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| Christmas wreath |
On Sunday and Monday Andrea put in some step-in posts and put up a hot wire along the deep ditch at the top of the field by her house, and across her driveway so the cows can’t get into her yard when we put them in that field. She went to town Monday afternoon to pick up Christopher (who was in town with his mom) so Emily could go to work; she got called to come to work on her day off because a staff member at the care center came down with COVID and they needed someone to fill in.
Yesterday Emily worked again and Andrea had to go to town to do some last minute things before Christmas, and left Christopher with us.
Today was warmer and this morning Andrea and I moved the cows from heifer hill to the field by her house. They were scattered out grazing when we went up there, but came when I called, and followed me across the creek, but my little blind cow didn’t see which way the herd went. She headed down along the brush on the wrong side of the creek so I had to go back to the field and call her, and she came.
There is a lot of grass in the new pasture (we didn’t graze it after we cut the hay on that field and it has about 6 to 8 inches of regrowth) and grass on the hillside above it, so this forage should last several weeks unless we get deep snow.
DECEMBER 30 – Last Thursday, just before Christmas, one of my editor asked me to do two articles that she needed by the next day (Christmas Eve). Apparently the writers who had originally been given those assignments were unable to do them, so I was given the job at the last minute. At least both people I was asked to interview were very helpful and did the phone interviews on short notice, and I spent the day typing those up, sending rough drafts to them to check over, and it all worked out on time—in spite of having a lot of other things to do that day.
We got the tractor started and gave the heifers a new bale in their feeder, and then I helped Andrea and Lynn load an old antique stove (that Stan bought last summer) into her pickup. She hopes to go visit him sometime after Christmas, in California, and take the stove for him. Jim split more wood, and Andrea took Christopher to town so Emily could take him to see the Parade of Lights that evening. I tried to finish some of the T-shirts for gifts, and wrapped gifts for kids and grandkids.
Granddaughter Heather in Canada sent us some photos of the two little boys helping Gregory get a little Christmas tree…
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| James & Joseph helping their dad get a little Christmas tree |
..and photos of the boys with the tree after they helped decorate it, and sitting with their dad next to their tree.
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| Joseph & James & their tree |
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| the boys & their dad and the tree |
We had 2 inches of snow the day before Christmas, and it looked like all the deer in the neighborhood spent the night in our haystacks. Up until then they’d been leaving our good hay alone because there was still a little green grass in some of our fields. With the snow, however, the deer decided it was easier to just eat our hay.
Andrea helped me put deer netting around the heifer hay (the stacks next to Shiloh’s pen), and we made a “cage” around the big haystack in the stackyard across the creek, to try to keep the deer out. Those projects took all morning. At least our cows are still grazing in the field by Andrea’s house and on the hillside; the snow isn’t deep enough to completely cover that grass. I took photos of the “cage” we made around the heifer hay next to the horses.
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| deer netting around haystack |
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| deer netting around haystacks |
Michael came by and we exchanged gifts—for his family and ours. At chore time that evening I took a wagon load of hay around to the bull pen—grass hay from my stack to mix with the grass/alfalfa big round bale I’ve been feeding him. Charlie stopped by on his way to Andrea’s house, and helped bring in more sacks of wood pellets from the shop across the driveway, since we were about to run out of pellets here in the house.
We had horrible wind during the night, and it blew down one part of our “deer cage” around the heifer hay stack, so I had to repair that when I did morning chores on Christmas day. Then I made a big fruit salad and Lynn and I went to Andrea’s house. Sam was home from college for a few days, so she and her boyfriend came, along with Charlie and Emily’s boyfriend AJ, so all of Andrea’s kids were here for Christmas. I took photos of Christopher riding his little tractor and visiting with the guys while Andrea and crew got dinner ready.
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| Christopher driving his toy tractor |
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| some of the boys visiting |
We had fun watching Christopher open his presents, and Andrea cooked a wonderful dinner and we all ate too much. I took photos of Christopher trying out some of his new toys..
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| Christopher tries out his rocket launcher |
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| a fancy farm set with barn & critters |
…and a nice blanket that Jim’s sister made for him that utilized some photos of Christopher and his grandpa Jim.
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| blanket with photos on it |
As Lynn and I headed home to do evening chores, I took a photo of the cows grazing in the field by Andrea’s house, and a view of our stackyard and barnyard from her driveway.
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| cows grazing in field by Andrea's house |
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| view of the barnyard from Andrea's driveway |
The next day we had more snow, and it was windy and cold all day. Our cows were still grazing, in spite of the snow. We took a few blocks of protein out to them, to encourage them to keep grazing. There’s still a lot of grass and we don’t want to start feeding hay just yet. The longer they can graze, the more likely our hay will last through winter. Hay got much too expensive this year during the drought to buy any extra.
The storm and bad roads made driving treacherous, but Sam and her boyfriend made it back safely to Twin Falls. Some of the roads were closed and they had to take some alternate routes, which took longer.
I took a few photos around the barnyard that day, with the new snow—a photo of Lynn when he was getting an armload of wood to bring into the house, and of one of our old cats sitting on an old tire by the barn, enjoying the warmth of the sun.
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| Lynn getting an armload of firewood |
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| cat enjoying the sunshine |
I also took photos of our calving barn and my hay shed, and the heifers lounging around their hay feeder in the field below the lane.
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| calving barn |
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| hay shed |
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| heifers at their hay feeder |
The horses were lounging enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and I took photos of several of them.
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| Sprout |
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| Shiloh |
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| Dottie |
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| Willow |
Then weather turned cold; we’re having to break ice on the creek where the cows drink, and break ice on the water channel that goes through the bull pen. Monday morning when Andrea was breaking ice at the creek she noticed blood and hair and found where coyotes had chased a deer through the field during the night, across the creek and over the fence into the next field, where they killed and ate most of it.
That night it got down to 8 degrees and the next day stayed very cold. Andrea took our pickup up to Scott Kesl’s ranch and got 6 more protein blocks. We don’t know how long the cows can keep grazing, but unless the snow gets deeper there’s probably at least 3 more weeks’ worth of grass—and protein blocks are cheaper than hay.
Alfonzo went to Mexico a couple weeks ago and one of his friends is taking care of his cows while he’s gone, but those cows are running out of grass and very hungry. Some have been getting out on the road and going down toward Baker, grazing along the road. We also noticed that the creek ice has gotten really bad on that lower place, and those cows are having a hard time finding any water to drink. We talked to the guy who is trying to take care of them, and he said he would come break ice, but that Alfonso told him to not start feeding hay until another week. In this cold weather, with snow covering what tiny bit of grass they might have left, those cows need to be fed.
Yesterday was cold again and Andrea broke ice for our cows. We’re glad they are still able to graze, and they seem content and full—having enough protein to balance the dry grass. Today we had a little more new snow. We had to give the heifers another big bale, and Em was at work, so Andrea brought Christopher down (all bundled up in his winter clothes) and he rode with Lynn in the tractor while we got the big bale for the heifers, and then went around to the stackyard and started that stack. In case we have to start feeding the cows at short notice, Lynn (with co-pilot Christopher) took down 3 big bales after Andrea and I got the black plastic off this end of the stack, so we have those bales easy to access. Christopher loves riding in the tractor, helping Lynn. Andrea took photos of him in the tractor helping Lynn drive, and making faces at us out the window.
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| Christopher helping Lynn move bales |
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| Christopher helping drive tractor |
JANUARY 5 – On New Year’s Day winter hit for real. It was 10 below zero that morning, and the high for the day was 13 degrees. The cows were still happily grazing on the hill and in the field, but the creek ice was thick and Andrea spent quite a bit of time opening up their water holes. She also helped me open up the channel for Babe in the bull pen. Nick stopped by that evening to say Hi and to thank us for the Christmas gifts. He and Michael and their fencing crew have been really busy trying to get all their contracted jobs done, and the weather has made it challenging.
Sunday was a little warmer, but not much. Even though we had the tractor plugged in all night, it didn’t want to start that afternoon when Charlie came out to help us put the chains on it. We had to use the battery charger, and then it did start. I took a photo of Charlie and Andrea helping Lynn put chains on the tractor.
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| Andrea and Charlie helping Lynn put chains on tractor tires |
AJ and Emily came down, and brought Christopher in a sled—and I entertained the kid while Charlie helped Lynn put chains on the tractor and Emily helped stack some wood that Jim was splitting. Christopher was trying to help, except that he was getting pieces of wood from the stacked pile and bringing them to Jim to be split!
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| Christopher getting a piece of wood from the pile |
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| bringing the wood back to Jim at the wood splitter |
Andrea and AJ were stacking some of the wood as Jim split it.
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| stacking wood |
To try to keep Christopher out of the way, Emily pulled him around a little in the sled, and Jim’s dog Ezra joined in the fun.
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| Em pulling sled |
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| Ezra helping with sled project |
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| sledding |
Then I pulled Christopher around to the stackyard in the sled, where Andrea and I put a covering over the 3 bales we took out of the stack. She also dragged a long elk panel over there with her 4-wheeler, to put up across the area where the deer have been going behind to stack to eat on it.
Then Emily had to go to work and Andrea took Christopher home. Charlie filled our wood-box, brought more sacks of wood pellets into the house, and helped Jim split more wood.
Monday was cold but actually got up to 31 degrees that afternoon. The ice buildup was pretty thick on the bull’s waterway after all the cold nights, so Andrea helped me chop a channel so it could run through faster and not freeze up so quickly. Then she took two more protein blocks to the cows.
Lynn went to town for mail and groceries, and got a ton of wood pellet sacks. That should be enough to last through the rest of the winter for our pellet stove.
That night we had another storm with a lot of wind and more snow. Yesterday Andrea did some town errands and Emily took Christopher to the doctor for a wellness check before he goes to Idaho Falls later this month for dental surgery.
Jim helped me remodel the bull’s feed manger; the big pole where the bull reaches through to eat was a little too high. This bull doesn’t pull out hay and waste it like the earlier bulls did; they always had a big buildup of hay that they stood on. When we cleaned the manure and hay away from the feeder last winter (after we sold those 2 bulls) the new young bull wasn’t quite tall enough to reach into the manger very comfortably, and the feed manger was still a bit too high for him. Since it’s time to put the bull calf in there, the manger needs to be more accessible for short critters. So Jim used his drill gun and backed out the big screws holding that pole, and we dropped it down a few inches and refastened it to the posts. This made the gap a bit too big, which might tempt a critter to climb through the manger, so we put some poles on the top to reduce that space.
Today we had 10 inches of new snow so it’s now about 14 inches deep in the places that haven’t been previously disturbed. It’s been snowing hard most of the day. This morning Andrea and I brought the young bull around to put in the bull pen. We kept one bull calf and he’s been living with the heifers, but they are approaching 9 months of age and we don’t want to take a chance on any of them getting bred by him. None of them have reached full puberty yet, but some have been showing signs of hormonal changes, so it was time to move him out.
We took him and 5 buddies around to the corral (much easier to move cattle as a herd than try to take one animal by itself, since they panic when they don’t have some buddies). We sorted him off to the bull pen with Babe, and took the heifers back to their field to put back with their group.
Then Lynn started the tractor and brought it around to take a new bale to the heifers. Andrea noticed that the chains we put on the tractor a few days ago were not tight, and about to come off. So she used baling twine to tighten them up before Lynn took the bale out to the heifers.
Then I shoveled a foot of snow off the feed truck while Andrea did more adjustments on the tractor chains and Lynn adjusted the blade so he could plow our driveways after we loaded a big hay bale for the cows. Andrea and I fed the cows while Lynn plowed our driveways. It was challenging to get the feed truck up through the field with that much snow, but with a 1600-pound bale of hay on the back we had plenty of traction. The cows were grateful for the hay. With the deep snow, their grazing days are over for this winter.
Plowing the upper driveway to Andrea’s house, Lynn crossed the bridge over the creek, and something broke as he crossed it. The tractor didn’t fall through the bridge, so possibly it was one of the supports underneath that gave way. We’ll have to check it out sometime in better weather to see what needs to be fixed.
JANUARY 13 – Last Thursday we had more snow, so it’s getting deep. Andrea and Dani came down to help feed the cows the rest of the big bale that was on the truck, then we loaded up about 30 little bales from the stackyard and brought them around to make a small stack by the calving pen. This will make it handy to grab an extra bale or two on the way by to feed cows if we need a little more for them. On cold days we’ll feed a bit extra besides the big bale.
It was the first time this winter we’d gotten into the stack of small bales, and we had to get more than a foot of snow off the tarp. Then Andrea and Dani helped Lynn unload the 50 sacks of wood pellets off our pickup and stack them in the shop across the driveway from the house.
After lunch Lynn plowed our driveways again; they had almost as much snow as the day before when he plowed them the first time. He also drove the tractor around the field above the house to make a few trails through the deep snow so it would be easier to drive up there with the feed truck and not get stuck.
That evening Emily, Dani and Christopher went snowmobiling on heifer hill, until they ran out of gas, and Andrea had to take some gas over there on her 4-wheeler. She took photos of Dani on the snowmobile, and Christopher playing in the snow.
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| Dani & snowmobile |
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| sledding |
The next day was warmer; it actually got above freezing in the afternoon and the snow settled a little. It started to come off our tin roof on the house, but was still cold enough to hold together and made a big carpet/curl of snow that hung there many days. I took photos of the oozing, folding snow hanging off the roof.
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| snow coming off roof and folding over |
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| snow folded up as it oozes off the roof |
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| slow hanging together as it comes off roof |
That morning we planned to split the herd and put the young cows in the field above the house where we can feed them separate from the old cows and give them the best hay and more of it, since they are still growing as well as pregnant. The bossier older cows eat more than their share if they are all in one group.
Andrea came down on the 4-wheeler before we fed the cows and the young ones followed her down—which made it easy to put them in the corral. We only had to sort off two of their older buddies that will be staying in the “old cow” group. Then Dani came down to help us and we took the young cows around through the barnyard and up to the field above the house, and fed them up there. Then we fed the other cows that were left in the field by Andrea’s house.
Lynn came with us and rode in the feed truck. I took photos after Andrea got the cows fed and as they came to the hay to enjoy their breakfast.
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| feeding the cows |
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| cows in field by Andrea's house |
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| cows coming to breakfast |
…and a photo of Andrea getting back in the truck to drive back to the barnyard.
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| Andrea getting back in |
Saturday was colder again, and windy, with a little more new snow. Andrea helped me feed all the cows, and take some salt and mineral mix to the young cows. Jim finished splitting the pile of wood here, and took the wood splitter up to Andrea’s house to split the wood that Stan cut and hauled last summer from up the creek. I took photos as he finished splitting the wood at our house, and of his dog waiting in his side-by-side, and one of our cats sitting on Andrea’s 4-wheeler.
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| Jim & wood splitter |
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| Ezra patiently waiting |
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| cat on 4-wheeler |
Jim and Andrea resurrected the old tent by her house that has been used for several years as a woodshed. The deep snow collapsed it and broke the support pole, and they put in a new post to hold it up.
Sunday morning was 2 below zero and it finally got up to 18 degrees that afternoon. Andrea helped me break the ice out of all the horse tubs that morning, and then we fed the cows and brought more little bales around for our “emergency” hay stack by the calving pen—so we can always grab an extra bale or two to feed in the colder weather. Andrea took a photo of Babe and Bimbo sleeping in their shelter corner.
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| bulls sleeping in their shelter corner |
We had to use the battery charger to get the tractor started (even though it had been plugged in for nearly 24 hours), so we could load another big bale on the truck and get three more big bales out of the haystack for later. Charlie came out to help Dani replace one of the hoses in her pickup so that it will run properly again.
Monday morning was also below zero, and we took some extra bales—some of the coarser slough-grass hay—to put in the bushes where the cows bed, to give them a warmer place to sleep at night. I took photos as Andrea was untying the big bale so she could start feeding it to the young cows after feeding them a couple small grass bales, and the cows coming to the feed truck to check out the hay still on the truck.
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| Andrea untying bale to feed |
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| young cows coming to check out the better hay on the feed truck |
I took more photos of her tying up the rest of the bale after feeding the cows—so it wouldn’t fall apart until we could feed again the next day, and photos while we spread a couple little grass bales in the bushes for bedding.
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| Andrea tying up the remainder of the bale to take to the older cows |
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| putting bale in bushes |
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| spreading hay in bushes for bedding |
Then we fed the older cows and I took photos as they came to the truck, ate hay off the truck, and a photo of Zorra Rose itching her neck on the truck. The cows all have lice by now and it will be good to delouse them when we get a chance to put them in the corral and give their pre-calving vaccinations. We’re hoping for some warmer weather to do that, so our syringes and needles won’t freeze up!
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| cows eating hay off truck |
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| cows coming to truck |
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| Zorra Rose itching her neck on feed truck |
As we finished feeding I took photos of the cows eating their hay, as we drove back down to the barnyard.
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| cows eating hay |
After we fed the cows we put another bale of coarse hay in the shelter corner of the bull pen to give those boys some bedding. The little guy is now sleeping in there next to his big buddy and I am sure they are both staying warmer!
Tuesday was still cold; it never got above 14 degrees, so we had to use the battery charger again to get the tractor started that afternoon. Meanwhile, Andrea and Dani helped me feed cows. I took photos as they fed the rest of the hay off the truck for the older cows.
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| Andrea and Dani feeding cows |
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| Feeding the rest of the hay off the truck |
Then they hiked down to the creek to break ice on the water holes.
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| Andrea and Dani hiking down to the creek to break ice |
With the truck empty, we drove into the stackyard and loaded more little bales from the haystack. Dani helped get the tarp off the end of the stack, and roll the bales down so Andrea could load them on the feed truck.
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| loading little bales on the truck |
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| Dani getting the tarp out of the way |
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| loading hay |
Dani and also goofed around under the hay tarp while Andrea was stacking hay.
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| Dani under tarp |
When we got the truck loaded, we pulled the tarp back over the end of the stack and tied it down so the wind won’t take it off.
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| tying the tarp |
Then we took some of the hay around to the field below the lane for the young heifers. They have been sleeping in the snow and don’t have a good place to bed, so we scattered several bales next to the calf houses that can serve as a windbreak. This made a good place for them to sleep, and the heifers had fun rooting the hay around while we spread it, and were curious about Dani.
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| spreading hay for bedding |
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| Dani spreading hay |
Afterward Dani sat in the hay and the curious heifers came up to sniff her and check her out.
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| heifers curious about Dani |
It was so cold and humid that day that we got pretty cold, so Dani warmed her feet by the stove (and had a bowl of hot turkey soup that I made from Andrea’s Christmas dinner turkey leftovers) while Andrea and I moved the heifer’s feeder so we could put it in a clean place before we gave them a new big bale of alfalfa hay.
That afternoon at chore time Andrea took a block of salt up to the cows in the field by her house and put some sand on the slippery icy bank at the water hole where she chops away shore ice every day so the cows can get down there to drink. One old cow is reluctant to brave the ice, however. Old #38 (Lillianny, alias Alligator Eyes) has been timid about walking out on ice ever since she was a young cow, and doesn’t like to use the regular water hole. Maybe she slipped and fell or got knocked down by bossier cows when she was young, but when there’s an icy bank, she won’t drink.
Andrea tries to keep several water holes open and give #38 some options, but right now the ice is so bad on all of them that this old cow probably hadn’t drunk water for several days. She was standing there hopeful at the water hole when Andrea went up there that evening, so Andrea dipped water from the creek into a tub and let her drink out of that. The creek is shallow and she could only get a few inches of water each dip, but after about 6 dip trips to the creek, the cow got her fill and went back to finish eating hay. The good thing about that old cow is that she is smart, and trusting, and came to drink from the tub that Andrea presented to her.
Yesterday Dani helped us feed cows and break ice on the creek, and Andrea had to water old # 38 in the tub again. We’re hoping to get the water hole open enough eventually and the shore ice less slippery so she won’t be afraid to try to drink from the creek. We’ll probably have to do a lot of chopping, and put more dirt on the icy shore.
When we were putting a few little bales on the feed truck (to feed along with the big bale, to give the cows more hay during the cold weather) the 9 quail that have been living in our barnyard were sitting on the fence by the lane and I took photos of them.
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| quail sunning themselves to get warm |
Dani and a friend helped feed, and the big bale was coming apart when Andrea cut the strings so the two girls leaned against it to hold the hay on the truck until Andrea could get it tied up. Then we fed the cows and the girls helped keep the hay from falling off in one big pile.
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| Dani & friend leaning against the hay bale |
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| young cows eating |
When we finished with that group, the girls leaned against the hay again while Andrea secured it with strings so it would stay on while we drove over to feed the older cows in the next field.
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| girls leaning against hay |
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| girls leaning against hay while Andrea secured it |
I took a few photos of the older cows after we fed them—while Andrea and the girls hiked down to the creek to break the ice on the water holes.
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| cows wading through snow to eat hay |
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| older cows eating |
Dani and her friend had fun last evening snowmobiling in our lower field, but Dani hurt her ribs trying to start the darn thing, and they were hurting so much this morning that Andrea took her to the doctor to be checked, so see if she tore something loose. There’s nothing broken, so it may just take a little time to heal.
Andrea was going through some of the old photos on her phone this afternoon and came across a photo that Stan took a couple years ago out on the range—of Andrea and Willow. Andrea sent it to me and I thought it was a really nice photo and decided to post it here—a way to think about summertime in the midst of all this cold weather and snow!
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| old picture |
Contrast that with the photos I took this afternoon looking out our window toward the back yard—of the ball of snow still sitting on the roof, and icicles hanging above the window.
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| snow still hanging on the roof |
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| icicles above the window |
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