Diary from Sky Range Ranch - May 13 thru June 23, 2021

MAY 20 – Last week our phones and internet quit working for a couple days and I was unable to do phone interviews or send articles to my editors, but fortunately was able to make my deadline on articles after things started working again, and able to reschedule the interviews for later dates for later articles. We take modern technology for granted, but it doesn’t always work! At least it doesn’t affect our ranch work; we can still take care of the cattle and change the irrigation water in our ditches.

Sam came out to Andrea’s house briefly for a visit and Andrea took a photo of her and Christopher.

Sam & Christopher

On Friday Andrea went to the eye doctor and Lynn went to Carmen Creek to locate a site for a well, for some folks who bought property in one of the subdivisions up that creek. That afternoon Andrea and Dani went back to town for Andrea’s dental appointment and left Christopher with us, since Emily was at work. The dental specialist who was supposed to do the root canal on her bad tooth wouldn’t do it, however. She’s been on antibiotics for a month waiting for this and now has to wait longer and has to go to another dentist.

Saturday Emily and Andrea drove to Leadore (and took Christopher along) to get a couch set that someone was selling, to replace the worn-out one in Andrea’s living room. This one folds out and makes a nice bed. Lynn located another well that morning on a property close to town, then after lunch went to another place the other side of town to locate another one. People are moving here from all over, and buying up property to build homes on, and need wells.

Saturday evening was the high school prom, and Andrea took a photo of Sam and her date, and a photo of Dani’s prom dress.

Dani's prom dress

Sam's prom

That evening Dani and some of her friends had their own “prom” at Andrea’s house. They didn’t want to attend the one at the high school, and had more fun doing their private prom and playing card games late into the night. Andrea took photos of their informal prom.

private prom

Sunday morning after we took two more big bales out to the cows Andrea held Dottie for me while I trimmed her feet. I need to start riding her soon, but her feet were too long, from her winter vacation.

I cleaned out the hay bedding that we put in the shed for the calves for branding day, and since it was still good hay, I hauled it in several wagonloads to feed to Rishiam. The barn will be easier to get ready for branding next year, with no old dusty bedding—we’ll simply need to put in new fresh bedding.

Andrea and Emily took Christopher with then to town, and Andrea took a photo of him playing on the lawn at the little park by the river.

Christopher playing

On Monday Andrea went to a different dentist who took x-rays of her abscessed tooth and put her on another antibiotic—and will do a root canal on Friday. These past few days I’ve been cleaning house and sorting through a lot of piles—old papers and magazines that have accumulated over many years, and some that I probably won’t need for future research because I probably won’t be writing any more books on public land issues, wolf issues, wild horse issues, etc. I realize that at age 77 my time and energy are running out. As my dad used to say, in his old age, I am in “the final quarter of the game” and there are only a certain number of plays left in the game. I can downsize and get rid of some of the stuff that would have been helpful for future projects that I no longer have time or energy to do. I’ll stick to writing articles for horse and livestock publications, doing interviews for some of those, instead of writing books that take lengthy research.

After cleaning out piles and piles of stuff I’ll never need, I have more space in my “office” part of the house and we can see more of the floor again! Andrea and Dani took about 20 bags of stuff to the dump on their way to town on Tuesday (for Andrea’s pain doctor appointment) and that many bags again yesterday. Christopher stayed with us part of the day on Tuesday and enjoyed swinging in his doorway swing and watching movies on TV while I sorted piles and cleaned house. Andrea took him home on her 4-wheeler after she finished irrigating that evening.

Granddaughter Heather in Canada sent photos of young Joseph and little brother James out playing. I hope we get to meet those little boys in person some day!

James in the wagon

Joseph & little brother

Yesterday was cool and cloudy; our weather was changing from hot to stormy. Andrea changed irrigation water and helped us take 2 more big bales to the cows. They are eager to go to green grass but it’s been so cold and dry this spring that the pastures are not very far along; they’ll have to be on hay a few more days. We desperately need some rain and better growing weather. After we took the bales to the cows, Lynn used the tractor to bring 3 old pole panels from the discard pile in the post pile pasture (where Michael and crew stacked up old stuff from the fences they took out so they could build new fences).

bringing old panels with tractor

Lynn took those old panels to the end of our driveway where we hope to set them up in the fence line as a temporary “patch” in the area where Alfonso burned the old fence—when the fire got away from him the day he burned his ditch banks below our place. He said he would rebuild the burned up fence for us, but he hasn’t yet, and we’ll need to graze our side very soon with our heifers. So the old panels will make a quick fix.

That afternoon Dani helped me clean our back room and sinks and stove, and helped Lynn put up some pictures on our wall (she’s more agile on the stepladder than we are). These are photos that Lynn’s sister Ann had enlarged—old pictures of their dad in his younger years, working with the sheep, and horses. While she was up on the stepladder she also swept a bunch of cobwebs and dust off the ceiling fan and afterward had so much dirt and dust on her face that I took a photo of her.

Dani covered in dust

Today was cold, with rain and snow! It didn’t get above 42 degrees, and we built a fire in our wood stove. Lynn drove to 4th of July Creek to check on another well site. Then we tended Christopher this afternoon while Andrea changed irrigation water—and nearly froze her hands in the cold. Dani came this evening and washed some of our windows (the inside parts) that hadn’t been washed for several years. It rained again this evening, turning to snow.

MAY 29 – My cousin Ned Moser and his wife Pam arrived here last Friday (on Andrea’s birthday) to stay a few days. It was still raining/snowing and they had snowy roads over the mountain, coming from Missoula Montana. They had flown to Montana from Texas, spent a few days at Kalispell and drove through Glacier Park, then came here to visit, staying a few nights at Andrea’s house (she cleaned out Charlies old room for them). We were looking forward to a visit with them; we hadn’t seen them since they were here for Emily’s wedding 4 years ago.

Andrea was pretty miserable the first evening they were here; she had her root canal done that morning—and the tooth abscess was still draining. Emily took Christopher to town with her when she went to work, and he stayed with friends until Dani picked him up and brought him home. 

Ned and Pam got here mid-afternoon and visited with us until chore time, then drove on up to Andrea’s house. We all went up there for Andrea’s birthday dinner; Sam and Charlie joined us, and visited before dinner. Here are photos of Sam greeting Pam and Ned, and Charlie visiting with Ned.

Sam greeting Pam & Ned

Ned & Charlie

It was a nice get-together except for Andrea’s very sore jaw. Sam helped her finish the meal preparations and did a great job. We all sat visiting for a while until dinner was ready, and Christopher showed Pam some of his favorite toys.

visiting while Sam helps fix dinner

Christopher showing Pam some favorite toys

I took more photos during dinner, of Sam and Charlie, and after Andrea opened her gifts a photo of Sam looking at an old recipe book I gave Andrea—and a photo of Andrea and Christopher.

Sam & Charlie

Sam checking out old recipe book

Andrea & Christopher

While Pam was helping clean up dishes after dinner, Christopher got one of the leftover pieces of corn on the cob and used it as a make-believe microphone; he stuck one of his toy balls on top of it and was talking into it, and I thought that was very innovative for a 2-year-old kid.

corn cob & ball become a microphone

Christopher's makeshift microphone

We all stayed late visiting, and it was still snowing when Lynn and I drove home to our house. 

The next morning was very cold and still snowing. The cows were out of hay in their feeders and it was too muddy to get around in the stack yard with the tractor or to take bales up to the field without getting stuck, so we decided to put the cows out on pasture. Lynn and I took a couple little bales from my hay shed to put into the calf houses in the lower swamp pasture, for bedding for the calves (they needed to be able to get out of the cold, wet weather), then Andrea helped us move the herd from the field above the house, up through the barnyard to the lower swamp pasture. The cows were happy for green grass. Ned and Pam took care of Christopher while we did this.

That afternoon the rain stopped for a while, and Lynn’s younger sister Ann and her husband Tom came by for a short visit; they came over from Washington the day before, to bring Jenelle (Lynn’s other sister) an old cream separator. It was fun to see them, and they enjoyed meeting and visiting with Ned and Pam. Ann and Pam compared notes about quilting (which they are both good at) and Ned and Tom helped Lynn and Charlie load an old car (from our barnyard) onto a car carrier. Charlie wanted the old car for parts, so we gave it to him, and he hauled it out to his dad’s place to work on.

Andrea and Dani took Christopher to the high school rodeo (where Dani’s friend Kendall was competing in barrel racing) and I cooked dinner for Ned and Pam and we had a nice visit with them until late that evening. Andrea sent me a photo she took of Christopher sitting on one of the horses.

Christopher at highschool rodeo

On Sunday it rained almost all day. I checked on the cows and calves when I did morning chores, and almost all the calves were snug in their calf houses, out of the rain. Lynn and I put the heifers into the driveway to eat green grass, finally off hay. After a few hours grazing there, we put them on the ditch pasture above the orchard. Andrea helped me take several wagon loads of hay from their feeder (pulled two wagons hooked together, with her 4-wheeler) and took it around by the bull pen and put a tarp over the pile) to mix with grass hay for the young bull. It was hard to pull the wagons through the deep mud around the feeder but once we got out of that field it was easier.

Now that the cows and calves are out of the little field above the house, Andrea started irrigating it. Until this rain, that poor field was very dry, but we didn’t want to water it with the cows and calves in there or the cows wouldn’t have any dry place to bed. The young calves are also more vulnerable to disease and scours when everything is wet (old “bugs” in the ground come to life!) so we try to have them in a dry place until they are a little older.

With the heifers gone from the field below the lane, we took out the temporary electric fence that held them in the upper end (so the rest of the field could grow, without constant grazing) and started putting the step-in posts on down the field to divide the swamp part (which we will graze with cows) from the hayfield part.

That evening we all had dinner at Andrea’s house, and Sam and Charlie came out again. Emily didn’t have to work that day so she was able to join us, too. Here are photos taken that evening, including photos of Pam & Ned and Andrea’s kids.

Pam & Ned with Charlie & Sam

more mug shots

Christopher joins the line-up

Monday was cool and cloudy but not as much rain. Ned and Pam visited with us for a while before they headed back over the mountain to Missoula, in preparation for flying home to Texas the next day. One more photo was taken, when Dani had a chance to tell them good-bye.

Dani saying goodbye to Pam & Ned

That afternoon Andrea started putting up hot wire for the temporary fence along the creek in the upper swamp pasture. We want to be able to graze it soon and not risk the calves drowning in the creek during high water. The creek isn’t very high yet but soon will be, as the snow on the mountains is now starting to melt.

The next day we had more rain, and it rained hard that afternoon. Altogether in several days of “winter” weather we received about 2 inches of rain, total, which was enough to really help our dry conditions and get the grass growing on the hillsides.

Wednesday was cool but our rain was over. It was the first day in about a week that we didn’t start a fire in our old wood stove.

Andrea went back to the dentist and he prescribed another antibiotic, trying to finish clearing up the abscess before he puts a crown on that tooth. He also looked at Christopher’s broken front teeth; that kid has taken several tumbles and damaged his teeth and they need to be fixed.

That afternoon Andrea helped me take wire panels up to the end of our driveway and tie them in the burned-up fence line, and one of the old pole panels, since Alfonso still hasn’t fixed the fence he burned. We let the heifers into that ditch pasture after we got the fence fixed so they can’t get out.

On Thursday the culvert at the top of our driveway was plugged—where the ditch goes under the driveway—due to debris that washed into the ditch, and the water was running down the driveway and about to flood the barn/shop across from the house. Lynn and Andrea used a long pole to poke into the culvert and jar the blockage loose.

Then we put netting over the new jack-fence along the creek side of the field below the lane—so calves can’t crawl through the poles—and finished the electric fence dividing off the top part of that pasture so we could put the cows and calves in there; they’d run out of grass in their first pasture. Andrea dragged the feeders out of the field above the house (where the cows and calves spent this spring, being fed hay) so we can get that whole field irrigated and growing grass for later.

Yesterday Andrea went to her pain doctor again and had injections in her neck between some of the vertebrae and we’re hoping it will help relieve some of the pain she’s had for several years. 

Emily took Christopher to town with her and spent some time at AJ’s place, and Christopher had fun on the riding lawnmower with AJ’s stepdad.

Christopher with Aj's stepdad

Today we put up the next hot wire and moved the cows into their next segment of the pasture below the lane. Then we moved the heifers from the lower ditch pasture to the pens around the barn; the grass has grown up nicely in those pens and will probably last for a couple of days’ grazing for the heifers. I patched some of the old fence in the little swamp pen below the bull corral, so we can move the heifers in there next.

Michael brought his flatbed trailer this afternoon and loaded three of our round bales (some that were left over from winter, that we didn’t need) to take up to his cattle. Most of his cows are out on grass now, too, but he needs just a little more hay. Since we had the tractor running to load those bales, Lynn used it afterward to take our feeders around to the corrals and put them in an out-of-the way corner of the lane for summer.

JUNE 9 – The Sunday before Memorial Day Lynn, Andrea and Christopher went out to the cemetery with Jenelle (Lynn’s youngest sister) to put flowers on family graves. Andrea also looked up the headstones of several old family friends, including Jerry and Velma Ravndal (ranchers who raised Arabian horses for many years and were my 4-H leaders in the 1950’s and 1960’s), and Dennis Morgan (a relative of the folks we bought part of the ranch from, and also a good friend and pilot—who died young). Christopher enjoyed checking everything out, and carefully smelling the flowers at Lynn’s parent’s gravesite.

Christopher smelling the flowers

headstone - Don and Betty Smith

Andrea at Dennis Morgan's headstone

That evening we put the bull back into the main corral so we could move the heifers into the grassy pen below the bull pen and they wouldn’t be nose-to-nose. We don’t want the bull trying to go through the fence; it’s not quite time to put him out with the cows and heifers yet.

That night Michael and Carolyn’s mare foaled. She had a little filly. Everything seemed to be going well for the first day but then they noticed swelling under her belly at the navel area that was getting bigger. They had a vet come out and examine the foal but he wasn’t sure if it was an infection or a hernia, so they loaded up the mare and foal and hauled them to a horse vet in Challis (70 miles away) who told them it was fluid leaking from the bladder (that cord didn’t seal off). The vet drained the fluid but kept the mare and foal at the clinic for a week, to make sure it would heal up, without infection.

On Memorial Day Andrea helped me create a corridor in our swamp pasture after we moved the cows down to the 3rd segment of the pasture, so they could still come back up to the ditch to drink, but not go out into the segments they’ve already grazed—so those segments can begin to grow back again. Emily took Christopher out to AJ’s place again, where he had fun on the riding lawnmower again with AJ’s stepdad.

mowing the lawn

I had an interesting message from a lady in Wisconsin named Sara who read my blog and was fascinated by our creek because her great-great-grandfather spent time at the old Harmony Mine in the 1920’s. She wanted to learn more about the mine, and the history of our creek because she’d heard about it as a little girl, from her grandmother. We had a couple of phone conversations and she told me her great-great-grandfather’s name was Julius, and he was the president of the bank in Grand Mound, Iowa. His family was well-to-do and he was very involved with the town (he was on the fire department and school board and was respected and well-liked). But then he started investing people’s money without their knowledge. 

In the mid-1920s his bank failed, and several people in town went bankrupt because he had invested all their money in the Harmony Mine. Julius had a childhood connection to a man named Niemann who told him he could double everyone’s money if they put it all into the mine. He did, and lost everything. Then he panicked and hopped on a train to try to go to Idaho and try to turn the mine around himself. Eventually his wife Hattie joined him and their son Rhodie (Sara’s grandma’s uncle) joined him too, and Hattie worked at the mine, possibly as a cook. Meanwhile back in Iowa, the police were sorting through what happened and searching for Julius to arrest him. 

He got on a train to go home, was met by authorities along the way and arrested, and taken into custody. He spent a couple of years in prison. Oddly, a distant relative who was a young girl in Grand Mound at the time said she remembers how everyone dressed in their Sunday best and met the train he took back to town upon his release from prison. She said they all excitedly welcomed him home, so maybe they were able to forgive him. He didn’t stay there, however; he and his wife moved to Chicago. I found that interesting when Sara told me this, because during that time the controlling interest in the Harmony Mine was owned by Al Capone (famous Chicago gangster). Anyway, I was able to tell Sara more about our creek, and send her some photos.

We had an e-mail from granddaughter Heather in Canada and she sent us some photos along with the update on their family news.

Gregory & kids

taking little brother for a ride

very tired little brother

Stan drove here from California, and on Wednesday he and Andrea and Dani left at 6 a.m. and drove to Soda Springs (near the Utah border) to get a used stock trailer that we bought sight unseen from a gal who needed to sell it. We need a trailer of our own (and not have to borrow one every time we haul cattle to the sale or need to haul some up or down the creek) and found this one on a classified ad website. It’s an older trailer (1978 model) but in fairly good shape for its age, and has new tires. It was cheaper than the newer one trailers, and for what we’ll need it for it will probably last a long time.

They got back with the trailer early that evening, and Andrea helped me move the cows to new pasture. We took them up through the corrals to the lower end of the upper swamp pasture.

The next few days were very hot, above 90 degrees in the afternoons. Stan worked on the wheel bearings and brakes on the trailer we bought; the brakes were dragging a bit on the two wheels on the driver’s side. On Friday he took the trailer up to Andrea’s house where he could use his welder and put more supports under the flooring and put log oil on the old brittle floor boards to give them a bit more life. He also welded some old breaks in the door latches, and added an extension on the partition to make it higher so no cattle would ever try to jump over it. This trailer has had a lot of wear but with some fixing it will probably work for our purposes.

Andrea and I put deer netting around the few bales left in the stackyard—so the heifers wouldn’t try to eat the hay, and then put the heifers in the stackyard to graze for a few days and clean up all the grass before we need to stack hay in there.

Friday afternoon we went to the high school to listen to the Jazz band and Legacy Choir. They weren’t able to have their spring concert last year because of COVID so it was nice to be able to attend it this year, since it is Sam’s last year in the band and choir, as a senior. Andrea took photos of Sam with me and with Charlie after the event when we were congratulating her for all the awards she received.

Sam & Charlie

Sam & I

She got several year-end awards in music, including the Louie Armstrong Jazz Band award for best senior, for the state of Idaho, for her 4 years of excellence with her trumpet playing.

Sam's awards

Sam's award for best trumpet player

On our way home from that evening Lynn and I were driving up the creek ad met a horse with a halter on it, trotting down the road, and a young Amish fellow running along behind it. We helped catch his escaped horse.

Saturday morning Andrea discovered that a cougar had recently killed a doe on heifer hill, dragged it into the ditch and partially covered it with grass and brush (as cougars often do, to hide their kills from scavengers.

That afternoon Andrea finished the temporary hot wire around the lowest segment of the ditch pasture below the field by her house, and we moved the cows into that pasture. We moved them into the next segment on Sunday, then Andrea and I rode Shiloh and Dottie for their first ride this year—just a short ride out over the low range.

first ride for Shiloh this week

riding over the low range

The neighbor’s cows are still on that first pasture and they are out of feed; there wasn’t much grass out there to begin with (a very cold, dry spring) and it wasn’t able to grow with all the cattle out there eating it too soon. On the way home I took photos of the signs Stan made for our “street address” at the end of the lane, using horseshoes to create the names and numbers.

our ranch signs that Stan made

While we were riding, Stan drove up the creek and got a pickup load of firewood (sawing up some dead trees that had fallen down across the road).

On Monday Stan and Andrea drove to Pocatello to take Dani to an appointment with a doctor there. Emily started her new job, at the Discovery Care Center. She enjoyed working at The Meadows (a smaller care facility for elderly people) because she had great rapport with the patients there, but that facility was understaffed and had a few other issues, so it was time to switch jobs. She has better hours, better wages and better working conditions at the new job. Lynn and I took care of Christopher while she was at work, until Andrea and Stan got home that evening. Lynn tended Christopher while Andrea and I moved the cows and reconfigured the fence for the next grazing segment, finishing just before dark.

Yesterday Stan finished all the welding on the trailer and it’s good to go now, as soon as we have the title transfer accomplished and can get it licensed. I trimmed Willow's front feet. Hopefully Andrea will have a chance to start riding her soon. Andrea and Stan took Christopher up the creek on 4-wheelers and picked wild flowers.

bringing home wildflowers

Christopher helped pick the wildflowers

Today we moved the cows to the 4th segment of their ditch pasture. Lynn and Stan took the stock trailer to town to have it inspected for its Vehicle Identification Number certificate so we can eventually get the title for it. Andrea and I made another short ride on Shiloh and Dottie; we went up the ridge from our house and patched some broken wires in the fence around our 50-acre hill pasture. We rode around the whole fence to make sure the rest of it was ok.

Andrea patching fence on ridge

Stan got another load of firewood then he and Andrea helped Lynn hook up our little tractor to Jenelle’s old damaged swather that’s been parked in our stackyard ever since Andrea and Stan pulled it home from John Miller’s place last year. Jenelle loaned it to Millers several years ago but it didn’t work for them (trying to pull it with their teams of draft horses) so one of their son’s used it to cut hay for Alfonso and ran it into a ditch and bent it all up and ruined the springs. Jenelle didn’t realize it was damaged and wanted to loan it to us last year when we were having swather problems, but when Andrea and Stan went to get it at Miller’s place Andrea realized it was too damaged and would never work. So we stored it here for Jenelle, and now we need to get it back to her place—so she can fix it if she wants to, and so it will be out of the way when we need to stack hay this summer. Christopher rode on the tractor with Lynn to the stackyard, and while they were hooking up the swather to the tractor to pull it out of the stackyard, I entertained Christopher and took him for a piggyback ride.

Christopher helped Lynn bring the tractor to the stackyard

piggy-back ride

Lynn and Stan were able to pull the wrecked swather out of the stackyard and up to the top of our driveway. Christopher rode on the tractor with Andrea when she brought the tractor back down the lane and parked it.

driving back down the lane

parking the tractor

Then Christopher helped me feed the horses, and before he went home with Andrea and Stan he wanted to sit on the tractor again!

helping feed horses

back on the tractor again

always wanting to drive tractors!

JUNE 23 – A couple weeks ago I put front shoes on Dottie. A big windstorm hit just after I finished, and I was glad it didn’t hit us while I was still nailing that last shoe on, because it would have really spooked Dottie. 

Andrea and Stan took Christopher with them when they went to town (while Em was at work) and spent a little time at the park, and Andrea took a photo.

Christopher and Stan

The next day Alfonso and Millers finally moved their cattle to the middle range pasture (so they are not right down here trying to get through the fences into the fields) but they missed about 20 head. That evening we went to Sam’s graduation. It was a nice ceremony and the seniors in the Jazz Band played Moon Dance—with Sam having a solo with her trumpet. Andrea took photos when the seniors received their diplomas, of Sam receiving hers and coming back to her seat with the band.

Sam's Graduation

Christopher and Em sat next to Lynn and me and Christopher was pretty good for a restless 2-year-old, and clapped when everyone else clapped, for all the seniors. 

More photos were taken outside, after the ceremony, of Sam with her siblings and her dad.

Sam's Graduation

Afterward, Lynn and I were taking him home to stay with us (everyone else was staying longer) but as Emily put him into our pickup and went back to her car to get some of his toys, she twisted her foot and broke a bone in her foot by her little toe. She had to go to the ER to have it x-rayed and is still wearing a walking boot to help stabilize and support it as it heals.

The next day Stan pulled Jenelle’s swather out to her ranch the other side of town, and Lynn followed in our pickup with flashing lights, to make sure no one would run into the back of it on the highway. That evening we ate supper at Andrea’s house; Stan barbecued the last 3 packages of Wagyu meat that we’d had in our freezer for a special occasion (the meat that Feddersens in Iowa sent me, after I wrote an article about their Wagyu breeding program for the Wagyu World magazine).

Sunday was hot. I hooked up the electric fence in our back yard and Andrea helped me bring the heifers down from the stack yard (where they did a good job of grazing all the tall grass, so it will be easier to stack hay in there) and we put them in the back yard for one day, to mow that grass. I took a photo of them through the dining room window while they were lounging around after eating grass.

heifers lounging in backyard

I’ve also been letting the young bull graze a few hours each day in the side pens around the corral—where the grass has grown up—to get him adjusted to green grass. Then it won’t be an abrupt transition when we take him out of the corral (fed hay) and put him with cows on lush green pasture. A gradual transition will help ensure that he won’t get emphysema (a serious and usually fatal lung condition) from an abrupt change.

Andrea and I were about to saddle our horses and ride up to the 320 to check all the fences around that big pasture (now that the range cows are in the middle range and next to our mountain pasture for a mile). There’s not much grass yet on the middle range and we don’t want the range cows trying to get into our place. But before we actually saddled the horses Lynn got a phone call from our neighbor who is an EMT, saying that Dani had run off the highway on her way to work (where she does housekeeping at one of the motels in town) and her pickup went through a fence. 

Andrea and Stan immediately took off to go see what happened and make sure she was ok, and I put our horses away. Dani was dazed and disoriented and the ambulance had arrived to take her to the hospital to check for injuries when Andrea and Stan arrived. Andrea went on in to town to the hospital to be with Dani and Stan drove Dani’s pickup back out onto the highway and took it to town to get parts to fix the headlight and brakes. She took out 4 fence posts and banged up one side of the hood and bumper, etc. She wasn’t badly hurt—just bumps and bruises—and thought she blacked out when she ran off the road.

That afternoon I put up a temporary hot wire around the small haystack in the hold pen next to Shiloh and Sprout, and the next day we moved the heifers into that pen to graze for a few days and eat down the tall grass.

After we moved the heifers, Andrea and I rode 2 ½ hours and checked the fence along the 320, next to the middle range. The fence was ok except one place where we patched it last year after a big tree blew down over it. The tree branches we’d tied over that spot had sagged a bit so Andrea put a long slim dead tree over the top and tied it in place, to make a better barricade.

Andrea patching fence where tree fell over it

While we were down in Baker Creek we found one of John Miller’s bulls lying down by the creek, all by himself (no cows within a mile or more) and he didn’t look normal. We made him get up and discovered that his right hind leg was very swollen (from foot to thigh) and he would not put any weight on it. It was worse than swelling from snakebite; it looked like a serious injury like a broken leg. When we got farther up the mountain checking the rest of the fence, where we had cell service, Andrea called John to tell him about his crippled bull and where it was. We checked the rest of that fence and took a few photos, then we hurried home so Andrea could tend Christopher when Em went to work at 2 p.m.

riding up around the rocks to check fence

Lynn did all the town errands that morning and bought 4 big buckets of log oil (shingle oil) and Stan started putting it on our house. The old wood siding hadn’t been oiled for many years and was showing a lot of sun damage, so it was overdue to have more oil and weatherproofing.

Christopher is extremely fascinated with our tractors and always wants to get on them and ride with Lynn or Andrea or climb on them and try to drive them, so Emily bought a little battery-powered tractor (with trailer) for Christopher and Stan to put it together. Andrea took a photo of Christopher trying out his new tractor.

Christopher learning how to drive his own tractor

On Tuesday Christopher drove it all the way down here from Andrea’s house to show us (nearly a half mile down the driveway, with Emily and Dani coming along with him to make sure he didn’t run it off the edge) and then he drove it back again. He had a little trouble getting it up the hill, and Emily tried to push it but he insisted on doing it all by himself. Very determined 2-year-old tractor driver kid.

Christopher driving tractor down to our house

Christopher heading back again on his tractor

driving it back home

That afternoon Lynn babysat Christopher while he napped (wore him out doing all that tractor-driving!) while Andrea and I gathered up all the division-fence hot wire in the upper swamp pasture so we could move the cows in there from the ditch pasture and let them have the whole area. The creek is no longer high (no danger of drowning a calf if they cross it) so we let them have both sides of the creek. We rolled up all the wire on spools and gathered up the step-in posts.

The next day we tended Christopher while Stan and Andrea went to the 320 on 4-wheelers and then on up through the high range and made a loop down through the middle range and home. They checked on several water troughs on the middle range and none of them were working. Andrea tried to fix one water line that was plugged up and got a trickle coming through, but those poor cows out there are very short of water.

The next day she and I rode for several hours and checked fences and some of the other troughs, and on our way home saw that there are still a few cows on the low range that didn’t get moved to the middle pasture. We may have to help those guys finish moving their cows, and help them fix some of their water troughs. I took a few photos during that ride.

riding to check the range fences

Andrea on Shiloh

checking the middle range fence

On Friday I put hind shoes on Dottie, then Andrea and I took some wire panels down to the post pile pasture to fence off a place we don’t want the cows going into a small bottleneck area by the creek, then moved them into that pasture. Then Andrea went to town for her appointment with the pain doctor.

Late that afternoon we all went up to Rocky’s place to meet him there and go to the 320 to scatter my cousin Roger’s ashes. He died Easter Sunday of a massive stroke. Roger was a few years older than me (he was the oldest child of my dad’s older brother Arthur), and spent some time with our family when he was growing up. He later lived in the log cabin above our upper place a few times (his dad owned it at that time). Roger loved the 320; he and one of his college friends stayed in the cabin the winter of 1959-60 and got out posts and poles from the forest above the ranch, peeled and treated hundreds of posts, and then in the summer of 1960 built most of the fence around the 320 for my dad. It was his family’s wish to have his ashes scattered up there. 

Roger had a fantastic singing voice, and sang solos at many churches. For the past 30-plus years he also sang for opera companies, including one in Sacramento until it shut down. Then he joined the Vallejo Opera Company, where he sang and created backdrops for some of the operas (he was also a very talented artist and did a lot of paintings). Part of the magnificent Egyptian-style backdrop that he created for Aida (performed in Vallejo) may now be for sale, along with Roger’s paintings at the Lakeport Art Museum.

My father wanted Roger to sing at his funeral service, which he did, when Dad passed away in April 2007. Roger was one of my favorite cousins and when his family asked me to scatter his ashes on our ranch and make a video of it to be viewed at his memorial service on June 27th, I was glad to honor those wishes, with help from my brother Rocky and granddaughter Emily. We planned to do it Friday (which was Emily’s day off from work), which turned out to be the nicest day of the whole week (not as windy, no lightning storm). We drove up there in Rocky’s jeep and on two 4-wheelers, and Andrea kept track of Christopher (who went with us and enjoyed hiking around in the rocks and sagebrush, picking wildflowers and poking at ants with pieces of grass) while Emily took a few videos. We scattered Roger’s ashes on the ridge across from Preachers Spring.

She put the videos on a thumb drive that my brother Rocky was able to work with to create something to send to the family for the memorial service. She also took a few still photos, some of which I’ll share here.

Rocky & me on the 320 with Roger's ashes

preparing to scatter Roger's ashes

On Saturday we brought the heifers down from their ditch bank strip pasture and put them with the young bull in the corral, then moved them to the orchard. Andrea changed water and shut off some of her ditches to get some fields dried up so we can start cutting hay. That evening Christopher drove down here again on his little tractor, with Stan driving along with him on a 4-wheeler, and took a few detours to get off and pick grass to feed to Dottie, and to go climb up on all of our big tractors.

Sunday (Father’s Day) I checked on the cows and calves in the post-pile pasture and discovered that the ditch was overflowing and running into the bog crossing that Andrea was trying to get dried up--where we drive out to the lower back field with the haying equipment. So Andrea and I shoveled/cleaned out that ditch—shoveling out the sod that was overgrowing the banks—so it won’t overflow at that spot.

Emily and her friend A.J. took Christopher to church with them, and then Em brought Christopher home for Lynn and me to babysit while she went to work. Andrea took him home later that afternoon on the 4-wheeler after she got done irrigating. She and Stan were having a family dinner that evening with all of us and a few other friends; Stan was barbecuing and I brought some fruit salads. Sam, Charlie and Dani were there, too, but Em had to work.

It was a nice “indoor picnic” and everyone enjoyed it, until our friend Jerry choked. No one noticed him choking, however, but Stan saw him heading for the door like he was going to go outside, and then collapse, hitting his head. He was blue and unconscious, not breathing, when everyone rushed over to help him. Sam immediately called 911 and stayed on the line for 30 minutes, calmly stating the situation, where to send the ambulance, and updating Jerry’s circumstances. Dani drove the 4-wheeler down through our barnyard to the end of our lane to meet the ambulance and direct the driver where to come. Jerry’s son, Andrea, and friend June (who has been an EMT) kept working diligently on Jerry, placing him on his side, doing Heimlich compressions to try to dislodge the obstruction, and finally some fluid, food and blood came out of his mouth and he started breathing, though still unconscious. Lynn and I distracted Christopher, away from the frantic actions, and I also consoled Jerry’s daughter-in-law who was emotionally distraught because she’s very recently lost her own father and was fearing that her husband was about to lose his father.

By the time the first responder from the Sheriff’s department arrived, Jerry was conscious and responsive, and by the time the ambulance and EMT’s arrived he was able to sit up and walk—with help—out the door to be placed on the gurney to be taken down the steps to the ambulance. He didn’t want to go to the hospital, but with the blow to his head, and the vigorous efforts to dislodge the blockage in his throat (which may have cracked some ribs) it was best to have a doctor check him.

His family went to the hospital also, as did Andrea and Stan, and Lynn and I came home and took care of Christopher here until Emily got home from work at 11 p.m. Andrea gave us a report on Jerry; he was doing much better and mainly just had bruising but no broken bones. It was a huge relief to know that he’s ok, thanks to the quick actions of several people who rushed to revive him. The next day Andrea talked to him and he was doing a lot better—just a black eye from hitting his head when he fell.

I had another e-mail from Granddaughter Heather in Canada and she sent a cute photo of Gregory hiking along with little James next to their garden, with Dude the dog, and it was amusing to see the same posture in father and son.

Gregory & James walking with Dude

That morning Andrea changed water and helped me bring the cows and calves up from the post pile pasture and sort off the 3 cows that we know we will be selling this fall and we put them back down in that pasture. There’s no point in putting them with the young bull; he will have plenty of cows to try to breed. We put the main herd with him and the heifers in the orchard.

Later that morning Andrea went to the dentist to have the temporary cap put over her tooth until the crown is put on it next month. Lynn and Stan serviced the mid-size tractor and got the swather working and ready to cut hay, then took the blade off the big traction (that we bale with) and used it to move some of the obstacles in the stackyard (the old plow, and hay grabber) that have been parked along the edge for many years. We need to make more room for stacking hay.

Yesterday we moved the cows to new pasture and Stan sawed down the willow trees that have overgrown our bridge, so the stackwagon can come through with loads of hay without rubbing on those branches. Lynn started cutting hay and cut the field below the lane, and that afternoon cut the lower back field. Lynn rode around with him in the tractor and learned how to run the swather.

I took care of Christopher all morning and then when Dani and some of her friends came out, one of them babysat him while Dani and a couple other kids helped me haul two truckloads of hay out of my hay shed and stack it over by the Shiloh and Sprout’s pens and put a tarp over it.

Today was hot and we continued haying. Stan propped up the falling-down fence along our bridge while Andrea and I took out the hot wire division in the horse pasture and let the cows have the whole pasture. I took a photo of the cows enjoying the new pasture.

cows in new grass

Then we hauled another truck load out of my hay shed and started a small stack next to Rishiam’s pen. Lynn took the swather up through the corrals to the field by Andrea’s house and Stan did part of the cutting. Then they took the swather up the road to heifer hill and Andrea cut that field. Stan cut the field below it, and we are done with all the cutting for this year! I took photos of him cutting that field.

Stan cutting the last field

Diary from Sky Range Ranch - April 21 through May 12, 2021

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

Then the kids went home and went to bed, but Andrea and I stayed and monitored the pair to make sure she mothered him ok. She loved her baby but was too intent on licking him and facing him and he couldn’t get to the udder, and she was too nervous and worried to let us assist him. So we warmed up a bottle of colostrum to feed him—to give him energy and “fuel” to keep warm (since the temperature had dropped to 20 degrees by then), and buy him some time We toweled him dry and I fed him the bottle.

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

She also sent a photo of one of the babies, taken during its first leading lesson.

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

While he was out here at the ranch, Andrea took a photo of Dani and Charlie.

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

She also sent a photo of young Joseph (now 4 years old) sitting on one of his favorite horses.

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

That left just two young cows to calve, and one of them started labor that evening so we put her in the barn in the stall next to MalulaMae. She calved just before midnight and had a heifer calf and I took a photo of her and her calf. We’ve had twice as many heifers as bull calves this year!

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

And she took another photo a bit later as we put MalulaMae’s calf out of the barn (he was a bit slow following mom and I had to push him]

pushing calf out of barn

Then in the afternoon moved the blind cow and her calf to the bigger pen below the barn, so we could put the other young cow out of the barn and into the sheltered corner pen. We’ve kept the blind cow and calf in for several extra days to make sure they are well bonded. Even though Capricious can see out of one eye, we want her calf to be a little older and more streetwise before they go out to the field with all the other cows and calves. We took a photo of her and her calf.

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

Emily left Christopher with us this afternoon when she went to work. Stan and Andrea went for a drive up to Williams Lake and picked him up this evening on their way home.

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.

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

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.

Christopher driving tractor

Then he climbed back on the 4-wheeler, and Em took him for a longer ride on it.

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

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.

Lynn clipping a calf

clipping the area to brand

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.

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

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.

Andrea punching the hole

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.

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

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).

applying insecticide ear tag

putting in fly tags while Dani holds the rope tight

Hopefully this will give the heifers relief from horn flies and face flies this summer!