Let’s kick off the New Year with this Q & A Session!
Liza – How’s the puppy settling in? What do the bees do over the winter? Do bees hibernate? How about the chickens? I’m pretty sure they don’t hibernate, but can they find food through the snow? Or do you supplement them?
Eden is figuring out her place. She and Lucas are good friends and Dally is a nice acquaintance! Nah, they play, but Dally has her limits with puppies! Eden needs to learn a few things… like getting in a vehicle. She’s not a fan! Bees don’t hibernate as in Sleep. They create this big ball of bees on the honeycombs, which are their food. They kinda shimmy through the bunch, rotating positions, so the outside ones can get in the interior and warm up. If it warms up to 50˚ they may make a “cleansing flight” since they don’t poop in their hive… think of it as a quick potty trip while it’s warm! Bees are easily frozen or starved, so we’ll see if mine make it through the winter. The chickens are warm enough with a heat lamp in their coop. I always feed my chickens, though it is much less in the summertime. I’ve debated about making them a maggot feeder in the summer. Now, they just get chicken food since everything else is under 10″ of snow!
Joanne – A question. The cows on your ranch, what are they for? With my non-existent ranch knowledge, I can only guess from limited farming knowledge gained from TV program’s and many holidays on a Welsh farm: are they for milk, meat or breeding?
We raise a commercial Angus herd, and Angus are raised for their beef.
Joy – The little house on the hill behind Dally, what is it’s purpose out there all by itself?
Ah… if you remember the corral next to the highway with the long shed? This sat out there as Ped’s granary. It’s log with a tin overlay. We drug it away when we built the pivot, and honestly, that was as far as we could get it! I keep telling Vernon I want it on the mountain for a cabin, but he wants to build a cabin himself.
Carole – I hope you are still asking for questions because I have one not about the ranch but about Longmire. Since Longmire has been taken off A & E and as far as I know not been picked up by anyone will you still have Longmire Days? Is there anything that you or the Longmire Days can do to keep the TV series going? I have given my husband every Longmire book and he loves them. Please get something started from your area to see if something can be done. Thanks.
They were planning for Longmire Days last year, and said they’d do it whether or not Longmire was renewed. Well, it wasn’t renewed by A&E. Thankfully, Netflix has picked it up!!! There will be 10 episodes for season four. Unfortunately, that does mean you have to subscribe to Netflix. They start filming in March, but I’m not sure when it will be shown… There’s a group on Facebook and Twitter called the Longmire Posse and it really promoted finding a new home for the series. You can follow them for news and updates. The Longmire books are great… can’t wait for the next one! I’m happy!
Judy – Question… does sweet Eden stay in the house overnight or do any of your dogs?… Hope your chickens are doing ok in this cold…
Sweet little Eden will still pee in my house, so, no… the little poop spends her nights outside. As does Dally. Dally prefers the nights outside and asks to go out when I head to bed. Lucas is the spoiled one. He may be on the cold concrete of the basement or mudroom while I’m awake, but he prefers to sleep next to my bed at night! Don’t feel sorry for the girls, they have an insulated dog house with straw and a heated pad in there… even though half the time they choose to sleep under the pine tree instead. Lucas sometimes asks to be outside at night even though I rarely see him inside the dog house. The other morning at -11, he was happily nestled under the pine tree…
Marilyn – Questions: how is Truce doing with the mouse-eradication? how far a road do you have between the house and the main road
(i.e. to clear the snow when necessary?) Thanks.
Truce has handled the mice in the chicken coop quite well. He still spends nights in there on occasion. He needs to live in my house because I have an ongoing problem with those gross things! I won’t let him in until he’s neutered though. If I can keep him from spraying, he may get to stay in the studio again. At this place, we’re just a hundred yards or so off the highway. Our old place, where Daniel lives, is a mile off the highway. That’s nice!
Joanne – 1. When you drive over the Big Horn mountains on Highway 16, how long a drive is it to reach Buffalo? 2. What is your favourite time of year on the ranch.
Buffalo is about two hours away. I enjoy my trips over the mountain, so some people might make it faster! I take pics and sing along with John Denver and watch for moose… Oh, that’s a tough question. Springtime is full of baby calves and greening hillsides. Summer is long daylight hours when so much can and is accomplished and you can get to the mountain and see elk and wildflowers. You can ride your horse in (mostly) good weather… Autumn has its own crisp glory in the harvest. Winter? Winter gives you the gift of a zillion diamonds in the sky like most people can only dream about. It’s a time of creative spirit when there’s time to accomplish them. Favorite? All of ’em.
Suzanne – Questions: Do you have plans to breed Dally again? Also, what criteria (besides her genetics) will you look for in Eden to determine whether you will breed her?
If I do, it will be this spring, and if it doesn’t get accomplished, I think I’ll spay her and call her breeding days over. Who I’ll breed her to is unknown… so much depends on the weather and traveling. Eden has already shown promise of her herding instincts… but I’d like to get a good grasp of what she can do. I want to know her style… how she reacts to pressure from me and the cows. She’s been along with cows, but not cows with calves and that’s a lot scarier. I may get her hips checked as I did Elsa and Dally.
Thanks, everyone!
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Thanks for all the answers to the variety of questions. I can’t imagine the doggies opting to sleep outside sometimes in this frigid cold!
Love reading your questions and answers. Yes, once they spray, they will always. Mine preferred license plates on rigs. tee hee That was the only thing he sprayed.
You should always neuter your cat BEFORE he learns to spray. If he learns, just because you neuter him doesn’t mean that he will stop. The quicker, the better!!!
Thanks Carol for answering mine and other questions. Really enjoyed reading them and learning more about your life on the ranch.