New Life on the Ranch

Last night the guys had to help a heifer (one of the females that has never had a baby before) deliver her calf. She had been laboring for quite a while and, like some of us women, she just needed some assistance.  All went well with that.  Mark asked me to check on momma and baby when I checked cattle on my shift in the night (remember the 3 am check?).  So, at 3 am I went into the barn and found the two of them snuggled up close together.  Mom got up right away but baby didn't care that I was around.  I stood 'her' up.  I wanted to see if the calf had suckled (eaten) yet.  It is very important that the calf get colostrum (the first milk) in the first few hours as that milk from the cow has important nutrients to keep the calf alive and healthy.  I sometimes can tell if the calf has sucked by looking at the cows utter, but that is not always accurate.  This was one of the times I was not so sure.

So, I enjoyed the time of watching this Hereford calf run around the pen.  I thought about a name for 'her'.  Oops, I got a peek under the tail area and could see it for sure it was not a 'her' IT was a HE.  Shoot, I was going to name 'her' Nami, but now have to call it Dan!!   You see we'd gotten a 'Flat Nami' in our email about the same time this fella was born so I thought it would be fun to name the calf after her for her school project  (like the 'Flat Stanley' many of us have done before).  Instead we will have to use her Dad's name!!

Anyway, the calf skipped and jumped and slipped.  He ran and Mom sniffed and mooed at him.  Maybe she was telling him to settle down and eat?!  He played some more, peeked under mom.   Then he laid down for a bit and Mom came to lick him off a bit more (that is a cow's way of cleaning her calf off and her way of getting used to his smell so she recognizes her own calf).  She made him stand up and eat too!

So, after about thirty minutes of enjoying this bonding time I got to see this:

Dan's First Meal

I had a chance to get a photo of the calf  - now known as Dan - with Flat Nami:

I think Dan might be wanting to give Nami a kiss!!

Sounds of the Night Shift

Back in the 'old days' - before Facebook & blogging - I used to send out emails to family and friends during my 3 AM cattle checks.  I would report on the previous few days or the weather or whatever was on my mind (& sometimes it didn't make any sense because I was too tired but HAD to stay up!).  Since Facebook, I have not done that very much.  So, I thought it was time to report again!  

The sounds on my shift tonight were so pleasant that I just have to share about them.

First, I wake up to the radio playing "I'll by Missing You".   So, that song is stuck in my head as I walk around checking the cattle.   (Lucky for all, I don't sing it out loud!)

First step out of the door of the house and I hear the jingling dog tags on Odie.  There is no wind which is perhaps one of my favorite sounds.   The sound of NO wind that is.  The temp is about 30 above so there is only a slight bit of ice on any water that had been running during the day.  The mud has just a little crunch to it from freezing on the top layer.  A train is heard off in the distance.  I walk down a little hill to check the heifers (those who have never had a calf before).  Clang, clink, clunk.  The sound of taking the chain off and on to get through the gate.  I hear, and see, a few 'girls' chewing on some hay.  Others chewing their cud.  Ahh, the sweet sound of a new momma resting with her baby as if to say, "Look at my baby, isn't it the best?".  She has the nicest, softest little "Moo" - almost like a whisper so not to wake the baby, but enough to get my attention.

The rustling of straw as I walk around the pen of heifers.  They sure have settled down since I started this shift the end of February!  Then they would get up and run, now I could snuggle right in with them!

A flock of geese must be flying over as I can hear the 'honking'.    I just hope they are headed north.

I crawl over the fence (there may or may not be a couple of human noises here) and climb up the hill to check on one lone cow.  Heavy panting sounds from the overweight human are heard.   Again, the quiet moo of a new momma cow.  Back down the hill, crunching ice as I cross the little stream of water.  Do you hear the babbling?   There is a little waterfall here too.

Up a little hill, over another fence and further up a hill.  Yes, the human is panting again!  Oops, a little calf is running around without the cow nearby.  It says hello, "Moo" in it's little voice then comes over to me.  "I am not your mom.  Go find your mom.", I tell the calf.  It is a cute little Hereford baby.

I climb through the feed manger and walk to the Jeep.  A bit of crunching of the thin ice and slightly frozen mud can be heard.  I can also hear two owls visiting with each other.  "Who-who-Who" followed by "Who".  (I never hear the 't' sound so I think they say 'who' not 'hoot'!)

Crunk, Bang.  The sound of the Jeep door opening (it has a few dings in it so the door hits the fender when you open it.).  Click.  rattle.  Click.  It won't start.  clunk.  (put it Neutral)  Vroom!  (okay, not really, but you know what I mean - the thing started!)  The crunching sounds of the ice bits again.  Roll down the window.   Now the crunching sounds of driving on a gravel road.   Banging around trying to get the spot light out the window - and plugged in to the lighter spot.  I drive along slowly using the spot light to check the cattle as I drive the half mile to the north.  I really don't hear much except the gravel and an occasional cow talking.  (Lucky for me, tonight I didn't even hear the coyotes.   Guess they were happy about no wind too.)

I turn around and come back home.  Tonight I leave the window down on the drive back too as it is so nice out.  I take time to enjoy the lights of Minot Air Force Base, the glow of the lights from the city of Minot and the dark sky so full of stars.  

Back in the yard, two dogs are excited to see me.  They growl and play with each other.  Their dog tags are jingling.  The third dog is waiting at the door.   They all want in the house.   "It is too nice outside.  You guys stay out."  *sounds of scooping dog food*  (I don't know how to describe that!)   clink, clink, clink as the dog food is put into three dishes outside.    Water is running to fill their water dish.  I need to tell them, "no", as I come into the house because Rufus still wants to come in.

There you have it.  The sounds from my cattle check.  It is so nice to have beautiful weather - with NO wind.

Promoting Beef (Andy 39/52)

I spent a couple of days promoting Certified Hereford Beef at a new grocery store in our big town.  The only place to purchase Certified Hereford Beef in North & South Dakota and Minnesota is at Cash Wise and other Corborn family stores.  We served samples of grilled beef.   I helped as a representative of the local Hereford breeders and North Dakota Hereford Association. 




The grilling and sampling area

 

My little buddy Andy got to meet Harry the Hereford bull. 

(you can barely see him by the bull's hoof)

Here is a closer view of Andy.

 

Showcase full of Certified Hereford Beef

 

A couple of closer photos of the beef case

 

 

Ranching is a nursery rhyme?

Today I felt like I was part of a nursery rhyme - specifically "There was an old lady who swallowed a Fly".  You know how it goes, right?

Well, here was today's version at NoDak Herefords  (minus the rhyme since I don't have that talent) ...

There was a herd of Herefords who were ready to move to the next pasture...

It was easy to move them.  Mark just had to open the gate and they eagerly moved to this pasture with grass up past their bellies and water almost everywhere!

The trouble was - the fence needed to be repaired to hold them in.  (We don't know why they would need out with all of this grass, but history tells us they will!)  We have had so much rain this spring that we are unable to drive around this pasture with our usual fencing pickup.  We also use our 4 wheeler for that job and have rigged it up to haul a roll of barbed wire along with a basket to hold supplies such as fencing staples and clips.  So, today Mark took off with the 4 wheeler to fence.  Brett used the loader tractor to haul fence posts and installed a few of them.  I was "on call" should they need extra help.

I don't know why he thought he could drive through this area ...  (guess he thought he could float)

Notice how the cows are in the background keeping an eye on him.

 

 So, he called Brett to bring the tractor to pull him out.  Brett in turned called me to bring out chain, rope and other "pulling out" supplies.  I met Brett along a prairie trail to get the supplies to him.  He took off across the field.  I noticed him spinning but he kept going, got on the trail and found a sodded area to travel on.  He got down to his Dad's location and got everything ready to pull when, oops...

guess it was a little wet there too!  Could it be because he was just on the edge of the same slough as his father?!

Sunk axle deep and spinning.  They had to call me again to bring a bigger tractor. 

I don't have a photo of the set up with the bigger tractor so I will explain.   The cattle are still watching this operation!  The 4 wheeler is tied to the loader tractor.  The loader tractor is tied to the big tractor.  Mark was stranded on the 4 wheeler (since he was surrounded by water).  I drove the loader tractor and Brett pulled all of us out with the big tractor.  What a sight!

 

SO, we drove the big tractor to pull the loader tractor to pull the 4 wheeler.  I don't know why the 4 wheeler thought it could get through the water.

 

 

Spring finally Sprung! (and Week 18: Andy)

I am happy to report that we finally have spring.  We thought we might have slept through it!  We had about 5 good days in the field and boy were we busy!  Mark got all of our peas planted.  This is our first year of raising field peas.  We have about 200 acres of them. 

Yellow Field Pea Seed

After we finished the peas, we started planting canola.  Mark & Brett have taken turns running the air seeder.  There is plenty else to do.  Brett has a sprayer that needs to be fixed and gotten ready so he has spent quite a bit of time doing that.  I shared a little about seeding last year.

Once we started planting canola, I got more involved in the spring planting season.  It is my job to pull Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) tanks to town to get them filled and return them to the field.  NH3 is used to add nitrogen to the soil. 

Andy waiting for the NH3 tank to be filled.

Christopher just finished breeding about 50 heifers using Artificial Insemination (AI).  He goes through about a three step process to get them all to cycle (come in heat) at the same time.  I helped him get the cattle in to work them but he had to do the inseminating.  I understand he wants to breed some of the cows too.  I don't think I've ever written about this so I should follow him around with a camera next time.  He will not like that! We artificially breed the heifers (female cows who have never had a calf) to better control the birth weight of their calves.  We AI our registered (purebred) Polled Hereford cows to help improve the genetics in our herd.

Our seeding came to a halt on Saturday due to fog and mist.  By Sunday morning we had a full fledged rain.  Since about 10:30 Sunday morning until this afternoon (Monday) we have had nearly three inches of rain.  It has been a beautiful rain for our pasture grasses.  We must now be patient for the soil to dry so we can finish seeding.

Week 8/52: Andy makes friends

If you have been following my blog you know that calving has begun at NoDak Herefords.  You also know that I have been participating in a 52 Week Project where each week I submit a photo with Raggedy Andy in it.  This week Andy finally visited the barn.  He found out that the straw (hay that is on the floor of the pen to help keep it warm) looks like his hair!! 

He made two new friends today. 

This calf was especially snuggly.

(Because we sell bulls, I was told to tell you that this calf has a brother for sale.  Give us a call if you are interested.)

This calf was born just a few hours before this photo was taken. 

Andy tried to ride this bull until he realized he is too flexible and could not sit up!  (Andy is too flexible, not the bull!)

I will be sharing this with Farm Photo Friday

The case of the missing calf ... OR ... How to be dumber than a cow/calf pair

Yesterday was somewhat stressful.  We knew that Paige's cow had calved but could not find the little black (or black white face) calf.  You see, Momma (aka 63W) has been enjoying getting out of her pasture and grazing around the feedlot.  So, it was my job to try to find the calf.  Here is a bit of a pictoral story about my afternoon...

This is 63W.  She is out standing in the field (no pun intended).  So I rode 4 wheeler around that area a bit looking for the calf.  No luck...

The steers in the feedlot sure wondered what I was doing!

Nature's Carpet

I needed to walk through the tree grove to see if this cow had tucked her baby into a hiding place.  While walking I saw moss on trees (it looked like Nature's carpet!).  But no calf...

Lady bug on a branch

I found a lady bug crawling on a branch.  She didn't mind having her photo taken.  (This photo is supposed to "lay down" but it automatically "stood up" when I imported it. *shrug*)  Still no baby 63W.  I had better keep looking....

Here is another escape artist - and friend of 63W.  She does not have a calf yet.  She was in the trees by the feedlot which is not the pasture either.  No calf with her, so I kept looking....

Grass carpet

The grass is greening up.  This is a bit of a problem as the cows are tempted when they see green grass!  No wonder they want out.  They don't have to share with the whole herd if they break out!  Lucky for me, the grass is short.  The calf can't hide in short grass.  Well, I give up.  I can't find this calf.  So, I guess I was out-smarted by a cow/calf pair!!  I will have to look again later.

On my way home, I found this newborn calf (in the pasture where it belonged).  It was just trying to figure out how to stand.  Those legs are quite wobbly. It doesn't help that mom keeps trying to clean (lick off the after-birth) the calf.  When she licks the calf, the calf stumbles.  But, after only a few trys, the calf stablized and made it to his destination - food!!  It is thanks to doing this blog that I took the time to watch and learn this.  I have lived on a farm/ranch all of my life and had never taken the time to watch these first few minutes of life.   Usually when I found a new calf, I would just make sure the cow "mothered" (cleaning & loving) the calf and then I would leave.  I looked at the pair today and they are doing just fine.

Today on my home from town I found the 63W pair together.  YAHH!!  Plus, there were two more cows with them (including the one that is pictured above).  When Brett helped me get them in he snapped a photo of the pair so you can see that all is well.  From this location, we just had to put them through the gate so they could join all of their friends in the pasture (in the background).  I hope they all stay in now!

Linking up to:  Farmgirl Friday & Friday Fences

A busy day at the ranch

We had quite a busy afternoon here today.  We had nearly 20 calves to tag.  I have previously written about that. We need to weigh each of the calves that we will register with the American Hereford Association.  Sometimes we do this in the barn on the scale in there; however, today it was easier to use this portable scale.  We hang it in a tree.  It has a place for the calf and we can read the weight and record it in our calving book. 

The calf only "hangs" there for a few seconds while we get the reading then someone puts him back down and he can run to mom.

Here are some of the pairs that we worked with today.  You can see we have Herefords (red with white face) and black with white face.  There are also some all black ones and a few tan colored calves.

After all of that work, Lori (white) & Pandora(black) enjoyed going for a little swim.  Pandora loves the water.  Lori just wants to be popular!!  They had a muskrat with them for a while but it quickly swam away.  Then, it was back home to do chores for the evening.

Linking to:  Farm Photo Friday and Farmgirl Friday blog hop

What we do after a calf is born - - Part 2

Besides recording the birth in our calving book, we need to take identify the calf.
(You are welcome to click on any photo to see it larger and with better detail.)

First we have to catch the calf.  One person holds the calf and another person does all of the identification work on the animal.

Each purebred calf gets a tattoo in each year.  First Mark applies green liquid tattoo ink to the inside of each ear. See Mom sticking her nose into our business?  Lucky for us this cow was nice.  Sometimes they are crabby and mean to the humans.

One ear gets 'RH' and the other ear gets a number.  The tattoo number matches the number the animal will have in adulthood.  We also tattoo each female (heifer) calf that we might keep to join our herd. 

After he had given the tattoo, he applies a second coat of the tattoo ink.

Every calf gets an ear tag. On this tag is a letter (for the year 2012 the letter is 'Z') and number (# of cow/mom) and sometimes the name of the bull (dad).  We use different color ear tags to represent different owners.  (Sorry it is sideways, I don't know why it loaded this way.)

We also give two vaccination shots at birth. 

If it is a bull calf but we don't intend to sell him that way, we castrate him.  We do this with a rubber castration band.  The steer (castrated bull) will gain weight better than a bull. 

When we are done Mom gets to make sure her baby is just fine.

Shared with:  Farmgirl Friday blog hop , Farm Photo Friday

What we do after a calf is born -- Part One

We are calving again. We have a calving book to record all of our data. In the book, I enter the ear tag number of each cow (mom), calf and the name of the bull (daddy). Also in the this book is the date of birth and gender & color of the calf.  I enter all of this information into computer software (CHAPS).  All data on our herd is recorded with the head office of CHAPS in Dickinson, ND.  They do a number of calculations for each producer and send us a nice printed book with all of our records on each animal for the year.   The birth and weight information is summited to American Hereford Association if the calf is a purebred.  

Cattle Record keeping

Today was quite busy here at the ranch.  The guys brought the yearling heifers and bulls home from the feedlot.  After dinner, the ultrasound man (UM) came.  We had our registered Hereford heifers (about 50 head) and our 9 sale bulls (yearlings) all scanned.  My guys & one hired guy (with UM) got each calf into the squeeze chute.  UM gently squeezed the animal snug so he could clip an area of hair (about a 10 X 10 inch area just off of the spine & front shoulder area).  He clips the hair so he gets a better image/reading.  It was my job to help get data entered into UM's computer.  This was the identification of each animal and the scanned images that UM took.  He has a special curved tube-like instrument that scans a small area of the animal.  This image is then saved to his computer.   Why do we scan?  The images are read by professionals to give us data about back fat and ribeye area.  As ranchers, we use this information to help learn how well muscled each animal is - which is what tells us about the quality of meat produced.  The images look very much like the ultrasound images pregnant women get.

After all of this, UM & his hired guy left.  My crew brought each of the heifers through the working facility in our barn so we could weigh each one.  We do this as part of the Hereford registration program.  The more data we share with the American Hereford Association (AHA) the better.  It all helps when we want to sell registered animals. 

Tomorrow we will run all of the sale bulls through to weigh them and to get scrotal measurements.  This too will be sent to AHA.   We submit birth weights, weaning weights (when weaned from the cow), and yearling weights (at about one year of age) to AHA.  Doing all of this is important in herd management even if you don't raise registerd cattle. 

Sorry I don't have any photos of this.  I had the camera with me but no time (or coordination) to take any pictures.  I guess I need to learn how to multi-task better!!

Beautiful days, but no time for camera

We have had unusally warm temps here in north central NoDak the last few days and predicted for the rest of the week.  Our average temp this time of year is around 34 degrees F.  The temps are in the 60's!!  Needless to say, we are enjoying it.  I have taken the camera out for the last couple of days but have only taken one photo.  I get outside and end up helping with the cattle!   It is really hard to run with the big DSLR and long lens wrapped around the neck!!

On Saturday another bunch of calves came to join the feedlot.  So, Mark & the owner of the steers worked those calves.  Brett & I visited with a couple of prospective bull buyers and then did chores.  The cows found a new spot to get out of their field and thought they would enjoy some of the goodies we give to the animals in the feedlot.  So, B. & I had to straighten that mess out.  We didn't get fence fixed as it got dark before all of the extra chores were finished.   So, Sunday morning the cows were back at the feedlot.  We ended up missing church because of it.  Guys fixed fence and got the cows locked into the pasture now.  (It was time as they will start calving any day.)  I spent time visiting my mother-in-law.  She lives on the same farm with a grove of sky high evergreens between us.  She been feeling tough thanks to Rheumatoid Arthritis.  (Hopefully the doctor and drugs will get her better soon.)

Anyway, I had hoped to post a photo with each entry so here is the only photo I have gotten in the past few days.   This just happens to be of some of the afore mentioned evergreens.

Winter scenes of the ranch

NoDak Herefords - headquarters

Looking toward the yard.  You can see the barn, our shop and some grain bins.  Also, one of the hay bale locations (to the left).  There are some of our cattle in the corrals too.  You can see two of my guys doing chores too - one opening gates and one driving the tractor.  Oops, it looks like a couple of cows are out in the hay too.  Dang!  I took this today while it was snowing and blowing.

This would be some of our cattle.  We roll out the large bale of hay (actually a few of them) and the cattle just "dig in"!  Here you see that we have more than just Hereford cattle (which are red & white).  We also have black and black/white face  (Angus cross).   These are the moms-to-be.  The black cattle are bred Charolais (white cattle).  Their calves will be whitish.  The Herefords are either bred Hereford or Angus.  If they are bred Angus it is likely they will have a black/white face calf.  This was also taken today.   The white blob you see is a snow flake!

If you click on either of these photos you will be able to see it in a larger size.

Photo challenge: A Little Bit of My World

Fruit of our Labor, or...

So maybe it is not the fruit of OUR labor, rather the fruit of 0505's labor!! 

She had a nice calf to start off our crazy morning.  Our youngest son is helping a neighbor work his cattle.  Our eldest son and his girlfriend went to Billings for a horse sale this weekend (sure hope they don't get stormed in there) so we had a couple of extra duties assigned to us.  The phone call has been starting something like this, "Hello, how is my most favorite mom?"  Any mother knows there is trouble or a favor to be asked!  So, at 9 AM, Mark heads downtown to complete the sale of one of their horses.  He comes home, calls me, "Can you come help pull a calf?".  So, I grab the chain and handles and out I go.  We got the momma into the barn to help her deliver.  Her calf was coming backwards.  Now this is often a problem, but the calf popped right out (with the help of a calf puller) alive and ready to go!  We did not have to do much prompting to get the little guy to breath (a common problem with backwards calves).  I checked on them about an hour later and all is well.  In the meantime, I help with the rest of feeding chores.  But, just wait, another of those, "How is my favorite Mom?" calls!!  Now there is someone coming to buy a mule that the "lovebirds" own.  So, Mark takes care of that while I check in on his Mom.  That is finally all done, it is noon, and Mark still has to head out to feed cows.  Oops, he checked on the baby in the photo.  We need to help him.  His momma has some large teets so we will help the calf get started on them.  (getting milk (colostrum) in the first few hours is very important for the life/health of the calf).  Now Mark can go feed cows!

Oh, and did I mention it is cold along with a nasty wind?  Yes, a storm is brewing.  We are under a winter storm warning - forecasting 30 mph and about 6 inches of snow.  Even our cat, Cole, is looking for a spot in the barn!

I am linking to Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday.

It is that time of year again.  Calving has started and so have my 3 AM checks!  They are cute when they are little, but later is another story!!

I have joined a Photo group to share farm photos.  If you would like to see what is happening on other farms/ranches around the globe you can click on this link: