Well, so far this year all the fillies we want to keep and all the colts we want to keep. I guess that is the problem when you raise good horses. BB filly born on Monday was no exception. She is the sweetest, her and Laroy, and Smarty, and on and on. Mom went out this us to see her and Laroy. Dad harrowed the alfalfa on Monday, until the cable broke on the harrow, he says it is because it is 100 years old. Toni and Kade rode Monday night, and Kade worked with Stormy and roping his dummy calf.
On Tuesday Jaxsen had to go and get braces and Kade had to go for an appointment for his braces. They were both excited, Toni referred to herself as the braces taxi. They saw lots of Connell people in there. We bid on some panels on the Booker Auction, but did not get them. Dad continued harrowing. Kade felt good enough to rope off of his horse on Tuesday. I did not see Jaxsen, so I do not know how his braces were feeling.
Kade had an agronomy competition on Wednesday, his team placed 2nd, good job guys!! Ruth came out and dad took her around to look for birds. Just so you know, there are normally birds ALL OVER around my house. They knew Ruth wanted to see them, they did not see any birds, is what dad said. Really Sandhill Cranes is what she wanted to see for the Sandhill Crane Festival. We have so many of them that the town of Othello brings people out here in busses to see the Cranes. None on Wednesday though. I would imagine they saw some birds, just not the birds they were looking for. Dad and Ruth also went to the bull sale. They had a great time. Toni and I moved Tuffy in with Cleo on Wednesday. Tuffy has decided, even though she is 30 years old, the grass is growing and she does not need to come in and get grain anymore. And the two year olds were being mean to her. So her and Cleo have their own pen with a roof. Then Toni went over to stay the night with Grandma.
We had a fancy red filly on Thursday by Sagebug and out of Shasta. Charlie likes to be a helper with whoever has a new foal, since you can not hear my tone, it is sarcastic. Out little Laroy boy is doing great, he is such a handsome boy. He is not going to be happy when he gets hair pulled this weekend for his DNA test. Rowdy Barry brought out some Zestera tubs, let us know if you need any and we can send you Rowdy’s number, and dad, Toni and I put them out. We like these tubs because they also help with the gut health on the livestock. They are safe for cows and horses so we can put them everywhere. One of our buddies puts these same tubs in with his show steers. With as many older mares as we have and just the crazy weather, we are hopeful that these tubs will help with colic. We also have Zestera in a liquid from that we do give for colic or other emergency situations.
Friday morning mom and I went in and got our hair done. Ben also had the day off so he checked. After we got back I went out and worked on fencing to turn Gunner out on Sunday. Kade had someone come out and look at Mauney, and sold her. Good job Kade, now he gets to start working on the two year old, Joss, that he is going to break and sell. Our 30 year old mare Tuffy went down on Friday. We were all sad to lose her, but she had been going down hill fast the past week and we were going to have to make that decision soon. Dad also decided to help out a friend and hauled a bull from Pasco to Ellensburg. He got paid a little money and did a good deed, so that was good.
On Saturday morning we got up early for steer weigh in. Kade had trap shooting practice so we wanted to get done before that. We stopped at Cecily’s coffee stand on our way home and got coffees/drinks. She was set up at the wrestling tournament. The steers all did great coming off the trailer and weighed about where we wanted them to weigh. The halter broke ones all did really well, but most of them have been to a show. Kaine’s RJ steer was probably the worst acting because he hasn’t worked on him. Kaine’s RJ steer is also his best steer so we had his undivided attention to weigh in and back home were we talked to him about getting the steer ready for jackpotting. If he wants to try to win, he needs to show the best steer. There are lots and lots of really good steers out there. We got home and Jaxsen was going wash his steers but it started raining, so he put them away. Toni went home to work. I went out and finished the fence for Gunner. In the spring we have to fix all of the stallion pen fences since they are in corners, etc. so the wind, snow, heifers knock them down over the winter. Kade has make a couple of bosals, so Toni and I got some pictures with the two year olds with them. I then went to spent the night with grandma and Toni and Kade moved the round pen. By late afternoon the schizophrenic weather was back to good so it was perfect weather to move the roundpen.
Sunday morning I texted to go check the mares, the last time I stayed at grandmas we had two, and sure enough, Peanut and Jitter Bug had foaled. A cute colt and filly. We are really excited about the new mares we are adding to our broodmare herd. The majority of them are ones that we have raised, so putting these mares back into the program and seeing the results of our breeding, hard work, and dedication to these young mares is the name of the game. So far three of our “heifer” broodmares have foaled and we couldn’t be happier with how they have done. These mares are maternal, kind, and producing top of the line foals. Kade and dad went and delivered Mauney. Ben helped me finish up Gunners pen before lunch. Toni brought Jaxsen down and the kids caught and washed their heifers and steers. After lunch Ben and Kaine cut down Russian Olive trees. Anna continued to work on her heifers and steers. Toni and I got the mares in and moved horses all over. Gunner finally got to go out the desert. We could see on his face how happy he was to finally be back where he wants to be. Dude also got to go out with Lightening Bug and Smarty Bug. It is official- all the studs are out with mares.
Toni and Mom have been watching Dale Brisby videos to try to come up with foal names. So far their top Dale Brisby name is Gold Buckle Dreams. Naming foals is always a challenge. We have to recycle some names, or have a bunch that sound the same. Ellie (Ellie is the red one), Nellie (Nellie is the spot), Benelli (Nellie and Benelli are full sisters and look similar to make it worse). Or when you get mares that have the same name as someone else, Rosie, Ro, Rosie B (B is for Bay, not what you were thinking). The naming challenge is always a fun game, with the added fun part of Dad making fun of most of the names we like. Parents.
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