APRIL 27 – Last Wednesday was warmer and actually felt like spring. Andrea, Lynn and I tagged and banded my “Crash” Cow’s young calf. That afternoon Dani re-filled our wood-box and then brushed Ed (helping her shed some of her long winter hair) and rode her for the first time this year, making a short ride over the low range.
Later that afternoon my blind heifer (Cupricious, daughter of Cupie Doll) started calving. She was the last heifer to calve. We put her in the calving pen with Dani’s pet cow (TW) for company, then put them both in the barn before evening. Andrea watched her while I did chores. We knew we would probably need to pull the calf, since the bull she was bred to sires calves that are a little too big for heifers.
Dani’s friends—Kendall and Jake—came out to the ranch and had supper at Andrea’s house, and were “on call” if we needed to pull the calf. After the heifer started serious labor we had those kids come down here, to be ready to help. It was a big bull calf, and the wasn’t making much progress after the feet began to show, so Andrea sneaked up behind the heifer and got chains on the legs, and we all pulled the calf. It was a hard pull, but we got him delivered safely. After we got him born, Andrea took photos of the calf after we got him breathing and Dani was rubbing him.
 |
| new calf safely born |
 |
| Dani rubbing calf |
 |
| feeding the new calf |
We went to bed at midnight. By morning the calf had suckled at least one teat and the pair was well bonded.
Christopher was sick in the night and had a fever of 103 degrees so Emily gave him a cool shower to cool him down, and gave him some baby Tylenol to help reduce his fever. He was doing a little better by that evening but still sick.
Andrea had a horrible toothache all day, but helped us put big bales out for the cows in their feeders. Then she went home to rest, and Stan helped me move the blind cow and her baby out of the barn and into the 2nd day pen that has a roof over one corner for shelter, since it was raining a little.
We still had three cows left to calve, and I checked them periodically during the night. The next morning Lynn drove to 4th of July Creek to locate a well site for some people from New York who are buying property up there. I typed several interviews (to send rough drafts to the people I’d interviewed for various articles) and we had a very late lunch when Lynn got home.
Granddaughter Heather in Canada sent an e-mail with their family news, and photos of some of their new foals.
 |
| mare & foal |
 |
| mare with new foal |
 |
| young foal during first leading session |
Andrea and Stan changed some of the irrigation water then Andrea went to town for an appointment with a new pain specialist who now comes here once a month (so she won’t always need to drive clear to Idaho Falls for her appointments). He was able to renew her antibiotic prescription for the infected tooth—since the dentist who prescribed it doesn’t work on Fridays.
I called my cousin Naida to let her know that her brother’s ashes arrived here safely last week. We will scatter his ashes up on the 320 a little later in the spring when the grass is growing and the wildflowers are blooming.
We also called our grandson Nick to wish him a belated happy birthday and let him know we have a card and gift for him here if he wants to stop by and pick it up sometime. He is no longer working at Murdoch’s; he is helping his dad (Michael) again with the custom fencing—along with coaching track and cross-country runners at the high school.
The next day one of the young cows in the second day pens had a full udder and was kicking her calf a little and not letting it nurse, so we put her in the headcatch and Charlie was here and helped us. We put a rope on the cow’s hind leg so she couldn’t kick and Charlie held the rope, and the calf was able to nurse. After the calf suckled and the cow’s udder wasn’t so full and sore she quit kicking, and everything was fine after that.
 |
| Charlie holding rope |
 |
| Dani & her big brother |
Saturday was cold and windy all day, with a tiny bit of rain. We need more rain; the ground is very dry. Stan helped Andrea irrigate, and they started the water in our ditch that originates from the creek above heifer hill on the old Gooch place. They discovered a dead calf of Alfonso’s next to the ditch—probably the sick one that Stan helped Alfonso move up there earlier—the one that was so sick it didn’t want to travel and Alfonso left it along the road by our place. We hope that there won’t be any contamination from that carcass getting into our ditch that brings water down to our cows and calves!
We got another e-mail from granddaughter Heather in Canada, and she sent more photos of some of their new babies.
 |
| mare & new foal |
 |
| Joseph on one of his favorite horses |
Sunday we had a little more rain, off and on. I had just finished chores and was back in the house when I heard our cows bawling. I looked out the window, and a skinny cow of Alfonso’s had come down our driveway and through the calving pen and was going up by my hay shed past the horses. I ran outside and she was up by the gate trying to get into the field with our cow and calves. I realized I’d need some help to get her back up the driveway –so she wouldn’t run down the other way--so I quickly shut the calving pen gate and started to up around her to put her into the calving pen to contain her until I had some help. She came running at me and I had to grab the pitchfork (by my hay shed) to defend myself. She skirted on past me and into the calving pen and I got the other gate shut. While she was bouncing off the fences trying to get out, I called Andrea. She and Stan and Dani came down from her house, and Lynn came out to help, as well. That crazy cow was ready to run over anything and anybody in her way—acting like a Mexican fighting bull!
I shut all the other gates she might go through, and we blocked the driveway by the house while Dani took her stock whip and went into the calving pen to get the cow out. Cracking the whip, she was formidable enough that the cow didn’t charge at her; the cow ran out into the driveway and Dani chased her up the driveway and headed her down the road, and chased her into Alfonso’s field and shut the gate. The problem we have is that Alfonso never closes his gates; he doesn’t want to have to open and shut them when he drives into his fields. So his cattle are often coming out and going elsewhere. This cow had a fresh brand—so it’s a cow he recently bought—and she doesn’t know where she is supposed to be, and doesn’t seem to have a calf.
She’s probably the cow we’ve seen down along his place for several days, grazing out on the road, and she apparently decided to come to our place to try to get in with our cows. We’ll have to leave our gate shut on the driveway (awkward for all the people driving in and out of here to and from Andrea’s house as well as ours) unless Alfonso will keep his field gate shut.
We were upset that this cow came through our calving pen and left a lot of her poop. No telling what pathogens she may be shedding (BVD, Johnes disease, etc.) since Alfonso buys cows from here and there at auctions and never vaccinates. This skinny old cow might be carrying some disease that we don’t want—and to have her poop in our calving pen is the worst place! If one of our cows lay down to calve and got that poop on her udder, it would be very serious for the newborn calf. So much for biosecurity! Andrea got a bucket and shovel and scooped up all the fresh poop from that cow and disposed of it. As a precaution, however, we won’t put any of the cows in that pen to calve, this year; we are glad there were only three left to calve. We’ll put them in the barn or into the side pen, but not in the main calving pen.
One of our cows (MalulaMae) did start labor that afternoon, and we put her in the barn to calve, since it was still raining and very windy. She had a big bull calf, and this year no problems; last year her calf was breech (backward but with hind legs forward and only the rump coming into the birth canal—which is an impossible position for birth) and we had the vet come deliver that one. We were glad she had no problems calving this year, and Andrea took a photo of her with her new calf.
 |
| MalulaMae & calf |
 |
| cow & new calf |
That left just one young cow left to calve—Dani’s favorite cow that she nicknamed Training Wheels (TW) because she had such a big belly last year as a first-calf heifer and probably needed some support wheels under that belly.
Yesterday was a little warmer, but windy. We put MalulaMae and her calf out of the barn that morning. Andrea took a photo after I re-iodined the navel stump of one of the new calves, to help the navel stump dry up faster and not be susceptible to infection.
 |
| iodined navel |
 |
| pushing calf out of barn |
 |
| Capricious & calf |
That evening TW started calving, and we put her in the barn. She had a big bull calf before midnight but he was a bit sluggish and I had to help him get up. Then when he tried to nurse his mom he was sucking her flank and her brisket, because he was so tall and didn’t know how to bend his head down to reach her low udder. Andrea and I helped him nurse. The cow was happy to stand still and behave (eating some alfalfa hay we put in a tub in front of her) while Andrea got the calf on every teat). We are done calving!
Today was warmer. We called Michael and Carolyn this morning to wish them a happy anniversary. I had just finished chores and breakfast when Emily called to tell me that the crazy cow of Alfonso’s was out again and coming down the road toward our driveway. We’d left our driveway gate shut for several days after the first episode with her, but then Alfonso told us he would leave his gate shut. Apparently she got out again (he left it open again) and here she came. So I ran up the driveway and got to our gate before she did, and got it shut. She paused there, wanting to come into our place but after I yelled at her for a few minutes she went on down the road to go back to her own field.
We fed our cows a couple more big bales, and locked 122 (Panda’s 3-year-old daughter that was checked pregnant last fall but is definitely not pregnant now) in the orchard until we can sell her. Andrea took a photo of Zorra Rose and her calf when the calf was bucking around in the field.
 |
| calf bucking around |
Michael brought a mini excavator later that morning and used it to place the 4 loads of rocks along the creek bank that has been washing away below the old milk barn. He also used it to scrape the manure away from the fence/feeder in the bull pen and pile it up so we can haul it out this fall for fertilizer.
Andrea took a cute photo of Christopher going walkabout with his favorite cat; that cat loves him and goes wherever he goes. They do a lot of “cat walks” together.
 |
| Christopher walking his cat |
MAY 5 – Alfonso’s cow continued to get out on the road for several days and was threatening the cars that drove past her. We worried that hikers or bicyclists might be at risk (the Amish go up and down our road on bicycles) so we called Alfonso again and mentioned that he needs to keep that cow in. She’s one that lost her calf earlier and he’s been trying to graft a calf on her; the calf is confined at his camp on the lower fields below our place, but the cow wanders.
When he got off, he headed for the little tractor and wanted to get on it so we helped him get up there. He’d like to start it and drive it, but thankfully hasn’t quite figured that out yet.
Then he climbed back on the 4-wheeler, and Em took him for a longer ride on it.
When we were ready and the branding iron was hot, Dani and Jake pushed them out of the barn and into the runway to the calf table, I caught their heads and Charlie tipped them. Lynn clipped the brand area, while I vaccinated them, and Charlie held their tails (to help immobilize them) while Andrea branded. I took several photos of Lynn clipping calves; clipping the area to be branded makes a better brand and isn’t as painful for the calf. The iron doesn’t have to burn through all that hair and can be left on for just a short time.
Charlie was good help holding the tail straight up to immobilize the calf’s hind legs so it won’t struggle and kick, while Andrea applied the branding iron. I took a few photos of that process as well. Here’s Charlie grabbing the tail to hold it, in preparation for branding.
I took photos of Andrea putting the brisket tags in. These will be the heifers’ permanent numbers in the herd. Here are photos of Andrea punching the holes in the loose dewlap skin.
Then she put a hasp through the hole, and put the tag onto the hasp—and then bent the ends of the hasp so that the tag can never pull off it.
After putting in each brisket tag, Andrea put insecticide fly tags in each ear, while Dani held the rope tight to help keep the heifer from moving around too much. We put a tag in each ear, for maximum benefit (fly control for up to 5 months).
Hopefully this will give the heifers relief from horn flies and face flies this summer!
Andrea smashed her thumb in her car door when she was putting Christopher in the car, and it’s swollen and black under the nail. It’s going to be painful for a while.
This past week has been warmer, up to 70 degrees in the afternoons, so the grass is finally starting to grow and the leaves are coming out on the trees. We’ve been babysitting Christopher a few times when Em is working and Andrea is changing irrigation water.
On Friday we tagged and banded TW’s bull calf and tagged 126’s heifer calf. That young cow is really aggressive and protective and we had to put her in the adjacent pen to keep her from attacking us while we tagged her calf.
Lynn went to town and brought home the old red 4-wheeler (Little Red) that was at the fix-it shop. Hopefully it will run better now. Emily ordered two cords of wood from Rick Andrews and he delivered it this afternoon. We’ll get a head start on next winter’s supply!
Andrea got a trampoline for Christopher and while she was putting it together, Christopher was playing outside nearby. Before she realized what he was doing, he got the door open on the old Eagle by himself, and shut the door. He had fun “driving” it for a while, but when he tried to get out, the door had automatically locked! He got a little worried, and Andrea had to rescue him.
Saturday Andrea harrowed the horse pasture and orchard so she could start some irrigation water on those very dry pastures. Then it started to rain, and I did evening chores in pouring rain. It was the first good rain we’ve had, but it didn’t last very long.
The ditch next to the barn clogged up and flooded. Andrea spent a couple hours shoveling and cleaning the ditch channel so it won’t overflow and go into the barn.
Sunday we took hay to the cows again, and Andrea and I filled old post holes with rocks from Dottie’s pen—the holes that were left when Michael’s crew took out the old falling-down fence and built the new one.
We put my young blind cow and her calf out of the pen below the barn and up to the pasture above the house, and Andrea took a photo as I followed the calf –the cow had run on ahead, eager to go out to the pasture.
 |
| following calf |
Dani put staples in the fence below the lane, down by the creek, so no cows can reach through it. Then she went to get Kendall and Jake and they helped her clean out the barn.
Monday Alfonso was burning the tall grass off his ditch below our place and the fire got away from him in the tall sagebrush. The wind was carrying the fire and sparks quite a ways and there was risk for it to jump the county road and start burning on the BLM land in the sagebrush. By the time we noticed the huge billows of smoke and flames, he burned up our pole fence at the end of our ditch pasture. Andrea and Lynn drove down there to help him try to put it out, and they took about 20 gallon jugs of water with multiple trips on 4-wheelers to help him stop the fire.
Andrea and I moved the heifer feeder down toward the gate so we can irrigate the field where it was. We gave them a new bale after we locked them in a pen by the barn. There was still a little hay in their feeder so we put it in a couple carts and took it around to the bull’s feeder—pulling it with the 4-wheeler, like a miniature cattle truck train.
 |
| hay train |
Then we put up a hot wire to keep them in a small area so the field will grow. Yesterday Lynn went to town and got the cattle vaccine and fly tags. Jay Wiley came out to brand inspect the dry cow and yearling steer we plan to take to the sale, and I made potato salad and chili for feeding the crew when we brand the calves.
Today was cold (30 degrees this morning) and my hose froze. We were going to brand and vaccinate the calves today and vaccinate the cows but decided to wait until the weekend when we’d have more help, even though the weather might be worse.
This afternoon was warmer and Emily brought Christopher down on the 4-wheeler for an outing for him.
 |
| Christopher & Em |
 |
| Christopher driving tractor |
 |
| getting back on the 4-wheeler |
Andrea and Dani helped me clean up some of the old twines and garbage, and Dani took a load to the dump. Then Andrea and I cleaned the old straw and duff out of the sick barn—hauled 8 wagon loads out (pulled with 4-wheeler). We’ll get it all cleaned out and cover it with hay so it won’t be dusty for the calves when we put them in there on branding day. Even if it’s rainy that day we can put them in there and they won’t be too wet to brand.
Michael brought his skid steer and post pounder and set the rest of the posts to finish the fence below the old barn (when we couldn’t finish until he did the rock work to reinforce the caving-away creek bank). Then his fence crew finished the fence in just a couple hours.
Andrea and Christopher came down again later on the 4-wheeler and we babysat Christopher while she changed water.
MAY 12 – Last week we had a couple days of warm weather. Lynn helped me dump and rinse the cows’ big water tank (the water was getting dirty) and while it was filling I caught Dottie for the first time this spring and brushed her—shedding big wads of cream-colored woolly hair.
We planned to take the open cow and yearling steer to the auction yard near Butte, Montana to sell in their regular weekly sale, but it was a frustrating challenge trying to figure out how to get them there. We couldn’t borrow Michael and Carolyn’s stock trailer because it is currently serving as “home” to an orphan calf being raised on a bottle (they lost a young cow that died after getting on her back in a ditch), so we thought we’d use Jim’s horse trailer, but we couldn’t get the tail-lights to work. With no brake lights it wouldn’t be safe.
So then a friend (Russ) offered the use of his big horse trailer; he pulled it to town and left it at Bird’s Tire Center to have a tire fixed. But when Andrea went to get it the next day, she had a problem with the gooseneck hitch in the bed of her pickup; it had been several years since she’d used it, and it was rusted in down position. She and Charlie finally got it up out of the pickup bed, with some help, and brought the trailer home. But it had more problems—bent axles (from a trailer accident a few years ago when Russ’s pickup and trailer full of horses and mules went off the road and nearly into the river. The trailer was hanging down toward the river and he had to crawl into it and cut the animals loose and let them fall into the river—and one mule swam across the river. The bent axles made it travel crooked, wearing out tires, the floorboards are nearly rotted through, and the door in the back wasn’t very secure, and it had no divider to allow for holding the animals in the front part. We realized we couldn’t use it.
Meanwhile, we had stormy weather on Friday, and Andrea took Dani to the eye doctor that morning, and then hurried to Idaho Falls to get there in time for Dani’s appointment with the orthodontist to get new retainers (now that she doesn’t have to wear braces). Afterward they drove over to Firth to watch a baseball game; the young fellow that Dani is going to the Prom with next week (who lives in Challis) was playing baseball on their school team. Andrea got to meet him, and his mom.
Emily left Christopher here with us when she went to work that afternoon, and he “helped” me clean some of the piles of magazines and papers off the kitchen table; I needed to get it cleaned off so I could feed the branding crew on Saturday. Andrea and Em picked up Christopher on their way home that night.
Saturday was supposed to be a little windy and rainy but it was actually a nicer day than we expected. When I did chores that morning I got all the gates ready, moved Babe the bull out of the main corral and into the back pen, and spread a couple bales of hay in the sick barn stall that we cleaned out a few days earlier—to have a clean, dust-free place for the calves while waiting to be branded. If it did rain, they wouldn’t be wet. It’s never good to brand a wet animal; even if you clip off the hair they scald worse and the brand won’t heal as quickly.
After breakfast Charlie drove out here and picked up Jake (Dani’s friend) who is staying with his grandparents at Baker. Dani, Andrea and I got the cows and calves in from the field, then Charlie and Jake helped us sort off the cows into the main corral and put the calves in the sick barn.
We vaccinated the cows and had a very efficient crew; Dani and Jake put them down the runway to the chute, Charlie ran the headcatch on the squeeze chute and Jake ran the tailgate and squeeze. Dani gave the 8-way clostridial vaccine, I gave the lepto and viral vaccinations and Andrea put the fly tags in their ears.
Then we branded and vaccinated the calves. While we were getting everything ready, Dani spent a few minutes in the sick barn with the calves, since she loves to mingle with them.
 |
| Dani & the calves in the sick barn |
 |
| Lynn clipping a calf |
 |
| clipping the area to brand |
 |
| Charlie holding tail in preparation for branding |
Andrea branding various calves.
 |
| Andrea starting to brand a calf |
 |
| Andrea branding |
Andrea put in fly tags in all the calves’ ears, and I gave a few calves some liquid medication to combat scours; we had a few calves with mild diarrhea.
We got done by noon and put the cows and calves back up to the field.
 |
| taking the cows and calves back through the barnyard and up to the field |
Then we put the young bull down the chute and vaccinated him and applied insecticide ear tags. We had so many horn flies and face flies last year (and many cases of pinkeye because of the face flies) that we decided to use insecticide ear tags this summer.
On the upper place, Michael and Carolyn spent 2 days digging all the debris out of their ditch that comes through Yoder’s place (Binning’s old place). Yoders keep their horses and mules in a pen they built in the area the ditch comes through, and the animals tromp out the ditch and fill it with debris to the point it won’t carry any water and just floods Yoder’s place, but they haven’t helped clean it out.
On Sunday we asked Phil Moulton (a friend across the valley who sells us hay ) if we could borrow his stock trailer, so Andrea and Lynn towed Russ’s weary trailer to Vern England (who might be able to fix the bent axles for him) and went to get Phil’s trailer. Then we fed the cows and calves more hay, and I got the yearling steer in from the field below the lane. We put him in the orchard with the cow we plan to sell.
I took a wagonload of hay from the sick barn (gathering up some that we put in there for bedding for the calves) to put in the front part of Phil’s trailer where we would confine the cow and steer when we haul them—to give better traction so the floor wouldn’t be slippery.
Monday I did chores early and then Andrea and Dani came down to help us load the cow and steer in the trailer. Andrea and Lynn drove them over to Butte—a trip that took a little more than 3 hours, over a rough mountain road on this end. They got them there safely (no flat tires, no problems except for the loss of one headlights on Andrea’s pickup from the jarring on the rough road). They came home the long way over Lost Trail Pass because it was smoother (more paved roads). If we ever haul critters to Butte again we’ll go that route! The cow and steer had overnight to recuperate from their trip, since the sale wasn’t until Tuesday.
While Lynn and Andrea were gone I worked on articles and interviews most of the day. Em and Dani took Christopher to his dental checkup; Emily didn’t have to work that day so I didn’t need to help babysit.
Yesterday Andrea and Lynn took Phil’s trailer back to him and thanked him for the use of it. We were grateful to have a functional trailer to haul those animals! The sale was yesterday and we checked online this morning to see the results. Our cow weighed 1285 pounds and brought 66 cents per pound (an average price for cows that day). The steer weighed 790 pounds and brought $1.15 per pound –again sort of an average price for the ones his size that went through the sale that day. There will be a commission fee and feed bill (for the hay fed overnight) taken out of the total but this gives us an idea what our check will be when it is mailed to us. We will use that money to apply on the hay we will purchase from Phil this summer.
Today we took more big bales to the cows and calves, and then brought our replacement heifers into the corral. Dani and Andrea helped us, and we vaccinated them (Dani gave the 8-way shot) and put in their permanent brisket tags (their number in the herd from now on). We put a halter on each one, to pull her head up and forward and secure the rope to a rope from the tractor loader. Dani held the rope tight, so Andrea could get to the dewlap skin and punch a hole for the hasp that holds the brisket tag.
 |
| Dani tightening the rope |
 |
| Dani holding rope tight |
 |
| Andrea punching the hole |
 |
| putting the tag on the hasp |
 |
| bending the ends to keep the tag from coming off the hasp |
Here’s a photo of one of the finished tags.
 |
| tag in place |
 |
| applying insecticide ear tag |
 |
| putting in fly tags while Dani holds the rope tight |
No comments:
Post a Comment