A spring storm has hit the Cowboy State, with snow and below zero temperatures. That meant Vernon was kept busy checking the cows and calves… making sure a newborn didn’t “freeze down”. A newborn is covered in wet slime… so landing on frozen ground can actually freeze them down to the ground… like your wet…
Photographer/Artist/Friend
A few years back, while I was still working at the Ten Sleep Library, a gentleman came walking in to use our computers. I visited with him after he finished his digital business. He had a unique accent… so, of course, I asked where he was from. Answer: The Netherlands. wow. “So what are you…
Puppies
‘ve known for a while now… and I did post it on my website… but I’ll make the announcement here… We’re gonna have puppies! The due date is March 24th. I’m thrilled. Elsa is feeling… well… fat! Slowing a tad, too. I will get to enjoy them in good weather as opposed to her last…
Heifer Story 2
Along the Nowood River exist many industrious beavers. While the Nowood wouldn’t qualify as a river in most other states, it does in Wyoming because it flows a large amount of water for this dry country. Probably because of the Nowood’s size, these beavers have developed into “bank” beavers instead of the usual “dam” beavers…
Heifer Story
Sooner or later, you do a job long enough, something unusual will occur that makes the entire process glow with a new light… So it is with checking heifers… I mentioned before how I check the heifers sometime between 10 and 11 pm. There are no street lights. Moonlight and starlight exist in its phases,…
Heifers 4
Ah… the last of the video series… <sniff> Will you miss them?? I enjoy doing these, because they can explain things much better in some respects. Like most areas of expertise, it is easy to forget to explain simple things that we take for granted. Hopefully these videos have filled the gaps of my writings….
Heifers 3
So, we have gathered and sorted heifers, and now we do our night checks. I’m in charge of the 10:30 pm night check… I’m more a night owl than Vernon, so while he might have been in bed for a couple of hours already, I’m just finishing a craft or watching the news, or reading a book… and ready…
Heifers 2
What a wonderful springlike day… warm, snow melting everywhere… runoff turning the creek from clear to red… and more babies! Our cows have now started having babies as well, so within two weeks we’ll be surrounded by calves – bucking, playing, running wild with tails in the air! For now, I have the second video…
Heifers Step 1
I have a series of videos showing how we calve our heifers. Tonight is step one… The gathering of the small area where they spend their days. If any calves want to be born in daylight, we’ll just push them up to the corral and pen them. However, if they choose to be born at…
Busy Days … and Nights
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…
Busy Busy
Throughout today and last night, we have had lots of calves! But that is what happens when you AI cows… they all are supposed to calve at the same time! I’m working on a video… but for now, I hope you can cut me some slack since I only had 5 hours of sleep last…
Dally at Work
These photos are hot off the press… literally from freshly digitized creations to my computer. By jove, I think she’s got it!!! <Add your own British accent> Good girl. ‘At’ll do!