Lots of Calves and Izzy gets a Job

Last year in mid-March our community was flooding. This year the ground never froze, so the heavy snows of the last two weeks are melting into the soil. It makes calving better, but it's still been a challenge. 

We had a relatively mild winter and thought calving would be a breeze after last spring’s horrific conditions. Then it started snowing on the first of March and kept it up with high winds to go with the snow. It was a full barn, cold calves and weary humans for 12 days or so. We thought we were in a vortex repeat of last spring. But the sun eventually came out and we’re back on top of things - well, if we ever are!

Now we’re getting sick calves and Mark is monitoring for that as well as calving issues. Seth and Cole cover nights, plus we have our regular employees that keep the cows and yearlings fed every day. For the most part we feel blessed.

We have a new face, an apprentice, on the ranch for the next 8 mos. Izzy arrived just as calving was getting underway. She gets on a horse most mornings and does Mark’s bidding to fix whatever overnight brought. She helps me in the barn and is game for any task. She’s good with animals, made evident by the fact that she’s already made friends with Myrt, the puppy who is scared of most everything.  She grew up near Lake Erie in Ohio and comes to us by way of the Quivira Coalition, an organization dedicated to regenerative agriculture and which specifically promotes “new agrarians” by matching interns with ranchers. 

This morning Izzy hauled straw to keep the stalls fresh and then I helped her load dead calves into the pickup to be hauled away from the barn. No we don't save them all. She talked about how far she’s come from that girl who declined to participate when the rest of the class dissected animals.  

She meets with other apprentices for a few days next week. We’re anxious to hear how her experience thus far compares with the other newbies. Welcome Izzy!

Calving season is stressful. It just is. We’ve made it through the worst of it with everyone doing their share, and more. I’ve been tending the three little kids so Anna and Leah can move cow-calf pairs into new fields. It’s been fun to have the kids all together and it’s good for them to have to share toys and books. Getting them all on my lap to read a story is an event! They object to the other kid being too close or trying to turn the page, etc. and etc. But they have hugs and kisses for each other when they say hello and goodbye. Taking the good with the bad. Sounds like life doesn’t it?   

Izzy and Jane, a good pair

What we dealt with at the start of calving season
Seth is still in good spirits!

We've had some beautiful sunsets

For the Juncos

The juncos are flitting around my flower bed. I leave it “as is” in the fall, so there’s lots of plant material to sort through. I’ve seen the birds jump up on standing grasses, ride them as they fall to the ground, then feed on the seed heads. Let’s all let a corner of the lawn seed out next summer!

If you go on-line to find out how to attract juncos to your yard, you’ll only learn what type of bird seed to buy, not how to grow real seeds from real plants. Nothing against bird feeders, but think about all the side benefits real plants provide: roots reach into the soil to feed microscopic organisms, blooms feed butterflies and bees, beneficial insects burrow in to the stem to ride out the winter, they provide shade and cover to a myriad of species, and besides that, standing stems make a pretty picture against the snow.

There’s a new set of wind turbines on the skyline. They’re about 10 miles away. When Emma, our almost 3-yr-old granddaughter saw them, she said, “What are those spinners going round and round?” She’s the oldest, so will be the only grandchild that notices a change in the view. The others will think the windmills belong there. Beware the shifting baseline syndrome. We only know what we grow up with. And as each succeeding generation becomes accustomed to a new reality, we collectively lose. I know we need renewables, but let's acknowledge the impacts. We need to be conserving energy at the same time. Where’s the discussion? Where’s the incentive? Conservation has been unpopular since Carter asked us to wear a sweater. 

It's been a mild winter, but wet. Mark's had to take the tractor quite a lot to help the feed trucks get around in the mud. And since we're mostly sand, that's saying something. I hate to see calving season come. Winter, a slower time for us, is slipping away. I’m not like other heroic ranch women I read about that say they love this time of year. Not me. Once the calves get on the ground, it’s non-stop ranching until next winter. We wasted our off-season Netflix subscription and now it’s all over. I’d take February for a few more rounds.  

  

Watching "neigh neighs" graze the lawn

Sunday feeding crew

Sale Day at the Blackfoot Livestock Auction