Overall it was a pretty nice week for December moving into January. 

The three boys were back to school Monday, we had Anna one more full day to check and do ranch stuff. Teresa came and AIed the 4 fall heifers on Monday, so Ben got off work early to help. The compressor went out in the big outdoor freezer, so we got a quote on that, not great. Toni was still sick so Kade and Jaxsen were on their own for chores. We just have the two fillies in, Peeps and Gold Bug. Kade didn’t really work on them, just went in and talked to them as he had plenty to do. Kaine did cow chores.

Dad went to Palouse on Tuesday to get pellets. We were out both for the show heifers and the horses. It rained, snowed and was sunny at different parts on his trip. It did the same to me on my way to work headed South, however, no sun since it was still dark. Keegan came home with Kade Tuesday night to help him with chores. The men unloaded the pellets when they got home. Anna headed back to U of I on Tuesday, she passed dad on the road at around Hooper.

Toni was supposed to start checking cows started Wednesday since Anna went back to college, but Toni was sick all week. I think we should have Anna do online college so she is home. Kaine checked when he got home, since it is dark when Ben gets home. But lets face it, how well do we think Kaine was checking, he was just looking for problems.

Thursday was the same as Wednesday, Toni was sick, Kade did her chores, Kaine checked for her, so things were not done to her standard. But they were done. Toni came down with Kade for a bit and supervised to start building her strength back up, since being sick just takes it out of you. I stayed with grandma Thursday night, and she was not a great sleeper.

On Friday Kaine went snowmobiling so help was even lighter. Ben ran Leo into Sheena to be a neutered dog, he checked cows before he went. I got home from grandmas, showered, then went in to get my hair done. Ben went out to build hot fence around one of the duck ponds. It was not holding water so they wanted the corn knocked down so they could work on it. The cows were happy to help them knock the corn down. Marlo came to help do chores. I was finally able to work on the 2 fillies. Peeps did really well and Gold Bug was a bit reactive but is small enough it doesn’t really matter. The good news is she likes to be scratched so other than being a baby, she will be fine. Peeps on the other hand is big, so luckily she is pretty slow motion and smart.

On Saturday we had people out to look at horses, and pick up horses. Kade help Ben get yearling weights on the heifers after Kade got home from trap and tied up his and Kaine’s steers. Ghost and Jetter went to their new home in Ellensburg. Jetter loves it because she is out of the mud, she is in the snow, but out of the mud. Kade rode Benelli out and checked Jon’s cows. Toni was on the mend and we worked on Gold Bug and Peeps, who have been in all week but have not been worked on much. Saturday was their second day.

On Sunday Kade came down and tied up his Nile heifer, Carla. We checked cows and then Kade, Ben and I got yearling weights on the bulls. Dan and Rusanne came out and looked at bulls. We fixed some fence that the heifers knocked down when Kade and Ben turned them out in the corn field. We moved Opal into a pen on her own, and she is now on Regumate and SMZ tablets. Kade rode Benelli, and a cold came through while he was out riding, and he was still cold when we did chores. Kaine got home and cleaned out in front of the feed bunk for the bulls. And let the steers and heifer go.

Overall it was a pretty nice week for December moving into January.  We are slowly getting the cows calved out. The next step is getting them bred back so we are looking at bulls, getting semen bought, and picking our AI dates.  Because the weather has been so nice, we are also having people come out and look at the foals that are available. We are slowly getting them moved. We are really lucky to have so many nice ones. We are down to just Peeps, Gold Bug, and Alotta left to halter break and then we are done! Done just in time to start foaling with the 2025 foals.