Moving Heifers.

Today was another hot, dry day. We're suppose to have a little rain the next 2 days and cooler temps. Yea, we'll see. How many times is the weather man right? Exactly.
We moved our replacement heifers and 5 out of the 6 angus bull. The first group of heifers went through the creek like good girls. Then we got to the gate and then went past it one way, turn them around, past it again, turn them around a few went through, the rest went past it! It was like trying to shove a cat in a sock! The next group of heifers (they were all in the same pasture, just different areas), saw us and ran! Ran to the creek, ran up the rocks, back to the creek. They were like dumping marbles on an uneven tile floor! But, that's heifers for ya.
As for the 5 out of 6 bulls, when we went to move the 2nd group of heifers, saw one of them limping pretty bad. He had a HUGE gash in his hind foot. So we tried to load him in the horse trailer. No luck, he didn't want to play.SO, we went home for lunch. Cameron left his horse at home and rode mine. He usually doesn't take any BS from the bulls. I won't bore you with the rest of the details. Needless to say 3 hours later and 2 tired dogs and a tired horse, and a real crabby husband he decided that the middle of the lake was a good place to hang out! So we left him till tomorrow. Maybe he'll be more cooperative. :) Maybe!

Good girls crossing the creek.

Keep going girls.

And, through the gate. Good girls, follow the bull! Poof! Dusty!

Cameron on my horse Leo. Looking for that darn bull.

Leo glad to be home eating grass. It was a long day for him.

Outta Here!

Monday we shipped a bunch of cull cows to the auction. Along with 6 dink pairs and an unusable angus bull. Had a FULL truck load. Cull cow is a cow that no longer serves her purpose on our ranch. She is open (not pregnant), lost a calf sometime between preg testing and branding. The dinks are from granny cows. They had itty bitty calves that weren't in our calving dates. We kept the younger cows with dinks. The younger cows will breed back, and hopefully calve with in the calving dates. If not, they will go to town too. The older(grannies), usually don't breed back, or they have later and later calves. The bull, well, he was shooting blanks. And that doesn't work when you want to have babies! :)

Waiting cows to be sorted by pairs and age.

7:00am right on time. Backing up to the loading dock.

The old guy backing the truck up to the dock.

And down the road the go. Red hill from the sunrise.

Gertie, our bottle baby. Just finished dinner.

Stach checking out the bottle. The cats love hanging with the calf.

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.