X-Rays

On February 6th at 8:00pm I had a run in with a heifer. Well, a heifers butt, gate and wall. My arm didn't like it, and broke right at the wrist. Cameron and I had brought the heifer #224 into the barn to pull her calf. Had her tied up in the pulling pen. Everything was going great. Then we put the calf jack on her. She didn't like that and started moving back and forth. We took the calf jack off and I closed a wing gate on her so she couldn't see us. I had my hand on that wing gate and she hit that gate with her body, broke my arm and flung me against the wall. I saw that coming and was able to get outta the way of getting pinned behind the gate.
I told Cameron, "I just broke my f*#(ing arm!!". His response?  Go to the tack room! LOL! Oh no! I'm going to the pick up and we're going to the hospital NOW! Leave the b!&$h tied up, lets go. Grab me 2 ice packs and LETS GO!
Cameron got ahold of his sister and they went down and pulled the calf. Mama and baby are fine.
Funny thing is my arm never did hurt. Just a little achy is all.
We went to our local little hospital. They took xrays, stabilized my arm and sent me to Spokane to have surgery the next morning. It took us 40 mins to get to Spokane. Normally takes 60 mins going 80! LOL! It  was snowing like crazy too!
Had surgery on the 7th in the morning. That took an hour. I woke up, felt great and was released. They put in a plate and screws, and also released my carpal tunnel. I don't have carpal tunnel, but I had severe damage to the carpal so the relieved that so I wouldn't have issues later on.
Went back for a check up yesterday. They took my cast off, took my stitches out and put me in a removable splint. I can move my wrist, lift light stuff and do whatever I want. They did recommend I not fall or ride my horse :(.
The doctors appointment went well. My bones were already starting to mend together. They were surprised about that.  I do drink milk. Gallons of milk. I think that helped.
Recovery they said right after surgery would be 8 - 12 weeks. I go see the surgeon again in a month.

Here are the xrays at our local hospital. You can see how swollen my arm is. And mangled it is at the wrist.

This is the hardware that's now a permanent piece of my arm.

Thanks for stopping by.

The last few days

The last few days have been busy. The heifers have slowed down on calving. It should pick back up in a few days again.
But, we have been busy cleaning the barn, rescuing a down cow, unfreezing a water tank and keeping the coyotes away!
It snowed the last few days, but today is an absolutely gorgeous day. Snow on the ground and blue blue skies. Couldn't ask for more prettier weather.

A sweet little calf to make you smile.

These next pictures are gruesome. But, this is what coyotes will do. This is why we don't like them. I think we have eliminated the alpha male. Coyotes are opportunists. They wait until mama beds baby down and they come in and snatch them!

This cow must have been having a problem calving. Most likely a backwards calf. Some times a nerve in mama's back will get pinched and she becomes paralyzed in her hind end. Like her back legs will fall asleep and she can't stand up. The coyotes came in and killed her calf, and chewed up her bottom! I stayed with her until Cameron came with a horse and the trailer arrived. She survived and we loaded her up in the trailer and got her to the barn and doctored up. She is not standing yet. But she is eating and drinking.

Today's snow and blue skies! I got a new ipad mini, so these pictures were taken with that.

A frozen water tank. We thawed it out, turned the water on, and Mississippi Mud! Not really. Its manganese. The well water at the corrals full of manganese. We drilled a new well  a few years ago, and it now has manganese also.

Thanks for stopping by.

This and That

Since I can't feed cows or drive the feed truck. All I've been doing is checking cows and driving around until Cameron is done feeding, then we turn the heifer pairs out.

Today's sunrise.

The fellas on the horizon.

Heifer mama and baby.

Baby cow.

This looks bad, but it really isn't. This is what we call "hip locked". The heifer was progressing normally when the baby got to this point, it got stuck, or locked at its hips. She got up, walked around to rotate the calf's hips, layed back down and the baby popped right out. It looks awful, but mama and baby are fine.

Thanks for stopping by.

Water runs up hill?

When we left this morning to go feed the cows there was still snow all over the place.
It warmed up to 50* with a nice wind. The clouds blew away and we had blue skies. That melted the snow and we have water running up hill. :)

A beautiful morning.

Feeding the heifers and their babies.

Mama cow and baby.

The melt down.  The side of the road, and the road! A shovel and a little digging drains the puddles nicely.

The meadow. The ducks and geese are loving it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Calf Extraction

This is what we call "pulling a calf".
When we are out observing the heifers, which is 24/7, if you see an issue. Like she is not progressing in a timely manner, maybe a leg is back, meaning they are not coming out even, backwards, calf too big or something else. We bring her into the barn in the pulling pen. Tie her up and get all the necessary tools ready and straw a pen for her and baby.

The heifer in the pulling pen. The gate on the right is the one that slammed me into the wall and broke my wrist. Got some expensive hardware in the wrist now!

You can see this calf had a leg back. The shoulders aren't evenly compressed inside mama so she can't push him out. With a cow, they know how to manipulate the calf to get them lined up. Cameron puts the calf chains and hooks on his legs above the dew claws.

Gives a pull on one leg, then the other. Now they are even.

Mama decided she wanted to lay down. We prefer she were standing. If laying down, its best if she's on her side.

Here comes the head. The white is his face. And yep his tongue is sticking out.

And the rest of baby. Cameron is working with mama. Not just pulling and yanking. When she contracts, he pulls, gently. Then rests, then contracts, pull.

Swish! Welcome to the world little one. Mama and baby are doing great. She had a bull calf that weighed 86 pounds. I had posted a C-section, but I can't find it!

Thanks for stopping by. 

R.I.P Razor

The old guys dog passed away the other day. Sad. She was an awesome cattle dog, friend, travel companion and teacher to the younger dogs.



R.I.P my friend. 10/2000 - 2/2014

I Lost a Friend

I lost a special friend today
the kind you can't replace,
and looking at her empty bed
I still can see her beautiful face.
I know she's in a special place
our Lord has for such friends,
Where meadows, fields & flowers
help make them strong and whole again.
I know she's watching over me
She'll be with me when I cry,
So with one more kiss on her beloved head
I told my friend goodbye.
-Author Unknown

A Working Dog

I’ve seen the Rocky Mountains
and the Gulf of Mexico,
the California Surfers
and palm trees in a row.

I’ve read the works of Shakespeare
and seen Picasso’s paint,
the sounds of concert pianists,
And heard the bagpipes quaint.

And all of these have thrilled me
but not one could compare
with watching herding dogs a-working,
a single or a pair.

There’s magic in each movement
that Mozart never had.
And beauty in each turn
that makes my heart feel glad.

There’s science in each answer
Of every whistled tone
that Newton never thought of
nor ever was he shown.

There’s feeling in the handling
that only poets know
or cowgirls that work with stockdogs
and feel the teamwork grow.

Wherever life may take you
in sunshine or in fog,
you’ll never quite forget it
when once you’ve worked a dog

                     ~Author Unknown

I hope to have pictures of my shattered wrist. I broke it Thursday night, had surgery  Friday morning. They put pins and a plate in there. It sucks but I'm hanging in there. I feel so useless!!

Thanks for stopping by.

part 2 with #239

We saw #239 calve the other day. http://www.ritzvilleranchlife.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-calf-is-born.html. Today we walked her and her calf out of the calving lots across the bridge to join up with the other heifers and their babies.
First we make sure mama is taking excellent care of her baby. Second is baby up and following mama? If all is well we walk them out. If they stay in the lots, sometimes the other heifers will try to steal the baby. The lots can get pretty messy, wet and muddy. Not a good environment for the new baby to be laying in. They can get sick.
Putting them out into the great wide open makes for better mama's and baby has fresh places to lay down.
There are now 15 pairs across the bridge. Everyone is doing well. Babies are eating hay right next to mama. Ya cant get any better then that!
After we did all our morning chores, we headed out to BB Cattle Company http://www.bbcattle.com/ where we buy all our bulls from. To watch them ultra sound the bulls. They measure the rib eye, intramuscular fat and the rib eye fat. Very interesting. And helped them wash bulls. What a blast!

Today's sunrise.

Walking mama and baby out. Curious heifers watching.

Looking good. Such a rewarding time to see mama and baby bonded.

Thanks for stopping by.