’s close by, but cattle moves still happen. However, the collars can be used during moves–you can set them so the cattle move down an invisible lane.

The cows don’t seem to mind their new necklaces. Many tossed their heads for about 10 seconds after coming out of the chute with their new collar, but that was it. We did put collars on the heifers, which we check regularly as they continue to grow. We don’t want them to get tight. A few have lost their collars, but not many.

It’s been a learning curve with software–mostly for my hubby since it’s on his phone–but it’s been an interesting process to see the cattle adapt. It’s also been great to graze pastures along the river bottom where fencing is difficult, but grass is plentiful. The river usually gorges each winter and takes out fences, but this winter has been too warm.

DROUGHT

As for us personally, the drought has impacted our leased land. Irrigation options were decreased. Here it is the beginning of February and we don’t have snow. With only one dusting all winter so far, we are praying for precipitation. Even now, the drought impacted us and we sold our personal herd. It’s a good time to sell, prices are up, but it’s weird to have them gone. The ranch where we live and work is also downsizing this month to accommodate for drought. Here we are feeding our girls one last time before they got on the truck…

CHANGE

This past Christmas season we spent some time with each of our kids, which is always great. We love spending time with them. Our oldest is in her 3rd year of vet school at Kansas State, our middle one is in the process of moving to Texas, and our youngest one proposed to his girlfriend, so we’ll be gaining a daughter-in-love in August! Phew! I’m so thankful that the Lord is working in their lives and leading them to places and situations that He has for them.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

Feel free to drop me a line if you ever have questions or comments. I love connecting with you!

GETTING INTO THE CATTLE BUSINESS

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Having cattle is a business, but it is also a lifestyle. You don’t clock a 9-5 and head home. You’re on call all the time. You live where you work. You work where you live. And you have to learn to relax and play so you don’t go crazy.

My most recent article in Progressive Cattleman included a questionnaire. Have you ever seen the questions asked to see if you’re ready to have kids? It goes something like this…

  1. How do you handle vomit and poop?
  2. Do you value Friday and Saturday nights out on the town?
  3. Can you step on a building block and not cry?
  4. Do you handle finances responsibly? Do you have room in your budget?
  5. Do you know how to hold a baby?
  6. Are your houseplants dying?

The idea is to get people thinking about how their lives will change once they have a child. These quizzes make me laugh because there really isn’t anything that can prepare you for it.

The same is true for owning cattle. You can be prepared as much as possible, but you’ll still find some surprises. To check out the entire article, please click HERE.

Owning cattle is hard and rewarding. Just like parenting.

There’s poop involved. Just like parenting.

And the hours are unpredictable. Just like parenting.

While there are obvious and major differences between owning cattle and parenting–the adage stands: You don’t know what you don’t know…

Until you do it.

Ultimately, if you’re interested in learning about cattle, do it. Read, study, but most importantly, spend time around people who have cattle and be teachable. One of the most annoying things about people starting anything is pretending to know everything when they don’t know much at all. It’s okay to have a starting point. Just be willing to learn and grow from it.

The agriculture industry needs newcomers. We want others to join us. So come!

Calving

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A new baby with Momma, off by themselves. Cattle often move away from the herd to calve.

We are in the middle of calving season. It’s a little earlier than we have done in the past, but when we moved, the calving date was already set. Fortunately, it was not January!

If you follow me, you know that we prefer spring-time calving because it follows nature’s natural rhythm, plus we live in Montana: January and February are brutal months to be calving. The weather is traumatic for their health, you have to watch them constantly so they don’t freeze–even so, they often lose ears, tails, etc to frostbite. It is not good for the cattle, the owners, or the pocketbook.

I understand that some also farm and have to calve earlier to get ready for farming or to make grazing permits work. Some claim calving earlier guarantees bigger calves–not so. That’s a possibility, but the hazards to their health and ours–(night checks at 20 below zero–yuck!) actually delay gain. We’ve had similar weight calves when calving in April to those who calve months earlier simply because it is easier on the animal.

Anyway, I digress…I have received questions about calving from people outside of the agriculture circle. Their biggest concern boils down to one thing: Are we kind to cattle?

A fair question!

Of course!

We believe cattle ought to live healthy lives that follow their natural cycles. We will not beat them or mistreat them. It is unfortunate that people ask this question because it means that somewhere it has been projected that this is the norm. *Sigh*

We’ve warmed calves in the barn because it was too cold outside after they were born. (We had calves in February from a handful of cattle. Again, not our choice, but it renewed our opinions about spring calving.) We have brought them in the truck to the barn, wrapped in old coats or blankets.

Goofy faces! No one got peed on and this calf is back with Momma in the field.

Yes, cattle are a business. Yes, we have to manage them in a way that is financially responsible. AND-we will try to nurture them in the best way possible.

Calving is a reminder of renewal. The life cycle continues and we get to watch it unfold in the fields.

Happy Spring Everyone!

THE ELK IN OUR HERD

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This fall, we had an elk calf join our herd. We think her momma got hit on the highway and the ranch’s cows were the closest family.

The first time the crew moved the herd with our new “calf”, the calf took off in wild zig zag patterns ahead of the cows and the cows tried to follow her…it was a little crazy.

One of these things is not like the other…

When we sold the calves, the elk calf stayed with the cows.

When we processed the cows, we thought the elk calf was going to go into the corrals, but she changed her mind.

The next time we moved the cows, there she was… and she walked right through the gate!

The elk stayed with the herd for a couple months. I took this picture driving home not long ago… the elk has grown so much!

I’m not sure where she is now. We moved the cows out of this pasture and the elk herd came back by, so I imagine she hopped in with her kind. I kind of miss her, but I think she’s probably doing fine.

So, dear friends, you never know what you might see out in your field. But I hope 2022 brings a lot of goodness. Happy New Year!

* I know there is a concern over brucellosis with elk and cattle, so please be aware that we bled the cows to check for this. No brucellosis!

Transition

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I haven’t written for awhile. I miss journaling about life outdoors, even if it has only been a of couple weeks since my last tidbit. However, we find ourselves in transition again…or still, rather. As I’ve written before, we left Montana two years ago because we leased our ground there and we had an opportunity to move to Idaho and buy a place. My husband also got a job in Idaho that allowed him to be more involved in the cattle industry. The past two years have not gone anything like we imagined, but I wouldn’t change them.
Things didn’t work out in Idaho for us to buy a place and today we find ourselves packing boxes to move to Montana. It isn’t the same place we used to live, but who would’ve thought? Doors opened for my hubby to have almost the same job and we signed papers on a little place of our own.
I can’t believe the blessing of having some land of our own. We’ve always dreamed about it. We’ve had cattle on leased land for years and years. We are quite excited to have a place of our own. It needs TLC, so we will be busy, but we are blessed.
My blog may slow down a bit until we move in and get settled…(In winter…in Montana… 🙂 ) My heart is still here though!

view from our MT house

My new view!

 

 

Taking Care

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Don’t you love those days when things flow? You hit the lights right, work gets done on time, and there aren’t “surprises”?

Yesterday wasn’t one of them. 🙂

It seemed one thing after the other popped up as a surprise and needed attention right away. A family member’s health is failing and I can’t fix it. Simple life details had piled up and then we discovered an out break of pink eye in our calves. The calves were  gathered up so we could run them through the chute to vaccinate them and treat the active cases. It is just a small bunch of about forty calves, so it shouldn’t take too long, right? (Insert raucous laughter.)

A couple slipped through the head catch–which I didn’t close in time. A needle got stuck in the shot gun and no one could loosen it and I didn’t have pliers handy (we forgot to grab them before starting because we haven’t needed them in awhile…usually they twist right off). It was hot and the critters didn’t want to be run through the chute…and even though I talked nice to them (the guys can laugh at me, it’s ok) they had plans to go somewhere else. Needless to say, it wasn’t as quick as it ought to have been and I left a little before it was over to get the smell off me before hosting a baby shower that night.

It wasn’t a bad day, just not a smooth day. I’m not sure why I’m surprised when things don’t go smoothly because life just happens. Sometimes things just need taking care of…right away. When my kids are sick, then we take them to the doctor or change plans to let them rest. The same is true of cattle. Cows are living creatures and if they have needs, then we stop to protect their health.

Thankful today for the people and resources that allow us all–people and animals– to take care.

A dusty day in the corrals
A dusty day in the corrals

Fill ‘Er Up

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stocker calves out to pasture

We leased some pasture recently that we are filling with stocker calves. It’s a stepping stone to reach a bigger goal and another beginning. How many times I’ve started something, never thinking that I’d start it again. Yet it seems in life that there are many starts and stops! On the same token, I’ve started many things with a preconceived notion of what it would look like, only to see life paint a different picture.

While specific situtions are important, perhaps the bigger issue at hand is identity.
There are always going to be things we do simply because they must be done. However, at the core of our being we were created for purpose. I’ve watched people spin their wheels and endure frustrating situations because they do go after their calling. In fact, I’ve done it! I’ve rationalized with myself: If I just do this job, the pay will be worth it… but often I denied my heart permission to thump with excitement. Granted, we have to pay the bills, but I think there are many creative solutions in life that would push us closer to that which makes us feel alive. For us, we purchased stocker calves. It isn’t the large scale ranch we dream of, nor is it as big as the one we had when we changed location, but it is a step towards our bigger goal. Our desire is to steward land and cattle. We are happy to put our toes back in the water while we pencil out ideas for the future.
Land, cattle, and the desire to build for future generations excites our hearts. What excites yours? What makes you feel purposeful?

Homeward Bound

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I’ve been shy to blog about all the details of our transition, but we aren’t the only ones to experience this phase in life, so I feel I must unravel a bit of my heartstrings.

Many of you know, that we ran cattle in Montana for years before deciding to transition to a new state. We didn’t change location because we weren’t making money or didn’t like it…quite the contrary. Yet we felt a shift that is hard to describe…an internal feeling that change was coming. We had the option to embrace the change and try something new or continue in our path. When we looked at what we were doing, we enjoyed it, things were going fairly well, but no matter how many angles we looked from, we couldn’t see any way to grow bigger. Looking at our new option, it appeared that several opportunities existed for growth. So we did something that hurt, but seemed like the best option…we sold our place in Montana and all our cows. We uprooted. Why? Because sometimes it is necessary to let go of a smaller dream in order to grab hold of a bigger one.

Today is very different than we imagined when we left… We do not yet own the place of our bigger dreams. In fact, things went so different than anticipated; we doubted everything we’ve ever done! We’ve been through calving season without cows to calve and the ache there is indescribable. We thought for sure by now all the pieces would have come together. The place we had our eyes on had an offer before our place in Montana sold… Sure, we could piece something together, but our big dreams keep us from settling for another small dream.

In the meantime, we keep dreaming. It’s a little like labor…after awhile, you hit a point where the baby hasn’t been born yet, but you are ready to be done. You don’t think anything is really happening but pain. You wonder if you’ll make it…Then something happens and life enters…and it is more beautiful than you imagined. Until then, things are hard and messy, but completely necessary to the unfolding of the process. So during our transition, we are trying to focus on the good things happening and the fact that yes, life will emerge.

There are tough moments; things hard to understand right now. Yet our passion for the cattle industry and our desire to live life on the range doesn’t change. It may not yet look like we imagined, but we pray and trust that good plans will fall into open hands.

 

 

What Do I Do With This?

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Image

Every rancher we know has a plan–that outlined picture of what the future holds. Some people have it typed and saved on a hard drive, others pencil it out on paper–or scribble it on a napkin– and yet others sketch their plans in their mind map. Whatever the case, we are all aware of what we’d like the future to look like. If we are really honest, we often have two plans–the practical plan and the whoa, I’m dreaming big baby! plan. Usually we file the first and tuck away the second in our underwear drawer so no one will see our outlandish thoughts.

Recently, something happened in our own place that defied both plans and made us stop and think: “What do we do with this?” It isn’t on the plan–not even the wild plan. It feels like it’ll really make things better or spiral us toward the polar opposite. Will it be like the time I lost my rope or saved a calf?

However, we know that the circumstances in our lives are meant to call to the surface something greater. Our reaction to it can either push us closer to the Someone who designed us or push us deeper into our limited perception of what we alone see. It is often hard in the moment to react the way we wish we would have reacted when we look back at it in the future–unless we look back at past occurrences and practice saying what we wish we’d have said then. In other words, we go back and practice saying the thoughts and ideas that will propel us into the future we picture. This is the snipett that I’m learning to do at least: go back and process past errors, covering them with goodness, and being thankful for the piece they’ve set in my life.

For me, trying to do this outside of the arms of God would push me into personal tunnel vision, but I’ve found that Big Hands create Big Things, especially in the area of covering past mistakes. I can’t do it alone. I’ve tried. What a mess!

Yet even the messes can be cleaned up and be made new in God’s hands. Some of my biggest foibles, He turned into beauty.

So the reality sits: We are not sure what to do next. We are learning though, that this is okay. Not part of the plan? Not a problem. Sometimes the best thing we can say is “I don’t know…yet.” Waiting is tough, but it is often better than rushing to our own aid. Do something!, say our pesky thoughts. However, waiting and choosing peace before pushing forward is worth it. Plus, it gives us time to process whether this thing we are unsure of will ultimately be a beautiful piece of our underwear drawer plan…or not. Either way, it’s fine because we can always redream the wild plan. We’ve done it before. 🙂

Dreaming is good because we consider the possibilities and look forward to the future. So how about we all dream big and pull that “whoa, I’m dreaming big baby!” plan back out and let a little Light be shed on it…especially in the midst of unknowns.