We have had 21 calves in the past three days.  I guess it seemed like more but that puts us up to 31 calves, so that means we are halfway through the heifers!  Now, if only the last 31 calves would take a week!  I’m sure it won’t happen that way, and soon the cows will start as well.  At least we don’t get up in the middle of the night with the cows!

I am working on a three part video about the heifers.  No, I didn’t finish it yet… Daniel and Victoria came home for the weekend and so we had a “family” weekend… it’s kind of rude to say, “Sorry, I have to work on my video… see ya later!”  It sure helps the workload when we have kids home (except in the kitchen!).  Daniel fed the cows with his Dad every morning and tagged calves… Toria helped cook and helped with the heifer checking.  Brandon stayed in Laramie to receive recognition as outstanding sophomore ag student.  Daniel will be back next weekend as some of us are going to a bull sale…

I had a friend keep an eye on a horse at a horse sale this weekend… I thought if he went cheap enough, I’d have my friend bid on him for me… Of course, with all these babies being born I couldn’t go to the sale in Billings myself.  The horse market is down.  People try to unload horses in winter so they don’t have to feed them.  This gelding was on the small side and most people like bigger, stouter horses.  This horse didn’t have the amazing pedigree like some horses in the sale.  I figured I had a good shot at him.  I figured, oh… $2500.  My goodness, he went for $8700!  Amazing.

My photos for the day… while walking through the heifers looking for those ready to calve… I noticed the nice reflection in the puddle.

But what I noticed next… was my buddies back behind.  See them?  It is difficult to walk through 40 heifers with 3 powerful dogs at my heels!  I don’t want the heifers to move, I just want to look at them!  So… I  down-stayed my dogs.

There they waited.  While every instinct they have tells them to move – to chase those black critters.  This is, perhaps, the one characteristic that amazes me the most.  That the respect, the love, the discipline they have for me/of me/from me overrides the instinct to chase/to bite/to bark.