The winter of April 2022 pretty much derailed us on all fronts. Monday dad was going to take a load of beef cows and a bull to Toppenish, however, we woke up to it snowing in April. So sometimes you have to roll with the punches, the cows were unloaded and turned out in the corral. The kids did not have school, teacher in-service day, so Anna went and checked. Piper had foaled and it was blowing and cold, so Toni and Anna got in Piper and her colt, and Twiggy and her colt, and they hauled them to the house. I heard that it was pretty hectic. The snow was blowing so hard that it took awhile to find the horses, get them in, and get the two pair sorted off. By the time they got that done the roads weren’t great, so Toni had Anna drive her own vehicle in case things went sideways with the trailer full of horses they both weren’t in it. Toni let the kids out of fence building for Monday, due to the blizzard like conditions.
Tuesday we continued to have weird April weather, however, it was better then Monday. Due to the Monday weather, we canceled the hauler who was hauling some heifers and a bull we sold. The weather was just too iffy. Snow fell from the sky, but did not really stick, and it rained, and the wind blew, but not as hard. It was still cold. Toni went out to check and Izzy had a cute palomino colt. Then she noticed that Voodoo had legs out, so she called Mom and Kendel for backup. That is the “C-Team” in case anyone was wondering, yet this year they have had to step up their game. She texted me to call Sheena at Sagehill vet that she was bringing her in. She then pulled VooDoo’s filly while she waited for Mom and Kendel to bring the trailer, and then called me back to tell me to call Sheena and say we were not bringing her in. VooDoo then ran off, so Toni, Mom and Kendel loaded the little filly up in the trailer, which she could not stand up at this point, and hauled her to the house. They cleaned her up, gave her colostrum, and mom continued to feed her throughout the day. Since she could not stand up all day, Toni had to leave work and go help mom feed her, so they could stand her up and get her circulation going. By the time I got there, I went out to the trailer to look at her and she was up. I did not know that this was new, so I gave her some pets and encouraging words and went into the house. Toni and Kade were out building fence, Kaine had baseball practice and got to moms about the time I came out of the trailer. I went out to give Kade some water and said something about her being up, and Toni said she has not been able to get up by herself, I said well, she is up. So that drastically improved her chances. However, at this point she still had not had a bm, so we, Toni, mom and I gave her an enema. And about 60 seconds later she had a good bm. So I texted Sheena that she was up and had a bm and was doing better. Sheena did not know she was not on her mom, so Sheena said we should bring her in in the morning for some plasma. About this time Jake Bennett (no relation) showed up to look at the studs on his way to CA, and then went down to check on VooDoo with us. We got down there and Tank and his mares were out in the alfalfa field, so Jake also helped us fix fence and got shocked, we didn’t laugh (or did we laugh hysterically). Tuesday was long. By the end of it we have Molly Brown (Mom named her) about a 50/50 chance at best but we were sending out positive thoughts.
Wednesday the Unsinkable Molly Brown, “Molly B,” was doing great, so dad and I loaded her in the trailer so him and mom could take her in to see Sheena. She pooped all over me so I had to go home and change on my way to work. I guess the enema did wonders. There was road construction on the end of Hendricks Rd, so I also had to wait there, but don’t worry, I made it to work on time. We had some more light snow on Wednesday, it was cold, but a little warmer than Monday and Tuesday. Dad had a dentist appointment and ended up getting some teeth pulled. Toni went and got Molly B, who seemed even more energized after the plasma. Then we had a big blue roan outside mare arrive. Of course Rick and Jaime also had to see Molly B, so they helped Toni unload her and move her back to her living quarters. Jaxsen and Kaine both had baseball practice. Tank’s pen had been put in the corral so after chores we went down and fixed fence so they could go back out.
Thursday we had another snowstorm, so dad canceled going to Toppenish again. Which was good, it got worse down in the valley. Molly B’s vet appointment was also canceled due to the storm. However, later in the day her joints swelled, she was lethargic, and things didn’t seem to be going well. After a consultation with Sheena, who said we had better bring her in and figure out how much money were planned to invest, Toni ran her in and she got more plasma. Her plasma was really low. The good news was her total proteins had come up and weren’t as low, so we still had some hope. I went down and let Tank’s pen out of the alley while Toni was at the vet. Dad took Jaxsen in to baseball and brought Kaine home and took him up to help with chores. The men had some equipment to use the hours on, the neighbor rented it but did not use all of the hours so let them use it, and so they cleaned pens and hauled dirt. I got stuck, where I had driven on Sunday and it was now was wet and muddy due to the storms (which is good we need the moisture), so Kaine came down and got me. We got home and the TV had died. Then Ben decided they were going to go back down and get my pickup out and they got his pickup stuck. So Anna went down and got them. Toni and Molly B got home about 8 pm, but we were still not out of the woods with Molly.
Friday the morning was cold. Tank’s pen was back out. They got locked back up in the alley and got some hay. Marlo came out and helped do chores and unload groceries and fix fence. The fence was not actually down, they have started going through the circle gates. Molly B started actually trotting and moving around a bunch more, so that was a relief. She also started having a lot of attitude which reminded us of why we hate bottle baby horses. But without that attitude she would not have persevered, because the odds were very against her, not that she was totally out of the woods, but things were looking up. We are really a fairly positive family about sickness in livestock and survival. If someone says 50/50, we think great, we have a chance, and we continue to fight for that animal.
Saturday it was rainy and cold again. Dad went and got Camas, so Camas and Kaine pulled out posts in the corn field and rolled up the section of fence that was still up. Then they put out mineral to the cows. Anna and I got in Tanks Pen, then got in Jackpots pen, went and picked up Tanks pen in the trailer, hauled him and mares to Circle 3 and then hauled Jackpots pen to circle 6. It really started to rain after lunch, the kids went out and checked Gunners pen and made sure Jackpot was still in. I worked on pictures from Pomeroy. Ben put the tree puller on the tractor and pulled out some trees. We are have an ongoing war with Russian Olive Trees that we are determined to win. We loaded a bull up and sent him to his new home. Then we went and did chores in the rain. Yes, we need the rain. We also need some heat units with it so the grass will grow.
Happy Easter, sorry I did not have an Easter Post. We went and hunted eggs then the Meachams went to Moses Lake. Terry and Erina came down and we had ham, potatoes, vegetables and pies. Erina got to go meet Molly B with Mom during one of her feeding times. After, Anna and I went and got Izzy, Voodoo and Barb in. We put Izzy with Jackpot and hauled Barb and Voodoo to the house. Barb went in the heavy pen, she is due any day. She is bred to McBride’s champagne stallion. Then Toni and I hauled Twiggy up to Dude and Smokey Joe up to put with Slick. Kade is riding Slick every day and practicing roping. Toni may need to send him to get lessons. We are not a family that ropes, but he seems to have the bug. Toni put out mineral and I walked out to check Mil and see if she is heavy, she is also due any day.
KT Ranch 
You must be logged in to post a comment.