KT Frankly Shez Uptown “Ghost” Filly, 6 Panel N/N Sire KT Heza Pana Dude Dam: Franks Uptown Zoey Date Born: 4/5/23 Click here for more pictures Color: Cremello that will turn gray, w/ Bald Face and two blue eyes. (Color Tested, Cr/Cr, and Gray Gene Present) Price: 5,000 This is a pretty cool filly out of Franks Uptown Zoey and by KT Heza Pana Dude. Franks Uptown Zoey is by Frankly Majestic and out of Reo Annie Get Yo Gun. Frankly Majestic is by Too Bee Frank and is a Okie Leo grandson. Reo Annie Get Yo Gun is a Major Bonanza granddaughter. KT Heza Pana Dude is a great stallion that we kept by Zinks Major Kid. He has some unique white markings that he passed on to this filly. He also passed down his great bone, big hip, pretty head and a winning disposition. Dude was started by Jordan Crabtree in Ferndale, WA and he was a great horse to start, Jordan enjoyed riding Dude.
We had a long Sunday night bring in new calves out of the cold. Here is to hoping for a warmer weekend next weekend. I went to work and the kids and Ben stayed home working in the cold. Toni has a jerk boss that never gives her a day off (she is her own boss to those of you that do not know). Kade rode, Kaine worked on his pickup, Anna and Ben cleaned out the heavy pen, turned out everyone that had calved. Ben and the boys put out 4 more big bales with the horses on Monday. Toni wanted to ride Friday even thought she could not get on with all her clothes, so Kade had to roll her up there. Friday was happy since she got grain and was only rode for a little bit. Then Toni groomed her for awhile just to get her gnarly mane cleaned up. 142 calved and Anna brought them into the barn for a while since it was so cold. We still have Spark and Dandy in so they get extra feed, just due to the cold. We continue to work on them just because.
Tuesday everyone was back at school/work. Toni checked in the morning, no new calves. Toni and the kids worked on the two colts. For some reason dad put bunny ears on Sammy, and he was not impressed. The auctioned started on Tuesday and King got a couple bids early. Toni got some good some pics of the cows on Tuesday. It was cold but no new snow on Tuesday.
We had snow on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, the kids had a two hr delay from school. A few more bids on King on Wednesday. Anna would normally check, but worked on some school stuff so Toni went and checked the cows after the kids left. It was snowing while she checked, but luckily nothing was calving or had calved. Chores take a while now due to the snow, rain and freezing temps. Toni took Dandy and Spark out for a walk about tandem. They are both really funny colts and so different from each other. At this point we are just doing fun stuff with them and continuing to improve their abilities.
On Thursday the kids got out of school early due to the freezing rain. So Kade wanted to go ride MC in the freezing rain and Toni did not allow it. Toni went and stayed with grandma on Thursday night. The sale ended at Billings. We didn’t get as much as we wanted for King but he sold for an amount we would accept. It is always hard to sell studs and especially hard with the weather being crappy. On the other hand, it is done. We REALLY appreciate all of our friends helping spread the word. Toni bid on a couple of other horses but we don’t really need anything so just put some minimum bids in. The ones we want usually sell for more than we want to spend. We really enjoyed using Billings to sell King. Jann and her team were great to work with. We would definitely consider doing it again.
On Friday the kids did not have school, they were all excited. They were supposed to have a half day, but due to the weather, the school district just canceled it. Anna took the camera out and got pictures on Friday. The Dansies came over and looked at the foals. We have felt that Dandy would be a good colt for them and they agreed. They met Dandy and decided he would be a good fit for their family. We are excited that he has such a wonderful family to go to. Marlo did not come and do chores due to the snow/rain situation. The roads were actually better Friday night then they had been all week. I went and stayed with grandma on Friday.
More freezing rain Friday night, but the roads were actually not as bad as expected on my drive home from grandmas. There is always work to be done in the winter, breaking ice, feeding, sorting the heavy cows out and putting them in the heavy pen. Saturday night we got some fun snow pics with the yearlings. They are a really fun pen. I had to chase them to get them to run, but they finally got running around having fun in the snow. Toni mentioned again that she wants to keep Jex. We all know she does. Toni and Kade got some pics of MC without the saddle on. Again, the white ground really made MC pop. The darker horses can be harder to take pictures of in the snow but the background of snow makes the pictures kind of fun, particularly when we don’t get snow much (although the last few years have felt like we get plenty!).
On Sunday we tagged calves. We had someone call wanting to come and look at show steers, so we went down to get the ones in out of the alfalfa field, and I saw that Red Robin had a cut. So Anna and I went back and got the trailer and we loaded the two steers in the front and Red Robin in the back and hauled everyone home. Toni worked on Dandy and Spark and turned them out so we could put Red Robin in that pen. She was ready when I got there with Red Robin. The good thing with winter injuries is the lack of flies. Even though the cut was gross, it was in her chest which Toni says is a good spot. A few years ago we met a gal that sells Lubrisyn, so we have been using that product which we think gives really good results. https://www.lubrisyn.com/
Red Robin is an old soul so she wasn’t hard to doctor and was very enthusiastic about the grain. She didn’t even mind being in the round pen alone, it may have been her plan all along? Tulip seemed happy Red Robin was in the round pen because now we can’t bring the next, and final, 2 in for halter breaking. This halter breaking crap is going to last forever.
There is an interesting facebook post about people that raise horses versus breeders. It is pretty accurate. A true breeding program takes a plan, takes dedication, checks and balances, devotion to the foundation of the plan. A breeding program doesn’t follow trends it follows the core values of the breeder. It is easy to raise horses, it is much harder to be a breeder/rancher. While the winter is out there raging, I wanted to recognize friends, family, and fellow ranchers who are out there keeping livestock alive in these harsh conditions. Keep up the good fight!
If anyone that wants to support the kids, they are selling their steers at BF Fair today, CBJLS on Sept 9, and Othello on Sept 16. OR if someone wants to support local kids but doesn’t want to buy an animal you can donate to the North Franklin Livestock Booster- they are all set up and ready to support kids at the fair this year. Checks go to NFLB c/o Christine Jenks, 2543 Rangeview Rd, Othello, WA 99344. Or you can call Toni, Christine Jenks, Kameron Jenks or Erica Corrales to get more info, or email us here at KT Ranch, ktranch@gmail.com.
KT Stars Go Blue, “Star” Mare Sire: Just Plain Starlight, “Colonel” Dam: Blue Eyed Reflection Date Born: 5/06/20 Color: Chestnut with 4 socks and blaze Price: $8,000 Click here for more Picture Star is an impressive mare with a pedigree that speaks for itself. She is out of Blue Eyed Reflection, a daughter of Colonels Reflection, a point earning stallion and son of Colonel Freckles. She is out of Reba Lynx, who was a daughter of Docs Lynx with One Gun on the bottom side. Blue Eyed Reflection’s full brother has his ROM and her sister is a barrel horse. VERSATILE! This colt’s sire is Just Plain Starlight, “Colonel,” who is a son of Tamalight; winner of $21,492.10 in NCHA dollars and COA. Colonel’s dam is Wright on Sugarnic, winner of the Cascade Cutters Futurity. Wright on Sugarnic is by Lenas Wright On, World Champion Jr. Working Cow Horse, Reserve World Champion Jr. Reining, ROM, AQHA point earner. Wright on Sugarnic’s dam, Just Plain Sugari, has NCHA earnings of $111.31 and is an AQHA point earner. She is a granddaughter of Smart Little Mesa, Slide Me Again and Just Plain Colonel, who are all money and pt earners. In addition to this dazzling pedigree, this filly is ELEGANT with lots of chrome. We were planning on keeping her but have not had time to start her.
Monday was a lot cooler then it has been, it was great, except then the wind came up. Candice, James, Lydia and Aeli (they left Cristy Kay at home) came up to get Kaydence. They came though Montana so James could stop and Candice could look for rocks. Poor Mini, John’s mini mare, is not feeling well, so the kids got Rainy and her colt in, in case Rainy needed to foster another baby. Rainy is a sweet mare and the only one we thought might do it. Kade decided to jump on one of the unbroke minis and got bucked off, then he decided to ride one of his steers and got bucked off. It was just a bucked off kind of a day. Dad took Butte back up to Pullman for the new turbo, our turbo started going out on the way back from Filer and brought back the loaner minivan. Jeana came and got “Bay Mare,” so Toni led her down to the corral with a string, since that is her new thing. Toni fixed a pole and made a creep feeder for Monte, and made him go in it. Monte is still not thriving. But getting stepped on in the first few days of life takes a long time to get over, if ever. Jax started football camp on Monday and that added another element to otherwise already long days. He was so excited to play football and see his friends that we aren’t sure he actually played that well.
We waved goodbye to Candice, James, Kaydence, Lydia and Aeli Tuesday morning, then headed off to work. Anna and dad went to Bryans to pick up some more meat, if anyone needs some our freezer is getting full, check out our website and got-beef.net. On the way to get meat, somehow the keys got locked in the pick-up, but with a tool they were able to get the pickup unlocked and back on their way. Dad took mom over to stay with grandma on Tuesday, and Coco and Shea went over before they left. We also had some more night of Shea before she left us. She has been so fun. She loves the dogs, cats, and horses. Isn’t as sure about the cattle. She absolutely loves to ride already. She has no fear and thinks it is great. We put her on Gracie and led her around for a while. She also ran around petting all of the younger horses who thought she was great.
On Wednesday Toni and Kade went for an evening ride on Stormy and Friday. Toni hauled Friday down to ride with Kade. She decided Gen was too tall for her. Sagebug’s pen is also out of feed, like Gunner’s pen, so they keep getting into the corn field, but they do not want to come in so they take off of the backside of the lake when they see you coming. The problem with having horses out of pretty rough country is it isn’t easy to get them in when you need to. Especially if they don’t want to come in. Jax had his third day of football camp and was starting to let his personality shine. Somehow he managed to get the whole team some extra push-ups, but boys his age think he is funny so it wasn’t a big deal.
Anna and Kade went to grocery outlet on Thursday to get the water Grocery Outlet in Pasco, WA donated for Anna’s senior project. Kaine has been chopping down Russian Olive Trees so he did not go with them. Mom and Anna printed off posters for her clinic and mom and dad ran to Othello and got her poster board for posters. Kaine and I went to a work dinner Thursday night. Ben was working on circles so he could not go. Toni and Kade went for an evening ride again. Ben and Anna got Sagebugs pen locked in on Thursday.
Anna, Kaine and Kade went into the CBJLS fairgrounds on Friday to set up for the clinic, with Burl Booker. They also ran the mares from Sagebug’s pen to circle 5. Toni, Uncle Joe and I went to Hunters for Dave Dashiell’s funeral. It was very well attended. Dave will be missed. As with anytime we attend those functions, we got to see lots of friendly faces but it is always sad to have to see them at a funeral. The kids did chores since it was late when we got home, and we got them pizza. Toni had to be even later because Jax had his last day of football camp. Luckily her friends know her and Holly brought her an ice cream sandwich when she picked up Jax. Friday was long.
Saturday was the big day for Anna’s Sr Project, she had lots of help getting it together. Added to our crew, Lane came in to help as well. Toni, Kaine, Jax and I hauled in Marvel the steer and Roxette the heifer for Anna to use as demo animals. There were kids from Ephrata, Tri-cities, and all over that came. Anna had our family in the steer barn, Mackenzie Shattuck and Mrs. Shattuck on sheep, and Hanah Muhlbier and Mr. Palmer on pigs. The clinic was full and lots of positive results. Mr. Danzie and Mrs. Danzie, along with Ben and Jara and Cade Scott got the meal together. We didn’t really go to the other species, but we had a great time in the steer barn, parents helping parents, kids helping kids. Jara took Toni’s camera to get some pictures of the other species since we did not leave the steer barn. It was a huge success, lots of people came and we think they learned a lot. Now we are trying to find a Sr to do it next year. Hopefully Anna gets an A. She put in tons more time than required to make it as great as it was. She had lots and lots of support. Our local grocery store, Harvest Foods donated part of the meal, Grocery Outlet donated, Jara and Cade Scott, 509 Show Circuit, just to name a few. Added to all of the volunteers that donated time, which is really a precious commodity. Anna had lots of help, but the majority of the work fell on her shoulders and she squared those shoulders and did a great job. It was also a reminder that our fair season is around the corner. We had some pretty deep discussions with other adults about our concerns regarding fair support. We have been talking about putting together a Livestock Booster club for about a year now to help with kids that just don’t have the necessary support for their livestock project. With that, the North Franklin Livestock Booster was born and took shape on Saturday. Toni, Kameron Jenks, and Erica Corrales are the board members. Now they just need to get donations and put a list together of kids that potentially need assistance on sale day at the fairs. Toni has more work to do to make it official, but consider it done.
Sunday we did lots of ranch work that we are behind on. Fixed fence, Ben worked on circles, kids worked on steers. Kade practiced roping, Kaine worked on his pickup, Anna helped Toni and I fix fence. Toni and Anna videoed Anna and Gunnie for the AQHA Youth Program. There was an In-Hand trail pattern that Anna was required to do and she got to have the extra trail element of pain in the butt heifers in the way. The two angus heifers in that pen decided to make themselves part of the trail course. Gunnie didn’t care and hopefully AQHA sees the humor in it. At one point the heifers were eating the straw bale that was part of the course. And Kade and Toni went for another ride Sunday night. But Toni rode Gen. Gen loves attention and isn’t happy to be left out of the loop, so Toni said she will ride him sometimes. We also worked on my two-year-old Cash. Cash is a really cool filly out of one of our Apache Blue Boy daughters and Brays Eye Full. So she has the performance bottom combined with the run top. When working on training, a person must be aware of the horse they are working with. Cash has more react than our other fillies so has taken some extra time. You want to push that comfort zone when training without crossing the line into blowing up your horse. Because we know Cash and understand the training game, we have taken it a bit slower with her and know that going at her pace will make her a better horse in the long run. She is really coming along, just not as fast.
We are super excited with how well KT Jackpot City is doing with TD Performance Horses, call Dillion at 509-398-7272 for more information. After years of being used just as a stallion, Jackpot has gone right back to being ridden. Saddled picture is at TD Performance Horses. Thanks to his excellent mind, great foundational training, and of course, Ty Dekker, Jackpot will hopefully continue to excel. Here are some links to the new riding videos, including him running at the rodeo grounds: https://www.facebook.com/tylar.decker/videos/698230048602651
On Monday Anna, Kaine and I had dentist appointments, so Anna caught her steers and heifers and Kade and Toni caught Kaines for him. Kade also caught Jaxsen’s since Jaxsen at 12 can’t catch his own. Really unclear on that. We went and saw grandma after our appointments then the kids went home to work on their animals. Toni got the old horses in, Cad was the only one that did not get out, and fixed the fence. Toni, Jaxsen and I put up some poles. Kade rode Stormy Monday night.
Tuesday mom and Toni went to see grandma. Anna and Kade got circle 5 in and Anna and Kaine sorted out the bulls and a Hereford heifer that was limping. They also sorted out their bred and owned show heifers. Anna also got the old mares in and fixed the fence. I took Anna to a work dinner with me at Anthonys on Tuesday night, she was my DD. Toni and Jaxsen built fence after the horse chores while the boys went up and finished up working on their steers. Toni also worked on Glo and Fabby, two of the two-year-olds, while Kade rode Stormy and Gen.
Happy first day of summer. Toni and I celebrated by building fence with Jaxsen. It was the highlight of his day. We also took some new pics of Joss and played with the yearling fillies. We love them all. We are keeping too many, but four of them are out of old mares. And they are all so special. We still have Monte in, but we aren’t really doctoring him now, just waiting and hoping he gets better. His leg is still an issue. The good news is that he is young. There is time. There were rumors that I was sick on Wednesday night, but I said I had allergy issues.
I was supposed to go to Spokane on Thursday for work and go on a tour of Grand Coulee, I was really looking forward to this, however, I was home sick and slept all day. From looking at the pictures it looks like Kade rode Gen in a halter and Stormy in her bosal. Toni and Jaxen put up a pole. It really was too much for Jax since the poles are heavy and he thinks it is stupid. The kids also worked on their steers and heifers. Kade is still catching Jax’s steers. The big huge steer named Loki (Jax has had like 4 steers named Loki), is probably the tamer of the two steers. He may already be 1300 lbs but he is pretty tame. We are hopeful that Jax will be able to lead the steer before we head to Jr. Nationals. I think we are all sure Jax is not going to work on his steers when we are gone.
On Friday Toni, dad and Anna went to Spokane. Dad and Anna went to the AQHA trainer Jennifer Ballard for Anna to do her AQHA Youth Development Foal program. They really liked Jennifer and Gunnie did great. Toni went to Allie’s and picked up Abs, who is bred to Silver Gun, and preg check Annie, who is open, so no foal by Shiner named Sioux. Toni got to see “Cookie” the stud we are breeding Cinder and Cammie to and said how nice he is. On the way home they stopped and ate at Chaps which is one of Toni’s favorites and Dad really enjoyed his burger. Said it was one of the best he has had. Kaine chopped down Russian Olive trees after washing heifers and steers and Kade did some Angus Association paperwork after he was done washing. We also found some tadpoles on Friday where the sprinkler in the old mare pen had made a puddle. So we spent way too much time watching them. Marlo came out so she got to have fun with us watching tadpoles and discussing them. We moved Crystal over with Tank so she can have a late foal again next year. Toni and Kade went for a ride, Kade on Stormy and Toni on Gen, again in a halter.
On Saturday dad took the three older kids to Coulee City to get their heifers feet trimmed before we go to Jr Nationals. Toni and I went to a bridal shower for Kaycee Booth at Shannon’s house. We had a lot of fun, Grace did a great job planning it. In the afternoon Anna and I went to Cecil and Debbie’s house and picked up Benelli and Angel, they were there with two mini mares eating down the grass, the grass was getting short so we brought the big horses home. We put them down in circle 6 with Cad. I got a few new pics of Waffles the colt that is there. Then Toni, Jaxsen and I built some more fence. Kaine and Ben put out big bales of grass straw, thanks guys.
On Sunday Terry and Erina came out with Josie and JR to see the horses. We had a lot of fun “riding” the horses and catching and releasing tadpoles. Then we moved some panels and fence around and moved some horses around. I went out and checked Sagebug pen. The boys loaded some hay onto the flatbed trailer and bought it down to feed. Kids washed steers and heifers. Kolton and Scarlett were down so Kolton “helped” Jaxsen wash his steer and do his chores. Scarlett helped Anna, and Anna’s friend Brandy was out, so she helped her as well. They fixed the fence in the bull pen and moved the mini horses into the circle. Toni’s cat Harry took a ride in Kicker’s pu, then wouldn’t come to Kicker after he jumped out, so Toni had to run up and rescue her cat. And lastly on Sunday Chad came out and trimmed the three donkeys, Gunnie, Abs and Miss Gen. We only had Chad for a small sliver of time, so had to prioritize what was getting done. Then Kade rode Stormy and Gen.
Silver BlackDuke is a buckskin roan, so that throws people off a bit when they look at him. Smokin is a funky color, but we haven’t color tested him. A couple of the black colts also have crème genes which makes them look not truly black. We are firm believers that a color doesn’t make a horse, but color can be fun. A good horse is a good horse, regardless of color.
Monday was Memorial Day. A special day to remember all our brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our country from its enemies. On Sunday Mom, Dad, Jaxsen, Skip, Erina and Terry went and put flowers on graves and remembered everyone. They went up to St. John then back. They took Skip out to lunch at St. John and saw some friends at the bar/cafe.
On Monday Mom and I went down to see Grandma. Kaine was going to go with us but mom said we would be there around 3 hours and she did not know if he wanted to go. So he jumped out the door and ran back to the house, I did not even have it in park yet. So he stayed to help Ben and Anna sort cows and switch the heifers and bulls, and switch pastures. It was a Monday for Toni so she was working getting ready for a trial on Tuesday. The older kids all worked on their animals after sorting cows. When Mom and I got home in the afternoon I went down and got King’s pen and fixed the fence. Toni took Gracie for a ride and ponied the yearling filly Holly along. They both did great.
On Tuesday Anna went to Pullman after school for Meats judging. Toni had a trial in the afternoon. Eddy foaled and had a bay/brown roan colt. Jaxsen rode the bus home and Kaine and Kade started football practice. They have a few weeks-long spring season. Kade saddled up Stormy while they did chores and worked on her when they got done for a few minutes. Kaine and Kade did their chores and Annas when they got home. And Jaxsen helped dad move water. We had some people show up to look at Dude to breed their mare, but they wanted us to hand breed and we do not have time for that, so we sent them to Holly to bred to Whitty. Tuesday night we got a bunch of mares in and moved around for Allie to come ultrasound on Wednesday. We had mares all over.
On Wednesday Anna texted that they got 4th in Meats at state. Great job. Lendy had a bay colt, which really matched the one out of Eddy, but Lendy’s is out of King and Eddy’s is out of Sagebug. Last year they had matchy-matchy foals too. Kind of funny. The boys had football practice, dad picked them up again. Allie brought Reba home and ultrasounded some mares. We wanted to ultrasound the ones that had been with Leroy, to see if they were bred or we needed to put them with a different stud. Leroy got all of his mares bred except one. We will have one more Leroy foal for this year, Crystals. As of right now we are keeping Cammy’s colt to replace Leroy, we will see what happens. I wanted to call him Jac and Toni wanted to call him Chexy, his name is Chex this Jac, and Allie’s daughter came up with a good solution, Jexy. We also had an extra mare, Charlie, who somehow came home Tuesday night, so she also got ultrasounded. We ended up ultrasounding 12 mares, 10 of which were bred. So that is pretty good. It was a long day. After Allie left we went and got the trailer hooked up for Thursday.
On Thursday dad and Toni went and picked Cappy up from Jordans and took Debbie’s gelding. Jordan did an amazing job, Cappy is doing so great. We are talking about having him shown. Toni said she should have taken her boots and jumped on him. Toni also got a few pics of John Grays’ gelding there by Leroy and out of Lona and of Jordan’s mare he has for sale. Cappy has immense talent and a good mind, so really a good combo. We got him home and put Sally in with him. Sally is HZ roan, and a buckskin so we could get a cool foal out of the cross. Kendel brought a little 4 year old girl down to pet horses and to sit on Libby the cow. Libby doesn’t mind small children sitting on her, but she boycotts big kids. The little girl, Nova, got to pet quite a few horses.
Friday was an interesting day. Toni went to Kennewick to see grandma. I started out with flat tires on my poor beat up Colorado. The air chuck was in Ben’s work pickup. I went and got dads and aired up my tires. Then I needed gas. We had someone coming out to look at the black Herefords. I got stuck getting them in. No one was around. The dogs and I get the cows in on foot. No, no horses around me, they had gotten out into the big pasture and would not be lured over to me so I could catch one. Get to the house, get in Anna’s work pickup, get a flat tire in it. So I finished the cows on the lawn mower. Later that day after Toni pulled me out I got the horses in. Willy came out with his son and they looked at the heifers and said they would let us know, I thought that meant it would be a bit, so I turned them out. He texted later the next day he wanted to get them. We also need a horse for Willy’s son, something sane, sound, broke, and not super expensive if anyone knows of anything. Willy’s son wants to rope and his horse coliced and died. We did chores then Kade and Toni rode out and about getting Stormy used to stuff. They both rode with a halter, so that was interesting when Kade’s horse spooked, but he got her slowed up after a bit. Stormy really did great. Most young horses will spook of a weird dog bounding through tall grass.
Saturday Anna helped McKenna at the farmers market with strawberries. Kade had a football game then went to his gf’s house for a party. So Ben, Kaine and I went and picked up grass hay that Dan Schneider gave to the kids for their projects. Anna brought home strawberries for us, they were great. Kaine, Toni and I did chores.
Sunday we got the cows in again and sorted out the sold ones for George to preg check. Anna and I were going to ride chasing them back down, bareback since we just needed to push them back. Anna ended up riding my horse, and I drove. Anna, Kaine and Kade washed their steers and heifers. Kaine and Kade also went down to the lake and went and brought the paddle boat back in. Toni and I moved Lendy and Eddie out with Sagebug. Hauled the Hereford cows down to be with the Angus bull. Ben fixed the fencer that was shorting out and then moved hay around. He is also cooking for our trip to Angus Preview in Filer in a few weeks. Toni and Kade rode again, but had bridles on this time. The big event was Kicker in his Razor, but Stormy handled it well. We have a couple of really pretty flower seed fields around the house, so I asked the owner if we could take pictures of Anna in them, he said yes. So we went and took some pictures of Anna in a couple of the fields. The pictures turned out very pretty.
Down to 2 mares left to foal. Of course, we are excited for the last 2- Crystal bred to Leroy and Blue bred to King. 2 good old mares that could have some pretty exciting foals. We are finally done calving. Kaine’s “show heifer” had a bw faced heifer. As she was supposed to be bred to an Angus heifer bull, the general consensus is that the bull jumped the fence on that one.
Chad and I thought for sure Reba would foal Sunday night after being trimmed, no such luck. I brought Old Red to work on Monday to get the windshield fixed, it has a rock chip. Toni chopped some Russian Olive Trees Monday morning, and got a thorn threw her shoe. Then she heard a ruckus at the gate and ran down there, since we moved Queenie, CeeCee and Red Robin are in a herd by themselves. CeeCee does not like the rest of the horses in the pen, so she was down in the corner. Gunner felt she needed to be in his heard, since she normally is, so he was trying to break her out. He had the fence grounding out so Toni fixed it and he went back to his mares. Benelli is already in heat at Allie’s, so NZ Scotch Time semen is on its way to breed her. We are so thankful for Allie and for Codi who owns NZ Scotch Time for everything they have done to get the mares bred.
Still no Reba foal on Tuesday. Toni cut down more Russian Olive Trees when she was checking. She wore her boots this time so no trees through the foot. Rob had some extra hours on the machines he rented, so the men and three older kids were out moving dirt after they finished chores. Kade on the Case, Kaine on the Kitten, Anna on the backhoe and the men on the big loader, I think Ben was mainly running gates. Toni and I checked, no new foals, we have Red Robin’s colt, Smokin, some scratches.
Guess what, still no Reba foal Wednesday morning, or Twiggy, Cammie, etc. We are in a foal drought! Toni had court at 10 and 2, so she did not get a lot of trees cut when she was checking. The older 3 kids were still working with the equipment on Wednesday night. Kyle showed up and got his bull, M205. We had some rain showers, and they got in right as it started pouring.
Still nothing on Thursday. Kaine was home sick, I think he was overly tired from his late-night tractor driving. Toni cut down some more trees. Ben took 138 in to get semen tested so he could head to Montana the following week. Thursday we are still working on horses, feeding everything due to the lack of grass (cold weather), working on getting mares bred, and normal chores. We still go out and feed Gunner’s pen and the heavy horses in circle 5. Circle 5 went from 40 head of mares to 6 head, but they still want some hay.
The weekly theme of no foals continues on Friday. Dad and Kaine went to Soap Lake to get his steer’s feet trimmed before Spokane. I had a guy, Joseph, coming out to pick up his heifer, he was working in Olympia but headed back to Texas with her. We did a small tour before we got on his way. Dad and Kaine were back when we went on our tour, so dad and Kaine talked to him for a few minutes as well. Dad went home and Kaine and I went to Moses Lake to try to get his farmer’s permit, which I guess we were supposed to do the pre apply online and not bring in the printed forms, so that was a fail. So we went and picked up our pork at Block 40 Meats and then went and got pizza for dinner. We stopped at Basin Feed on our way home to get a smoker for Ben that would not fit in the Yukon, so an additional fail. However, I did specifically ask Ben if it would fit and he said yes. It was about a half inch too big. The Kade left from school and headed to trap shooting state. His parents went separately so they could watch the competition on Friday night. It went very late. Jaxsen got to spend the weekend with his self-proclaimed favorite aunt. I doubt Stephanie reads this, his other aunt, to know I have announced I am his favorite. I am all my nieces and nephews favorite, since I am writing this I can definitely say that. Sometimes Candice reads this so she might have a response. Kaine and I got home and we went and did chores with Jaxsen and Marlo. Kaine and Jaxsen set up Kaine’s Gameboy in the camper, it might not be a Gameboy because I kept calling It the wrong thing??, they were going to sleep in the camper but Jaxsen came back in the house when Kaine fell asleep and tried to share the couch with Murtaugh. He said Murtaugh is not good at sharing.
Still no foals on Saturday, Toni thought for sure there would be one while she was gone. Mom and dad headed to Wenatchee to watch Kade and the Connell Team shoot. Dad has been going to a lot of his competitions, so has a lot of friends there. Ben, Anna, Kaine, Jaxsen and I got the cows in to work and sorted them. Then Kaine and Jaxsen washed their steers and heifers and Kaine finished slicking his heifers. Ben, Anna and I started working the cows. We got circle 4 done by the end of the day. Then Anna and Lane went on a date, and Lane picked up the smoker on the way down. Ben, Kaine, Jaxsen and I did chores. Kade’s team got 5th at state, we are all very proud of him. They got home late and picked up Jaxsen and the dogs, 2 of their 3 dogs ended up at our house too. Mom made pies, as requested by the kids, so we had pie Saturday night as well.
Guess what, still no foals on Sunday. We got up to finish working cows. The boys went fishing in the morning with Keegan and then got back to help in the afternoon. The skidsteer was also used Sunday afternoon and destroy more Russian Olive Trees and piled them up. Toni, Jaxsen and I also caught Red Robin, we were going to put her in with Tank, but love little Smokin so much we wanted her by the house so she is in with Leroy. Leroy was happy to get another mare.
It felt like this week just flew by. We are so busy, but aren’t we always? The kids are now done with “sports” for the rest of the school year and can focus on the main sport of showing cattle. With the weather being cold, it has been a slow start to spring, but things are starting to look and feel like spring has arrived. We are excited to show off the foals we have if anyone wants to come out and take the tour.
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