It is a good thing we got most of our riding in over the weekend, we woke up Monday to a skiff of snow. Then it rained and snowed most of the morning. The kids were all back at school on Monday. Ben had the week off, his work gave them the whole week off for Thanksgiving, so Dr Wisse came out to bangs vaccinate. Toni and Ben had a whole crew, Kendel, Toby, Kolton, Scarlett, and Emma (Toni’s office person). They got them done in record time and pushed them back down to the alfalfa field. We had gotten the heifers in on Sunday, so they were all at the corral. Ben had them penned and ready to go. Kendel and Toby brought their two down as well, and those two were done first. Kolton had a great time helping “Uncle Ben” work the chute. Toni then took the gooseneck to mom and dads, where the kids were already mostly done with chores, and practiced loading King, for his trip on Tuesday.
Tuesday Toni and Kicker left early to head to the Dusty area, they took Ollie back to Jeannie and King up to Tim Johnson for training. Toni had a meeting with a judge and the Army Corps of Engineers, which was the purpose of going. And then she brought back 4 pigs for Anna’s birthday, Anna is really excited but the boys don’t think it is fair. She did let them help her name them. Ben is also not excited. Toni also brought back a pony and dog food. Kicker wasn’t excited about taking 2 animals up and bringing 5 back. Also on Tuesday our good friends at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch brought us a broodmare named Rosie. Since we already have a Rosie we are calling her Rosie B because she is bay. She is open for 2021, so we won’t get a foal out of her until 2022. But she is a great addition to the broodmare herd.
Wednesday Kade and Jaxsen had a half day and Anna and Kaine were only online, so Toni went and got them Mei-Lings. Anna and Kaine went to her house to eat. Kade and Jaxsen were already fighting so Toni sent Kade with Anna and Kaine when lunch was over. Dad and Ben went to Yakima to get more hop poles so we can finish the weaning pen. We only have 50 feet left and want to get it done in 2020 so we can start new fencing projects in 2021. We put out a few big bales, but the big pen needed to clean theirs’ up so we didn’t do too much with the tractor.
Happy Thanksgiving! Really this is a great year to be thankful for what we do have. We are lucky to have a close-knit family that is supportive and caring. We are thankful for our lifestyle and love of livestock. We are thankful for our wonderful friends, customers, and supporters. We are thankful that our family is healthy. We are thankful for so many things.
Thanksgiving was at Toni and Kicker’s and included copious amounts of food, with two wonderful briskets- one hereford and one angus, both grass fed. After eating and watching the dog show, which we loved watching, we went down and loaded out Rosie the foal, out of Rosie the mare and Double. We also got Queenie back, a mare out of Cleo and Genuine Dun It to add to our broodmare herd. Baby Rosie loaded like a pro and she was off to her new home. Chores got done and everyone was full from our big dinner.
Friday we shipped out Blue Bug to his new home. Toni, Kicker, and the boys headed to Clarkston for the Meacham Thanksgiving. We got the bulls in out of circle 3 and sold three 2020 bull calves. Anna and Kaine got the show calves tied up in the barn. We checked the cows and made a heavy list for Toni on Monday. Toni likes to have a list. We brought Leroy and Pinky to the house. We hauled Leroy home and put Pinky out with the mares. Kendel sold her cow and heifer, so she got her cows in out of the corn field. She thought she might have the other cow sold so we left the cow in the corral. Our Friday chore girl, Marlo, came and she worked on Star Solider, I worked on Kitty, and Anna fed down the driveway. Kaine stayed and helped Ben with the cattle chores. Then Marlo did Jaxsen chores and we continued to the corral. We moved Hottie up to the house with the old horses, put Leroy in Hottie pen and moved Pocket and Colonel both up a pen. Leroy is NOT happy to be locked in. Marlo came down and had dinner with us and we played Texas Holdem and Spoons.
Saturday we had another repeat buyer come out and look at the bulls, they bought Anna’s bull, Theodore. Then Anna, Kaine and I rode and pushed the bulls back down. We checked the cows and Ben and the kids rearranged the straw in the barn. We had some unexpected people show up to look at foals, but they wanted a pali or black yearling colt and we don’t have any left for sale. The kids tied up the steers and heifers, Morgan came over to look at them, so the kids and Morgan stayed and messed with the steers while I went and showed the horses. Morgan, Coco and the kids came up and did chores. Dad and Kaine ran into Timeout pizza and got us pizza for dinner. Morgan and Anna went home and let the steers and heifers go. Kicker, the boys and Papa Berry went to the mountains and rode Razers on Saturday, Toni and Grandma Sherri went shopping
Sunday Toni, Kicker and the boys came home. Ben, the kids and I went and got new straw. Thank you, Tim and Brian, for the straw. It had to be hand loaded and hand unloaded in the barn. We were pretty close to Othello so went through the Checos drive through on our way home. At chore time we turned Star Soldier out and got Cappy in for halter breaking. Kitty is still in and doing great. We did our chores and put out hay. This has been a wonderful beginning to winter with our calving started a little early. We shoot for Dec 1, but already have a few calves on the ground. Nothing makes a person happier that seeing a newborn. So far the calves have been lively little buggers.
KT Ranch 
You must be logged in to post a comment.