Ahh, That Country "Moo-sic"!

Well, if you live on a ranch this time of year, you know what that means! The Rancher and I will be serenaded all night... oh, the romance of it all. It's weaning time and not more than 100 yards from our bedroom window there are 128 bawling calves and 128 bawling cows. Now, we do this with as little stress as possible (to the cattle that is!). We use a method called "across-the-fence-weaning". We gather all of the cattle into the corral, and then sort the cows and calves apart. We then turn the cows into a pasture on one side of the corral, and turn the calves out on the pasture on the other side of the corral. These pastures share a fence. A really, really stout fence. This way the cows and calves can still "talk" to eachother and touch noses. Beyond the fenceline they have fresh grass and water. "Makes perfect sense," you might say. How would it be done differently? Well, more often than not, cattle are weaned by locking the calves in the corral and hauling the cows far off to the other side of the ranch. The calves bawl and walk for many days, stirring up the dust as they do. The results are a lot of respiratory problems and other sickness in already stressed calves. Then the calves need to be "doctored" or treated with antibiotics. Well, since we sell our cattle as beef directly to the customer, with no hormones, and no antibiotics, that would significantly reduce the number of cattle we could sell that way. So we need to use a lower stress, healthier for the cattle, method. While we will be serenaded tonight, tomorrow there will be significantly less "moo-sic" and by Thursday or Friday all should be quiet on our peaceful little ranch again. (No laughing from the peanut gallery, please!)

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

Okay, as shocking as it is that I am actually posting to my blog, we REALLY DID have an earthquake here this morning. I had just woken up, barely, and was still lying in bed when everything started to shake! It only lasted about 5-10 seconds, but I heard things on the walls rattling and felt the whole world shaking! I asked the Rancher, "Did you feel that?" he was mostly still asleep and said "No." After I got up and started the coffee, I checked the USGS website and sure enough there was a big red dot in the middle of Wyoming indicating an earthquake within the last hour! It was recorded at 6:13 am, and when I thought enough to look at the clock to mark the time it was 6:14 am. I talked to a neighbor this morning and though she didn't feel it, apparently it isn't as uncommon as I would like to think living here in central Wyoming. She had some great stories of one or two "doosies".

A picture is worth a thousand words....

So, I'll limit the words (a little) and post about a thousand pictures... The Rancher has been telling family and friends how "We got some great pictures, Wendi'll be posting them to her blog..." And I haven't. The guilt is more than I can take, so enjoy some photos....

This is the "cowboy crew" of the Bar Double L, although the cowgirls outnumber the cowboy! From left to right is the Redheaded Cowgirl, the Biggest Cowgirl, the Littlest Cowgirl, and the Rancher.



Another important member of the crew is, Bud. He's a 1996 model Border Collie/McNab who has covered a LOT of miles with the Rancher and I. This is him after helping us move pairs out of the north pasture, he found a shady spot to rest.



This is Blackie, she is Bud's daughter. The Ol' man still has it, 'cuz she was born on the 4th of July just two years ago! She's learning the ropes from her dad.

The dogs weren't the only ones resting after the move. This photo shows the two oldest members of the crew (well, except the Rancher and I). Woody, the black horse, was the first horse that I ever bought on my own. He was 5 months old and I was a young teenager (we're both MUCH older now!). It's pretty cool to me that the Redheaded Cowgirl is riding him and enjoying it. He's a little too arthritic to carry me anymore. The bald faced sorrel, is actually my mom's horse, he's 18 and we've had him around since he was three. The Rancher and I have had "custody" of him for many of those years and he has been a great asset to the crew. The Rancher is on "Peanut Butter" a mare we have owned for about a year. She's cowy, but she likes to buck occasionally.... thus, the Rancher likes her!

Fast forward a month or so, and we trailed the pairs up the mountain after branding (pictures of which are on my nephew's camera, and may or may not appear someday). This is Pastor T. riding Ace, and having a great time helping us out!

This was my first trip up the mountain since we've lived here, so I was awed, to say the least, by the scenery here in our backyard!

This picture is reminiscent of a western print my mom has in her living room, which includes a cowby resting near his horse in the forground... wonder if the artist had ever seen our ranch?

Speaking of resting cowboys!

Oh yeah, I was there too... who do ya think was taking all the pictures?

It's not that I lack subject matter....

But lately I've had so much blog worthy subject matter that I've frankly been too worn out to blog!

• Friends and fellow "Martin Loopers" visiting.
• A snakebit horse.
• Various calving stories.
• The tragic and unexpected death of the snakebit horse, accompanied by a trip to the emergency room for the Littlest Cowgirl ~ this one will definitely get it's own blogpost!
• The begining of the outdoor and Farmer's Market season for selling our grassfed beef, and Mary Ann's Beans.
• A field trip with more Martin Loopers.
• The Rancher's new yellow toy, er, I mean tool.
• A visit from two of the Cowgirl's town cousins.

And those are just the BIG things... not to mention the cute things that happen or get said by the Cowgirls...

Just hang in there with me, and I'll get some of these stories told before I forget the details! LOL! But if I'm slow... it's becuase we are branding this week! Creating yet one more thing to write about!

Romance

Wow! What a week... or two! Things have really been rolling along here! After the snake event it started to rain. And rain. And rain. What a wonderful amount of moisture we recieved! Now that it has warmed up a bit, we should really grow some grass! However, the weather was not without it's challenges. It seemed as though the heifers just thought that they couldn't buckle down and do their job in the rain, and we ended up pulling several more calves. Some made it, some didn't.

Here's a little story about the "romance" of being a Ranchwife: One evening I was invited to the neighbor's for a "girls night". I was all cleaned up and ready to go (including perfume) when the Rancher called on the cell and said that we needed to get a heifer in and pull her calf. I changed my clothes and went out in the rain to help get her in. I was afoot and was quickly reminded why God made horses! By the time we got her to the corral I was wet, sweating, and tired! The Rancher roped the heifer and snubbed her to the post, then we got to work on the pulling. As we were there behind this heifer in the mud and fluids associated with birth, he looks over at me and says, "You smell really good!" I laughed, what a man! Even in the mud, rain, sweat, and slime he's my true love!

As I drove to the neighbor's I asked if he would take a picture of the sunset for my blog... and being my true love, he obliged.

Snake Season Begins

Well, we saw the first evidence of snakes here yesterday when we trailed cows. We saw three bull snakes. They are big and icky to be sure, but they are harmless and do their part in the ecosystem. We leave them alone.

Today, a friend of the Cowgirls from church came home with us. We had warned her that we'd started to see snakes out. I was in the horse barn with the Rancher when I heard her yell. She said she thought she'd heard a rattle. I went to where she pointed and sure enough, there was a BIG rattlesnake in the path that we all take from the house to the barn. I had come armed with a horse brush, but suddenly that felt like not quite enough! I grabbed a big stick and as I approached, that too seemed not quite long enough! The Rancher was taking a long time to show up, so I went and got my pistol. A 9mm round put me at a safe distance and did the job. The Rancher finished him with some very large rocks and then removed the rattles and awarded them to the girl from church. There were nine buttons! It was a good sized snake.

The picture seems a bit blurry, but I may have still been shaking a bit! The nail is two inches long, for reference.

Now it may be agrued that rattlesnakes do their part in the ecosystem as well. But they are not allowed to do it in my yard, around my kids, friends, dogs, horses, etc... So here's the official warning to rattlesnakes on this ranch... don't mess with this ranchwife!

Calving Update: Or You Win Some You Lose Some

Heifer calving is... well, it's a challenge, at best. Heifers are female cattle that are awaiting their first calf. Thing is, they don't all read the book, What to Expect When You're Expecting (a calf!) and they sometimes do stupid things. I've come across one heifer this season that was lying over the bank of a dry irrigation ditch while calving.... Hard to deliver a calf when you have a large hump in the middle of your belly. I got her up and she moved off a ways and then lay down with her head downhill. Ummmm, physics say that gravity is a GOOD thing during childbirth! We ended up taking her to the barn and pulling the calf. All was well.

Another heifer tried the push-the-calf-out-up-the-hill method. She couldn't get up. It was about 6:30 am so I enlisted the help of The Rancher, and my trusty horse. By the time I had saddled my horse and returned to the scene, The Rancher had succesfully delivered the calf. He then rolled the heifer over so she could get up. Once she was up she didn't appreciate what he had done for her and she decided to leave the scene. With my horse, I tried to push her back to her newborn calf. She was more concerned with being "bossed around" than taking care of her calf. She tried to leave the country. Although The Rancher was afoot, he had in hand the rope he had used during the delivery. He roped the heifer and handed me the rope to dally off to my saddle horn. We got the heifer stopped, and The Rancher retrieved the calf and brought it to the heifer. She was still being obstinate and would not mother her calf. So, I took her to the corral on the end of my rope and locked her in a pen. While The Rancher removed the rope I went with the old 77 Ford pickup to get the calf and bring him to his mama. He was big, and slippery and resented being lifted to the floorboard of the truck. I'm sure it was a commical sight! Once he was delivered to his mom in the corral and we penned them together and were able to back off quite a ways, the heifer decided motherhood wasn't so bad after all. I love a happy ending!

Last Monday, was a MONDAY! It rained most of the day. We had three heifers decide to calve. We had to pull ALL THREE! We were able to take all three to the barn for a reasonably dry environment. The first one was a tough pull but made it and was happily nursing in a relatively short time. The second one was a big calf, in a small heifer who had not dialated properly. It took both The Rancher and I pulling with all our might on the calf chains. (These are small chains looped like a bracelet around the ankles of the calf and attached to a handle to facilitate delivery.) We were able to deliver the head and shoulders of the calf. On large calves, it is espcecially important at this point to "twist" the calf in the birth canal so that his hips do not get stuck and pulling him the rest of the way out is easier. We twisted, but since this was our second calf in a short amount of time, we were tired, and I don't think we twisted quite far enough. We continued to pull. The calves hips then "locked" with the pelvis of the heifer and we were unable to pull the calf out completely. We attached a rope to the handles, and pulled with the horse, and still were unable to deliver the calf. The Rancher drove to the neighbors to borrow the "calf-puller". We had lost the calf, but now had to work fast to save the heifer. With the calf puller, (a pole with a hand winch, and a brace that goes against the hind end of the heifer) we were able to deliver the rest of the calf. The story may have been different if we had the puller on hand earlier... but you live and learn, and you can't save them all no matter what you do. About an hour later, we pulled the third calf of the day. We went straight for the puller, and delviered a live calf. Our record was 2-1 for the day. It was dark by then and we went to the house wet, and exhausted.

Today, I happened to be at the right place at the right time. I noticed a heifer out in the pasture behaving as though she had just calved and was looking down at her baby. But things weren't just right. So I stopped the truck and walked out to the heifer. She had chosen to calve right next to an irrigation ditch full of water. Her calf was alive and standing up in the ditch with it's head just barely above the water. The sides of the ditch were too steep for it to get out... being a complete newborn. I jumped in the ditch and grabbed the calf, pulled him out, and drug him as far from the ditch as I could (without provoking this good mama to fight!). Mama came over to him, licked him to dry him, and I saw him up and nursing when I went back to check a while later. Phew! Another happy ending!

We are down to about 30 head of heifers left to calve... the grandma cows are calving on their own in the North Pasture... as it should be!