Big Post… sorry, it took me two days to write! From Marilyn: Non ranch-work question! Do you get the station DIY? If so, have any of you watched “Barnwood Builders”?? I am enjoying and learning things about old tools and barn construction that are very interesting! <Ooooooh, yes! I do watch Barnwood Builders! Ranchers are…
Questions and Answers January 2019 Edition (part two)
From Sandy: A couple of questions for you: What is involved in “prepping” the heifers? And another term you have used — What is meant by “sustainablity”? <For us, prepping the heifers for calving season means worming them. Anything that grazes can get worms. Cattle wormer is applied to their backs. Thankfully, we don’t have…
Questions and Answers: January 2019 Edition
WoW! I guess not having many Q&A sessions last year let you stock up on questions! From Dawn: I’m learning a lot from the Big Trails blog about ranching, but I do have a few questions! <For those of you who don’t know or remember, Brandon has a weekly blog over on his website BigTrailsBeef.com….
#TBT: Cradleboard
I made a cradleboard for Victoria, oh, so many years ago! By looking at this photo… she wasn’t the only one that looked so very, very young!
Bitty Heifers
Heifer is the term for young female bovines… though generally, those about to have their first calves. The girls we worked with today are just itty bitty heifers, about ten months old. They received their bangs vaccination today. I’ve gone into that in more detail other times, just type in bangs in my search bar,…
Sort
Heifers go in. Steers go by. The calves were gathered from one place and trailed home to the corrals where we sorted them. This is the beginning of their separate lives… They both need to grow and gain weight, but for, obviously, different reasons. We weighed the steers in groups, averaging their weight. This helps…
A Little Cow Work
We prepped the heifers for calving season… Daniel, Brandon, and Tessia had it all well in hand. I was charged with making a replacement ear tag… and by the time I got back, there were only a few left to do… I’m not too worried… the next couple of weeks will be full of cow…
What Do Ranchers Really Do?
You may think that every day on the ranch is … what? full of work, romantic, meaningful, fulfilling? Well, sometimes we’re just like everyone else, running to the store and going to doctor’s appointments! The boys, of course, handled that fulfilling job of checking the water in the badlands, while Vernon and I blasted to…
#TBT: Book Discussion
Well, this doesn’t really qualify… but I’m leading a book discussion on January 15. The book is First White Woman in the Big Horn Basin by Paul Frison. Imagine being a lady’s maid in 1883, traveling to the Far Western Wilds of Wyoming, falling in love with a cowboy… marrying him, then living the rough…
Wordless Wednesday : “They Were Tough”
They Were Tough