After a rain delay, we loaded the heifers and trucked them to the top of the mountain. After the heat of yesterday, the mountain was absolutely delightful! We mounted up… And, we’re off! The intensity of the green is amazing! Before we knew it, we were done. We tried to think up excuses to stay…
Category: Cattle
Next Vet?
So Quinlan decided to jump in and help Brandon out by learning how to take a blood sample from our heifers. This way, only a month later after AI, we can test for pregnancy. We will know if the AI worked before they get bred their next cycle from the bull. It will help us…
Heifer Time
An early morning gather with the entire crew minus Megan who is off at a wedding. Victoria and her three boys, Daniel and Tess with their three, Brandon with his two, Vernon and L. on their four wheelers and me in my Japanese mini truck. These are our heifers that we were AI-ing a month…
Recharge
It’s that time again… We trailed our first bunch to the Slope Pasture today. Four cowkids and three cowboys for most of the trip. The majority of the time we stop halfway at the Mesa Pasture, but not this time. It’s twice as far and then there’s mothering them up at the end… The cowkids…
AI ing with Brandon and Crew Video
I finished the video with Brandon AIing some of his herd.
Send Them On
Well, after a tired night’s sleep, I didn’t wake up feeling as bad as when I went to bed! I could hardly walk last night, so waking up mobile was an improvement. Don’t get me wrong, I was plenty happy to stay home and recuperate. They had just a long a day today as yesterday…
For Now
Up at four am to saddle. Crawled off my horse at 4:30 pm to load him up and bring him home. I think I could rate this day as one of the longer ones! It wasn’t bad with a wreck or anything, just a long process for what we wanted to do, complicated a bit…
It’s Pronounced ‘Cedar’
Daniel and Brandon each have their own personal herds. Daniel raises registered Angus. Brandon’s focus is selling his grass fed beef. They each have their own schedules for artificially inseminating and, therefore, calving their little bunches. I missed the work with the ranch’s herd (babysitting instead) and Daniel’s, but since Brandon tends to work his…
812
She had her calf. Brandon had tagged it at one day of age. Weeks ago, we took the pairs in her pasture out to the badlands. Except 812. On our creek crossing day I wrote about, Brandon had thought he had seen the calf, but we didn’t make it to the corral with it. We…
Excursion
After a great morning visiting with Brandon and his crew for Mother’s Day (and Megan helping me to order more Red Dirt In My Soul books!) … and then Daniel’s crew… and then lunch, Vernon and I were discussing what to do. All of the recent rain had put an ending to our weekly trips…
Perfect!
Brandon had his little herd to brand… Megan roped. Quinlan guarded the gate. Brandon and Daniel wrestled the calves. Lorelei and Vernon vaccinated… I branded… it was perfect!
Hitchin’ a Ride
Morning sun found the turkey vultures warming in the light… And us gathering the last few cows from the other side of the creek. They were a mix of Brandon’s, cows that hadn’t calved yet, cows with newborns, and cows that had lost their babies. We’d sort them at the corral. Easy enough usually, but…