My New Friend, Ferdinand

I made a friend today!  Not exactly groundbreaking, I know...but I thought I'd share because I think all of you will find him charming, much like I do.  He isn't very big, but he's stout.  His hair is a mix of reds and his eyes are dark chocolate brown, fringed by eyelashes of which I am very jealous.  Are you dying to know who this mystery man is?  Could he be someone famous?  I'll let you decide for yourself.  Here's his portrait.

 Isn't he handsome?!  I thought so, too.  He thinks he's pretty hot stuff as well...nothing like being president of your own fan club!  Or should I say he's "out-standing in his field"?  Bad joke, I know...but I couldn't resist.

I had gone out to check on the heifers and their calves just to make sure everything was kosher.  We tag all our calves with the same color tag and same number as their mother so we know which calf belongs to which cow.  Bull calves get their tag in the right ear, heifers get their tag in the left ear.  It makes ID pretty easy when you're out in the field...unless, like my little friend here, they haven't been tagged.  Sometimes the heifers are super casual moms and they don't keep track of their calves, so when we go to tag them, we don't know who the mother is...and sometimes the calves are sneaky and won't go to their mothers.  This guy?  Well, he's super cool, calm, collected, and casual.  I never did find out who his mother was...but I think I have a pretty good idea. 

The heifers and their calves had gathered around the truck, hoping against all odds that I had a bale of hay and was there to feed them...I was surrounded...and then they started looking in the cab of the truck...

 Right after I took this picture, this heifer stuck her nose in the cab of the truck.  She only looks innocent, don't let that wide-eyed stare fool you!

I got out of the pickup to see if I could find the mother to the little guy I had my eye on.  I circled around behind the truck and sat in the shade of the flatbed.  A lot of times, cattle will approach you if you crouch or sit on the ground.  Their curiosity gets the better of them and they can get close enough to lick you, which isn't exactly pleasant unless you like having slimy saliva dripping off your pants or sleeves.  I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you know the cattle fairly well, 'cause sometimes you might find yourself in a place you don't want to be!

This photobomb brought to you by #44.

I slooooooooooooowly reached my hand out to see if he'd sniff it.  The curious ones usually will sniff from a distance, but as you can see, this guy wasn't scared of me at all.

 What do those fingers taste like?

 That feels so nice on my forehead...but lemme clean my nose out while I'm at it.

He let me rub his forehead, down his face, under his chin--that was where he really liked it.  But rather than write about it, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

 That's not so bad....

Who knew your eyeballs could get so itchy?!

I've been trying to get that spot scratched since I was born! 

I should interject here that it's very unusual for a calf to just approach you in the field, especially one who hasn't really had any contact with people.  Sometimes, a former "bottle calf" (one that we had previously fed on a bottle for some reason or another) will come up to you, but it's generally not something that happens.  They will get curious, but they mostly keep their distance.  One other calf got brave, but only for a few seconds, and then my first little friend butted him and made him leave.

This calf got brave enough to lick my fingers....

...and then I rubbed his forehead a little bit before he decided that was enough!

Little ol' Ferdinand came back to check me out.  I think he might have pushed the other calf out of the way so he could get scratched again...

Ferdinand got mad when another calf tried to sniff me...and so they had a stand-off.  They were probably pretending to be big bulls and that they were having a real fight.  Boys!

I love it when they scratch their necks like that.  It's adorable!

Back again...

Oooooo...a little to the left...back to the right...

That's the spot I tried to itch with my foot!

He nearly fell asleep with his head pressed on my leg while I was scratching his neck.

He kept licking my pants...I'm not sure what I had on them but it was really tasty, apparently.

His favorite spot to be scratched.  Sorry for the blurry picture! 

I got a few videos of him, too.  I apologize for the horrendous filming...it's so hard to film when you can't see exactly what you're getting!  But I think you'll get a better idea of his personality if you watch them.  Plus, the cute factor is overwhelming!

That's it for this post.  I am assembling pictures from our horse drive from Smith Valley to Bridgeport and doing some editing, so I hope to have that blog post going up within the next two weeks.  Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies!

My favorite picture of him.  Gotta love that face and those ears!

Feeding the Hungry...Cows

Two blogs in two days?!  I know, I'm as shocked as you are!  But really, I shouldn't be, because the one thing that goes hand-in-hand with calving around here is...(drumroll, please!!)...FEEDING!  Yes, feeding.  It sounds so mundane, so boring, and yet it isn't.

We feed the calving cows hay so they don't get too thin while nursing their calf before the green grass starts to grow.  If our cows are too thin, they may not be able to get bred to have a calf again next year, and in the interest of keeping all of you entertained with pictures and videos of cuter-than-cute calves, we feed.  And also, it's what we do--raise calves.  As you can see, it's pretty important.

I learned how to drive a stick shift while feeding. I learned how to balance myself on the back of a huge flatbed that went bumping over hard cow pies while feeding.  I learned that you have to be sure to pick up every strand of twine after it has been cut so the cows don't eat it.  I learned that falling off the feed truck really hurts...and so does whacking your knee or shin on hard steel while trying to get back on the feed truck.  Even earlier than that, I learned how to steer a truck without power steering or any sort of shocks to speak of, and bouncing up and down on that seat while trying to see over the giant wheel and out the windshield will forever be one of my fond memories.

Our main feed truck is a huge 1967 GMC Stock Truck, painted a chalky pale yellow with some charmingly rusty spots here and there.  We refer to it as "the Yellow Stock Truck" or just "the YST".  Like Johnny Cash's song, it really has been everywhere.  My dad has told me stories of taking it down a steep grade, fully loaded, and having the brakes go out.  He also remembers hauling bulls from Smith Valley to Bridgeport in it, and looking in a sideview mirror just in time to see one of the bulls leap out over the side (when it still had sides on it).  When you start it up, it rumbles at a low frequency just loud enough to make your ears sort of hurt and your chest vibrate with the sound.  The cows can hear it a mile away and we can always hear them bawling once it's up and running.

  Here she is.  The Yellow Stock Truck.  The great and powerful.  The dinner wagon.

It doesn't take a 40 acre field to turn around...maybe only 38 acres.  I am so glad they invented power steering!   But this truck...this truck is about as cool as they come.  They sure don't make them like they used to.

My view from the driver's seat.  It was a windy day (always a good day to be feed truck driver), and in an attempt to clear the dust off the windshield, I only succeeded in smearing it around a little.  Also, the seat drops off sharply on the driver's side, so if you're short like me, you sort of have to use to steering wheel to pull yourself up to see out.  That, or open the door, stand on the sideboard, and hope you can steer sufficiently enough that way.  

I love feeding.  Cattle, horses, whatever, I just love it.  It's so gratifying to see the animals take a giant mouthful of hay and look up at you, defiantly chewing as if they have triumphed in getting the best mouthful.  I like driving the feed truck, too...particularly if it is windy.  There is nothing worse than getting hay down your shirt and pants and knowing you can't get it out for at least another hour.  Actually, there is something worse: getting hay IN YOUR EYES.  Worse than dust by far.  I think I might prefer to get poked in the eye than have hay in there.  Sometimes it feels like it takes days to get that stuff out and you look like you're overly emotional because your poor eyes are always weepy.  

One of the cool things about driving the truck is that you put it in 4-wheel drive low and let it cruise along like a tortoise, so if you need another hand feeding, no one really has to drive.  Sometimes someone has to jump off and steer to avoid a ditch, and tree, a fence, a patch of thick willows, then hop back on and continue feeding.  Since it's moving so slow, it's pretty easy.  Oh, and kids, don't try this at home!  

Blair and Haley feeding.  Gotta love the big bales--so much nicer than trying to feed a million tiny bales!  This cow is wondering who is driving since I'm out taking pictures.  

Getting down to the last few bales.  These cows are perplexed at me as well...

 The chow line.  Come and get it!

You can see a long, long ways from up here on this mobile haystack.  

We have a backup feed truck in case the YST is out of commission for some reason, and while not as loud as the YST, it's still pretty swanky.  It's a 1973 Ford flatbed, painted a flat orangey-red.  To me, it looks like it should be in a vintage photo shoot.  Definitely classy...in a ranch-y sort of way.  

Loaded up and ready to roll.

 That...that is a thing of beauty, even if you're not a car person.  Or an old truck person.  I wish my dashboard looked like this.

 I feel as if I'm sitting on a throne!  See the new calf waaaaayyyy out there at the top of the picture?

The hay is always greener on the other side of the fence....

This cow is convinced we didn't just feed a huge bale out in her field.  She is pretty sure we kept the best hay on the truck. 

And finally, when we need to feed a group of old horses, or smaller groups of cattle, or to feed in a field where we can't get the YST because it's so wide, we use a truck or a truck pulling a flatbed trailer.  And of course, when you're driving a regular pickup truck, you need your feeding crew, right?

The Crew.  Yes, it is totally necessary to have that many dogs.

The Boss Man and his crew.  

 A common sight in my sideview mirror

Oh, hey there, Mr. Casual!

Keeping the horses from pulling the bales of hay off the truck

 The "Geriatric Ward" is happy with their breakfast

We also feed the cows mineral so they don't get deficient in something important, leading to problems down the road.  Our area here is deficient in copper and selenium, so the mineral we get has that added in.  Even though they have access to it all the time, the cows go through a period of not really eating a lot to absolutely scarfing it down.  When they see you over by the mineral feeders--it's a stampede!

How many mineral feeders can you see?  There are three, in case you're wondering.  And the cows in the background KNOW there is fresh mineral in them.  

The cows get overly excited about mineral.  Sometimes I can even scratch them.  I like that you can see cows shoving their way to the group to get to the mineral...must be like candy!

I promise, that's it.  Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies! 

Calving Season

I apologize for the length of time it has taken me to post a new blog.  With all the goings-on between the new year and now, blogging has been pretty low on my list of priorities no matter how much I enjoy it!  Today, however, I am (happily) stuck in the office while a bitterly cold breeze blows and snowflakes try to fall, so I figured I'd blog.  I've built up quite a store of pictures on my phone, so it's time to share them!

Calving season is in full swing now, which means we are busy yet again.  Actually...we never stopped being busy.  We seem to move from one busy season to the next!  We have two groups of cows that are calving at the moment:  the first calf heifers (you can think of them as teen moms) and the spring calvers (the old professionals).  The heifers need to be watched a little more since they are first-time mothers.  Sometimes they get confused by the calf they just gave birth to, sometimes they are the communal milk bar for anyone and everyone (other heifers included), sometimes they need their calf pulled because of an abnormal presentation of the calf or the calf is too big to have on her own, and sometimes...well, sometimes things go perfectly.  We like it when that happens!  There always seems to be a lull in between the first calf born and when the rest of the group starts popping like Jiffy-pop.

The calm before the storm.  All the heifers eating their dinner and looking quite pregnant!

Say "Moo!"  

The first calf born in the heifer group--#189 had her calf on February 11th.  Welcome to the herd!

We like to ride through the calving cows horseback most of the time.  That way, we can get in the willows where you wouldn't be able to go with a truck or four wheeler, and we can see if there is a cow in trouble in there or make sure her calf is ok.  It's also handy if you need to get a cow into the corral so you can assist her with calving.  There are just some things that can't replace a good ol' cowhorse!

My mighty steed, tough as nails and grittier than sandpaper.  Her name is Princess, but you can call her "Your Highness."

Camouflaged in the willows!  

I love it when cows have calves whose markings mirror theirs or are pretty close.  It's like seeing a mini-me! Plus, calves are just too stinkin' adorable for their own good.  It's a wonderful time of year.

 Adorable.

The cuteness...it's almost too much!

Is it even legal to be that darling? 

 Snow White and the Dwarf.  Except he's not really a dwarf, but it seemed like a good name...

Nap time before dinner time!

The cows like to hide in the brush and will stay very still when you ride up.  Sometimes, they find a hiding place so great that you miss them entirely.  This heifer, however, failed...

 "Psssst!  Junior, get over here!  We're HIDING, hellooooo!"

"Sorry, Ma!  My legs don't work too well yet!"

"Wait, who's that?"  "JUNIOR, GET OVER HERE, SHE'LL SEE US!!!"

"I think I just heard the feed truck...scrap the hiding, I'm hungry!"

Most of our cattle don't have names except a few individuals who are uniquely marked, have a different hair color, or are special in some other way.  Last year, Aspen wanted to show a steer for the local 4-H club but was too young, so she halter broke and gentled a heifer that belonged to Dalton.  Aspen named her "Jojo", and Dalton showed her in the spring, then brought her back to the ranch to get bred.  This year, Aspen is still too young to show, but she has big plans to halter break Jojo's calf and see the pair of them shown.  She was so excited to see what Jojo's calf would look like and kept asking Megan if the calf had been born yet.  On Monday, Jojo had her calf, and I'm sure there has been a big discussion as to what to name this new addition!

Jojo & Company

To end the blog today, I thought you might like to see some real, live action!  So, I took some videos and will post them here.  I wish they were better quality, but it's hard to get the action on cue, especially with animals, so you'll have to suffer through the iPhone quality videos...but they're so CUTE it's totally worth it.  If you're not smiling by the end of the clips...well, that is one cold, cold heart you have. 

This is a brand new calf that I came upon the other day.  She had just gotten up after giving birth and starting to clean him off.  Hear her talking to it?  She sounds like she's humming.  Best sound a mama cow can make!

"Curious George"--this was the fourth or fifth time this calf had come up to me that afternoon.  He is super curious about my horse...and he feels really good!

Well, that about sums it up for now.  Time to go feed horses, etc.  Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies!