Hot Dog

 

Today was another hot day. 90*. We (hubby and I), sanitized the whole barn! Raked the floor, all the heifer pens, and the alley. Shoveled out the chute and lead up alley. Washed the tack room and sterilized the sink. Hooked the big hose up and power washed the chute, the calf table and the walk way. Power washed the scale, loading dock and alley. Hooked up the rake behind the 4 wheeler and drug the corrals. Turned on the sprinklers and watered the corrals and barn yard. We pump water from the creek to run the sprinklers. Looks pretty spiffy. The barn does get cleaned on a regular basis. Every day when we are calving. Power washed at least 2x's a year. The chute and alley every time we work cows. They make a mess! If you let it dry its like concrete! I wish we had a little skidster! But, we don't. So it's all done with rakes, shovels and pitchforks! A good work out. We have chlorine cooking in the water tank to kill all the grunge in there. Then we'll sweep the sides and bottom. Drain, rinse, drain and then fill. This is all part of our keeping the cows and horses healthy. Also, the Western Livestock Journal will be here on the 22nd. Their annual ranch tour. 126 people! Ought to be interesting.  Big BBQ at the folk's place about 5 miles up the creek from us. A tour of the corrals, a look see at the cows, but mostly I'm sure a lot of BS! ;)

Smokey Jo taking a little nap after a long day helping clean the barn.

Wind and a cow - or a windy cow!

Today we finished branding the last of the cows. The 'dinks'. Had 50 of them to brand. Worked the dries and a few grannie pairs that are going to town on Monday, will make a nice truck load. Was a warm sunshiny day today. But, the wind! And it was coming from the East! So, it was a little on the cool side.  I wish it would stop already! You get dust in your eyes, up your nose and in your hair! And it's not 'normal' dust. It's mixed with Mt. Saint Helens ash. So its gritty. That ash never goes away. It's been 33 years May 18, 1980. It's like talcum powder, and gets fluffy and billowy. And sticks to everything. At least it washes off! :)

The wind sock in the back yard.

The flag in the front barn yard. Didn't seem as windy in the front..

On our road trip down the west coast. We stopped in a tiny tiny town that had wood carvings from the redwoods. I just LOVED this cow! So, she rode in the back seat of my car the whole trip! HAHAHA. Now, she sits on the front step. :)

Crazy Springtime...

This has been a very crazy spring. The guys had to reseed about 75 acres of grass that failed to grow when planted last fall. We've had freezing temps over night since - well last fall! It's kinda sad to see the flowers  all pretty during the day, then in the morning they are all slumped over and frozen.
I hope the reseeding grows. Our only irrigation is sub surface from the creek. Or rain. But that's not in the forecast any time soon. Sunday night into Monday we had high winds that gusted up to 60mph! Holy %6*T!!! It was windy. You lean into the wind, then it shifts! LOL! Tuesday was some what decent. Still a little blustery. But, I decided to do so yard work. Then here comes the black clouds. RUN! HAIL! That pasted. Back outside. Black clouds again! RUN! HAIL! But, I persisted and got the yard work done.
Today was beautiful. I went and opened all the gates so the cows and bulls could go out in the high rocks pasture. As I was going by the a little pond. I saw this bird in the water along with an American avocet. I have never seen one of these. Its called a black necked stilt. Female. She has brown on her back. So pretty.
Well, the rest of this week is suppose to be pretty darn nice. Close to 80*!!! AWESOME!

The back yard. Even the cat Whitey is hiding under the tree. Do you see the white cat? Yes, she is a real cat. :)

Hail in the grass.

Black necked stilt.

Here she is again.

 

Off to see the cows...

Saturday we turned the bulls out with the cows. They were pretty good boys. No fighting, no posturing, no pushing and shoving. They just headed to the barn, up they alley and out the door. Took them all the way to the cows. That afternoon, they were all spread out threw the girls. We try to put one bull to 25 cows. No need having to many bulls. They can be a pain in the butt!

Bandit making sure the boys behave.

I wonder what they are talking about? Who's the handsomest?

Group huddle. Get moving guys! You've got business to take care of......

Wild Flowers

Some smaller wild flowers are starting to pop up in the pastures. I just love to ride through the wild flowers. They are so pretty and unique. I've tried to plant some in the yard, but they never grow.
Here are some flowers..

I call these 'stink daisies'. They grow up underneath the bluffs. The cows don't like them, but the horses do.

This is vetch. It grows here and there on most of the ranch. But in the Turkslees pasture it covers the whole thing. Cows LOVE vetch. It's very very high in protein. It's considered a legume. The horses like it too.

This is a nasty nasty flower. It's Lupine. It also comes in purple. When a cow eats it at the flower stage, it can cause them to have a crippled calf. It only effects them in the first 4 months of pregnancy. When the bloom is spent and the seeds have fallen, usually in August, the cows can then eat the plant. There is a bug that eats this plant also and kills the bloom. The bug is an iridescent blister beetle. This flower is also very high in protein. It grows sporadic around the ranch. Where its highly concentrated, we move the cows out of that pasture.

A sea of wild flowers.

These are just wild daisies that grow in very dry hot conditions.