Monday was another rainy muddy day. Toni and Anna got the new halter breaking group in and took pics of Whitty and Cowy. Whitty and Cowy were supposed to get turned out with the other foals, but they decided to turn them in with the “special” foals. The “special” foals are just the 4 that got weaned first, so not really special as much as just weaned the longest so in their own pen. “7” calved on Monday and had twin bull calves. Last year she had twin heifers. Anna and the dogs checked the cows and grabbed one of the calves. Both calves are small, but have vigor. Kaine and Kade’s Spokane steers also got out through the feed panel, one of the bars broke off, and they went for a walk about so Anna got them back in. Anna told people that Kaine’s steer is wild, but Kaine doesn’t agree. Lets hope Kaine is right. Ben went and got our free standing panels when he got off of work from LDs. LD put hinges on a couple for our gates so we know have some free standing panels with swinging gates off of the one side. We are pretty excited and LD did a fantastic job. If anyone wants any of those big panels, LD and Gwen are getting another load to sell in the spring and have the panels priced competitively.
Tuesday we saw the sun for part of the day. Anna went out into circle 4 and finished pulling out T posts from the old fence we used to have in the middle. Toni worked on Sugar Cookie, Radiant Rifle and Alme and she said they were all awesome. We were a bit nervous about Rad and Alme. Rad is really big, a typical Gunner foal, and was out in the desert so has had less exposure than some, but she was solid. Alme has been our spoiled boy, but was also super solid. That is good news since it is still so muddy we are hesitant to use the donkeys. Toni could lead all three the first day, and Alme and Sugar Cookie started leading like they knew what they were doing within a couple of minutes. Sugar Cookie is our AI baby sired by The Goodbye Blues.
I was home on Wednesday so Anna, Ben and I checked cows. Mom, Anna and I ran to Othello and got a few things, including a shelf for the freezer for Ben to organize the freezer. Toni and I tried out the new dump and put a bale of straw in the round pen, in with Copper and the “special” foals. We took Radiant Rifle, Sugar Cookie and Alme for a walk about. I just led Alme, so Toni made fun of me that she had to do the other two. Yes, because all three were just so hard, that was my sarcastic voice. Because of all the rain we had a puddle that still had quite a bit of water in it so we were leading the foals through the water, standing them in the water, just getting them exposed to anything we could out in the driveway. When we are doing chores there are lots of things to be exposed to- dogs, lots of dogs, Reno the puppy that is already a cow dog, the boys on the 4-Wheeler, loud talking, more dogs. All three of the foals took everything in stride, they were just like whatever. Sugar Cookie didn’t like walking in the water, but Toni worked on her and got her to have some trust, moving freely in the water.
Happy Thanksgiving, Vixen gave Kade a cute clubby x heifer on Thanksgiving, and 139 also calved and had a bull. Terry and Erina came down and we all went to Tonis. We had a great Thanksgiving with friends, family, good food, and laughs. We all ate too much and were thankful for the blessings in our lives. We were missing one of the kids, but otherwise we had a full house. After our big dinner, we managed to go do chores. We took the foals out to walk through mud muddles. Kaine brought Reno down to do chores, and she was very helpful with the foals, still my sarcastic voice. These foals have really been a joy to work with. They tie great, easy to catch, and have just been about perfect.
We had someone out to look at bulls on Friday, so we got them in and sorted them. Just to jump ahead, we also did that Saturday and Sunday, it is good having people come out. We sold three bulls in three days to three repeat buyers. We checked cows tagging calves. Ben and I hauled corn cobs around with the dump trailer to muddy areas. Kaine welded on a gate. Anna cleaned out the barn. Kaine and I hauled corn cobs down to mom and dads Marlo, Kaine and I spread them out. Marlo and I led the three foals through them and they did great. The corn cobs are kind of weird to walk on if you aren’t used to them, they are spongy so they sink down, but they can also roll out from under you, so again, interesting. The corn cobs do help soak up the water and mud, so make the corral a much safer environment overall with all the excess moisture we have been getting. The foals liked Marlo and exhibited no stranger danger at all.
On Saturday we tagged the calves in the heavy heifer pen, including Ben’s No Horn. No Horn is out of a Longhorn cow and an Angus bull which equals no horns. I also like to say that is a waste, but at least he now has one longhorn that has calved so not just a money pit. Kaine and I hauled Boon and Reina to mom and dads, the heavy heifers went into their pen and they did not need that much hay. Boon is already getting really fat and sassy, so going to mom’s is a better spot for them both.
On Sunday we started putting out the freestanding panels we bought from LD Green. We put one with a gate in Sagebug’s pen, one is Hauls pen, and put some straw in both pens. Ben claims Sagebug as “his” stud because Sagebug is so good to deal with and can be left with the bulls all winter. Then we loaded some straw hay into the dump trailer and took the freestanding panels that go down to moms down to moms. Kaine, Ben, dad and I got them up. Toni got down there in time to help Katie and Chad load Sugar Cookie. She is going to go to Pullman for a while and see if she wants to be a barrel horse in a few years. Katie and Alvina have both Cash and Sugar Cookie now. So our barrel bred fillies that we want to keep and also want to see turn cans. We are excited to see how they do. We got some pictures of Ink for a person that had texted requesting new pics. We also got some video of Dancing Bug for a friend that is interested in her. Dancing Bug is a big filly with a big motor, but very smart. Then we haltered the next group, Peaches, Sarge and Buzzy. We dumped the bales out with the foals. It was fully dark by the time we got everything done.
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