Posts Tagged With: #IamAngus

Sorry, it is a long one, two weeks worth, but these memories are priceless.

Posted on July 12, 2024 by horseshoeangusranch

I left for work early on Monday to meet a mobile detail service at work at 7 to get the pu cleaned up before our big trip. On my way I saw that Crystal foaled, Toni told me it was a colt. I texted her back again and she said it is still a colt. I said I am waiting for a different response. She said well, it is still a colt. So I guess Crystal had a colt. Dad named him Santana. Dad and Toni ran down and spent some time with uncle Skip who is dealing with some health issues. Kade worked on Joss and T Monday night. The men started irrigation circles and fixed circles. Kids fed and did chores. We got another outside mare in to breed to Cappy. Cappy is up to three outside mares which isn’t bad for a cute little chestnut stud.

Butte was in Pullman (Butte is my pickup) getting its oil changed on Tuesday to get ready to go to Wisconsin. Toni and dad went to see Skip again. Mom was making items for us to take to Jr Nationals. Kids have been busy packing and getting ready to go. Kade has been riding his keeper horses at home and roping and dragging tree limbs, which is always good experience for his horses. Toni stayed with grandma Tuesday night.

Our compressed hay for the trip was ready Wednesday, so Kaine and Kade went and picked it up. Dad went to St John for a funeral and meet with a Heidi to clean the house in St John. Mom went to stay with grandma. Toni went to see Skip Wednesday. Anna and Kaine went to Corrales and brought the miniature horses home. Mike Corrales didn’t know the minis were leaving so wanted the kids to bring something back to keep the mini jack company, so that was a funny call. The men were chasing water, it looked like they were fixing circle 4 when I got home.  Mom calls herself NOT creative but embroidered some really cool hats for us to take to Wisconsin. We will be the envy of everyone! Mom also made Toni a Ride Sally Ride shirt.

                The kid continued packing to go to Jr Nationals. Kade got all his horses ridden before we left. Toni rode “her” horse as well for a bit.  Toni and I moved Crystal and Santana in with MC. Chad came out and trimmed the donkeys and some minis. Mom wanted her donkeys done and that was the main priority. Anna took Misty and Blue Devil back to Corrales.  It was a long last day before we left. Toni also had a big hearing before the Court of Appeals that she has been prepping for. It feels like we are never ready but we are always ready, meaning we prepare and the cattle and kids are ready. The adults are probably not ready!  During chores Ben called that one of the tires on the pu was leaking air. We were very thankful he saw that before we left and was able to get it fixed.

Friday morning early we hit the road the Madison, WI. We drove a little over half the first day and made it it Dickenson, ND. We stalled the heifers at a rodeo grounds, we had called ahead and reserved pens, but there was literally a rodeo going on. So that was interesting. We got some real side eye from people that couldn’t stall their horses because we had the show heifers taking up stalls. We had 6 head on the trip to WI. The first day is always big because it sets the tone of the trip. The other family from WA going, Kat and Kady Verjaska, also stayed the night there. We left the men folk, mom and dad and Jaxsen at home to take care of all the animals, circles, etc.

On Saturday we made it to Madison by around 6:30. You cannot get into the grounds until 6 pm so our timing was great.  While we were checking in the heifers we noticed that the valve stem was leaking on the driver side back tire. It held out until we got everything unloaded and the trailer unhooked. Then Toni and Kaine changed the tire while we got a few things set up. The cattle unloaded great and we were at the end barn 3 bays from the end, which also correlated to being on top of the hill for tie-outs. We put the cattle in tie-outs, watered them, and the trailer got parked close enough that the kids could pack hay from the trailer. The weather was warm but not crazy hot like we had been told to expect. WI was experiencing cooler weather and lots of rain and flooding. There was a bar and grill on the way to the air BNB, so we stopped and ate there. We had cheese curds and hamburgers. On the way to WI we promised the boys we would eat lots of cheese curds.  Jaxsen went to Kasen’s birthday party at home and got to hang out with grandma.

Great news is that we now have 2 drivers over 16 that can legally drive. Sunday morning we sent the kids over to get the cattle in the barn, fed, and washed while we slept in a bit. The kids got to sleep in the pu while we drove so they were way more rested than we were. Just so everyone knows this was a huge concession for Toni who doesn’t think the kids are old enough to do anything on their own. Luckily none of them were stolen, they didn’t wreck, didn’t get hurt, and it all went well. Maybe she will let them go somewhere without her at some point before they are 40, maybe. On Sunday we got everything set up and ready for the show. We got checked in and the boys both got super cool windbreakers from Select Sires for having heifers at the show out of Select Sire bulls. Always a fun thing to get a bonus item at check-in. We also got our 7th heifer Sunday night about 9:00 pm that we had bought and arrived from Michigan. She is a super cute little October heifer for Anna to show.

On Monday Maria brought Aram to hang out with us for a few days. The adults ran to Walmart for necessities which included 4th of July sunglasses, hairpieces, necklaces, and all kinds of fun stuff for the kids to wear. We also bought bread for sandwiches, chips, anything else that caught our eye. On our way to Walmart we dropped the pu off at Discount Tire to fix the leaky tire and check the others as that was the second tire to have a valve stem issue. When we went to pick the pu back up they had fixed three leaky stems, replaced the tire, and charged us ZERO. Big thank you to Discount Tire of Madison WI for being awesome.  It made us feel a ton better to know the tires were fixed and we could hit the road as soon as the show was over. We had opening ceremonies, luckily Kat had ordered a few extra shirts so we had one for Aram. After opening ceremonies there was a dance that Kaine and Kade went to for a while with their SD fried Teagen. The rest of us led the heifers to tie outs and got ready for the night.

Tuesday it poured down rain. If we had soaped the heifers before we put them out they would have been washed. Kade competed in Team Fitting with Oregon, so he was pretty excited about that. The team had some great mentors that gave them advice like Justin Click and our boys Coulson and Dalton Chambers. The team used Kade’s heifer Queen so that was also fun. Because it was raining so hard the competition took extra long as they had to blow the heifers hair out before they could start to fit them. There were 44 teams I think.  They did really well. Kat and I went and bought rain jackets to try to stay dry. Anna and Kady were Angus delegates so we also got to meet most of the kids running for green coat positions which is always fun. We tried to eat out near the capital building that night but couldn’t get parking so went to the bar. 

                Wednesday was our first show day and the first day we had McKenna to help us. She was originally flying in on Tuesday but due to weather didn’t get there until Wednesday. It was awesome to have her with us helping wrangle the children. Wednesday the kids showed bred and owned heifers. Kaine had two, Gabby and Johnny, Kade had Queen and Anna had Blondie. All of them did great, especially Gabby since she is a baby and this was her 2nd show. The weather had also gotten nicer so that was a huge help. We had a really fun upscale dinner. By Wednesday we also had Kacey and her dog. Kacey is a sister to Kady and daughter of Kat. We once again had cheese curds. We tried to have cheese curds at every place we ate. Leslie and Traci took the kids to the 4th of July rodeo at home, Jaxsen had a great time.

Happy 4th of July. We had the PGS show (Phenotype and Genotype) and then tail gate that night. At the PGS show Gabby, Queen and Blondie all made it back to the championship round in bred and owned PGS and Queen made it back to the championship round in the regular class as well. This was awesome for us to have that many in the championship round. They all did great. Anna had showmanship as well on the 4th. At Angus Jr Nationals you just get to show in showmanship once when you are a senior. Next year Jr  nationals is in Tulsa and the following year in Lexington, so we have not decided if we are gong to those two, so she decided to do it while she had the right age of heifer. She did a great job. We are so proud of her for her composure and immense skill that was reflected in how she handled her heifer and the other heifer that she got to show for her round.  There is truly nothing more rewarding than seeing a child that was as shy as Anna was when she started, become the showperson she is today. We know she did her absolute best and left everything she had out in that showring. It was raining again so the tail gate was moved inside. We had a lot of fun and way too much food. At home most of the family and Erina and Terry go to my house for a 4th of July bbq. We hear they all had a great time.

On Friday we started the owned heifer show, we only had one Friday, Hazel, our Seldom Rest heifer. She did great for her first time out. She is just a little green. In fact the only thing the Judges said was she is too green. But she did great in a big deep class and we are pretty excited about her future. Added to the fact that she is really sweet, eats great, doesn’t seem to stress too bad and is just fun overall.  We started to pack up on Friday knowing we were leaving at the earliest opportunity on Saturday. We were hoping to be done showing on Friday so we could leave early Saturday, but this year they didn’t split the showring so things ran long, they ran late and there was no getting done on Friday. In fact we were like the 6th class on Saturday and the classes were not fast. Closing ceremonies were Friday night and we learned that Anna had won a $1800 scholarship! So that was really exciting. We also got to say goodbye to some of the friends we had made that week.

On Saturday Kade showed REM and Anna showed Devo, and Kady’s heifer Missy was also in that class. The April classes are pretty deep, but they all did a great job. Kade’s heifer was bought from PVF so they fit her for us. Funny thing when Toni was over talking to Alan and Theresa it turns out that Toni’s other niece is doing an internship in WA DC and so is Alan and Theresa’s daughter, so they exchanged the girl’s numbers hoping they can meet up while they are both in DC. We got all of our new goodies that we had bought packed up along with all the stuff we brought and our Hazel heifer and headed home.  I had also bid on and won a couple of baskets in the fundraising auction so we had some extra treats on the way home.  We made it to Murdo, SD on the first night which was about 9 hours of travel after the showing.

On Sunday we spent a lot of time in the pickup, but we made it home by 9:30. Long day. Long trip. Lots of fun, lots of friends made and old friends seen. We had a great week being stalled near Kentucky and made some wonderful friends. We also got to see our CA and OR friends who were stalled near us, and the boys good friend Teagan hung out with them almost all week. The Jr. Nationals week is always a whirlwind of competitions, break-outs, showing, and taking care of the heifers. It is absolutely one of the best weeks of the summer to be with the kids, watching them build a strong foundation in the Angus industry and knowing that nothing can replace this time we get to spend with them. These kids grow up so fast and these memories are priceless.

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You know what a half dead Russian Olive tree is? A live Russian Olive tree.

Posted on May 3, 2023 by horseshoeangusranch

Monday on my way to work I saw Gary (Gary is a Hereford cow from Gary Ottley) was in circle 5 and her calf was in circle 4, so I texted Ben and Toni. Toni got them both into circle 4 when she checked. She said that Gary is a very annoyingly smart, meaning she was problematic to get moved, but it happened.  Dad met Jana in Dusty on Monday to pick up Stormy, the clubby heifer Anna is going to show. He got home around 7:30. Kaine and I started packing a few items out to the camper each night, so maybe it will be packed before we go to park it on Saturday. The men were out starting circles until late and disposing of Russian Olive Trees. Toni worked on group #1 which is Cash, Glo, and PBJ. Glo and PBJ were great, Cash was more reactive. She got the bareback pad on them, PBJ and Glo didn’t care. PBJ was typical- can’t pass a feedpan without checking it out no matter how many times she has passed it. It may have mysteriously gotten grain in it. They are three really good fillies.

We are still impatiently waiting for a foal. At this point I think any foal. Anna had FFA practice after school so Toni picked the boys up, her and Kaine were supposed to get their hair trimmed after FFA practice but Kaine pretended he was a small child and was too scared to wait by himself at the school. He really just didn’t want his precious hair trimmed/cut.  Dad and Stave took a bull to meet Ralph, they were supposed to meet at Lookout Pass, but Ralph left early, so they met this side of Look Out Pass. Dad said they had a good trip. Toni worked on group #2 of the two-year-olds and I went out and took some pics of foals.  Group 2 is Doll, Fabby, and CanCan. Also, all wonderful. Doll only has one eye. She got her eye kicked out when she was a baby by another horse, so we really are just catching her and messing around with her so she gets consistent work. CanCan and Fabby got the bareback pad. Again, so great.

It is really starting to warm up on Wednesday and feel like spring. Still no foals, the mares look miserable. The grass is coming up in Gunners pen, so they are not cleaning up their hay but still seem to think they need it. We had a really cool email from a gal with a Easy Move Whiskey daughter that she wanted us to have. Easy Move Whiskey is a pretty trendy horse, so without seeing this new mare, we went ahead and bought her. No, we really don’t need anymore mares, but if the right horse comes along, what do you do? Our last Hereford heifer calved on Wednesday with a black baldy bull calf. She is one of our favorite heifers so we were pretty excited.

Still nothing on Thursday. Anna worked the FFA Plant Sale after school, so Toni went and picked the boys up. Then she went to Knivetons after to look at Emmett’s steer. Toni and I worked on Group #2 again. Kade came down and had them all caught when we got back from checking Gunner pen. Then we went out to catch Stormy, who did not want to be caught, but he caught Pow and Jojo and Stormy finally relented. Group 2 did great. I laid Toni across Fabby and CanCan’s backs then we worked on lunging, which they picked up pretty quickly. It’s always fun to have smart horses.

Guess what, Friday Ceecee finally had a baby, a giant buckskin colt. I had a whole pickup load of groceries delivered. I did not account for how warm it was and how much stuff everyone had added to the list. So not a lot of ice in the coolers with the groceries. Anna worked the plant sale all day again on Friday. I also had a message about someone needing a show steer for Othello, we were going to go look at the one Mike Pink had left, but discussed it with Mike and we were taking  a step back and let the other person come and look first, since he would have been an extra for us. And if we need an extra we can always get a beef calf out of the fat pen like last year.  Marlo was out and helped Toni with feeding and checking. Then helped her lay across Glo’s back and learn to lunge. Glo is out of NZ Scotch Time and Mil, so she is another one of the favorites.

Saturday Ben had to work, they started planting corn on Wednesday. The normal crew took the campers to Spokane to park. We head to the Spokane Jr Livestock Show on Tuesday, the kids show Thursday and Friday if anyone wants to watch. The sale is Friday if anyone is looking for beef, pork or lamb. Anyone that wants to the come by the kids will try to sell you their animals. Toni helped Anna and the boys load Gunnie for the Youth program project Anna was working on, then went and checked, cut trees like normal, then went and got Jax to start rebuilding Circle 6 fence. I had the West side of the fence up, but when the farmers came through and cut the trees, they laid the trees right on the fence ruining the fence again. So complete rebuild. I got back and the three of us worked on the fence until about 6 pm, then went and did chores. We were pretty tired. Kade also got his new fall heifer to show from Traynham’s. She is REALLY cute. 

Sunday we tried to get everyone out with studs, etc for the upcoming week.  We had a guy, named Scott, coming to look at bred heifers, so Anna, Kade and Ben got them in and sorted. Then, Kaine and Ben went to help Todd work his five cows. Anna, Kade and I met Scott, and his friend Scott, and they bought heifer #171. Toni and Jaxsen went down and got the yearling horses in to west nile,  deworm and sort the colts off of the fillies. They also got Rudy in so she can get moved with Tank. I can’t remember everything we did, but we got the pairs from Tank’s pen down to Circle 6, went to lunch, then got Tank, Dally, Butterfly, and Rudy down there as well. There is so much grass that none of the horses even left the alley area, just started grazing. Then we moved the colts down to Tank’s pen. We got a mare named Lucy in to breed, so she went out with King, then we turned Twist out with King. Then we went and got CeeCee and Hammer in and put them with Sagebug. Dally had already gone through the fence in Circle 6, so went back got her back in, she got out again, caught her again, fixed the fence. Then we got our new mare, the Easy Move Whiskey daughter from the shipper. She is a doll. Camas was out with Kaine by that time so the boys and Camas did chores. The kids are also still packing the trailer for Spokane, and Ben helped them get the chutes up into the nose of the gooseneck.

You know what a half dead Russian Olive tree is? A live Russian Olive tree. The Russian Olive war continues. We are still cutting. Found at guy at U of I that is a Russian Olive expert, so we had a consult with him. We hope to get on a trial for a mite that has been located in Europe that only eats Russian Olives then dies. We heard about the Russian Olive trees from a bull buyer named Forest, who had just been at week school at U of I. We will see.

We are very excited about these yearlings we have. There are some colts left for sale and two fillies. They are just so so good. Great minds, curious, good to handle. It will be interesting to see if 2023 can beat 2022. 2022 is pretty damn good.(We have updated pictures of them on Toni’s camera from when her and Jaxsen gave them their spring worming and West Nile, so hopefully uploaded soon).

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Last Week in Pictures

Posted on May 2, 2023 by horseshoeangusranch
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April showers bring May grass. Yes the saying is April showers bring May flowers but ranchers care way more about grass than flowers.

Posted on April 6, 2023 by horseshoeangusranch

Monday was an interesting day to say the least. Blackie had a beautiful filly that had some mystery punctures on her right leg. They look like a dog bit her, but no one can figure out how that could have happened. Toni had court then went down and mom and Toni got her moved into the shed. Dad went to fertilize the pasture, his old tractor broke down, so dad and Toni went up and got the Case, and he used that. But then the fertilizer spreader broke down. Toni felt like she was down there most of the day and was not productive getting her work done.  Coco and Shea made it up from CA on Monday to see everyone and Coco could finish packing up her house. Shea had a great time doing chores with us. Coco jinxed us and said we had not had any red colts yet, we got out to the desert and guess what, Lola had a red colt. He is a bright red flashy red colt. When we got back from checking the mares in the desert there was a pole down on the driveway, so we popped that up. All 4 kids worked on their steers, and Anna worked on her heifers as well.  Anna is headed to Reno next week to show her heifer and compete for the Western Angus Queen title. We know she will do a great job, but all four states will be sending really great girls for the coveted title.

Tuesday morning Rosie B had a cute bay roan filly. As it was the Twins’ b-day, they got to name the filly. When Toni was checking cows she saw a pair of eagles nesting across the ditch on some USBR ground. Toni went and got Shea from Kendel when she got back and Jaxsen got to watch her when he got home. Coco, Shea, Toni and I went out to check horses. Toni is teaching her horse colors so she can go to preschool knowing her colors. You know, red is sorrel- no such thing as white, only gray. Good thing Shea isn’t old enough to really be corrupted yet.

Wednesday the kids had a half day of school and we had parent teacher conferences. Toni went out to see grandma in-between conferences and grandma wants to see Leo. Mom and dad went to Wilbur to take bulls to Dan, Rusanne and Seth Wagner. Toni and mom fed the mares since I was at conferences. Toni also put in another post on the hill.

                Thursday we got a skidsteer on tracks to help us with the Russian Olive Tree battle. The boys are really excited about it. Toni, Anna, Kaine, Kade and Jaxsen went to farm fair to help set up the Cattlemens booth, then went and got groceries for the cattle shows and then went to lunch. Then they went back to Farm Fair and picked up Shea from Coco. Jaxsen watched her for a while and then Anna watched her. She did not nap, so Coco and Shea did not check horses with us since Coco was trying to get her to nap. Bailey had a cute colt on Thursday, his name is Bailey Bug after Toni and Kicker’s niece who shares the same birthday. Toni and I turned Lightening Bug and Freida out of Jackpot’s pen and put Cinder in.

Friday dad used the Case and harrowed the pastures again. Toni helped him get in through the gates. While she was waiting, she worked on the hill fence for a bit. She was supposed to have a trial Friday but it got moved again. This trial has been moved 4 times I think? Toni is pretty annoyed about it. Marlo came to do chores and her and Toni went and checked, BB had a cute buckskin, possibly buckskin roan filly by King.

Saturday we got up early to get to work on fencing. It was April Fools day and Shorty foaled and had a cute little fooler. We got the bulls in and sorted Vern’s bull out so he could pick him up. Kade went to shooting practice then they went and got the skidsteer and got it running and out moving trees. Ben worked on fence and went and picked up the 5th wheel. The rest of the kids worked on their steers and heifers. Kade worked on his as well when he got home. Toni, Kaine, Jaxsen and I, and later Anna, Kade and Shea, worked on the fence on the bottom of circle 5 and 6. We had way too much fence work to do. We had to rebuild braces, restring wire, really almost a compete redo. We think we made it better. Kaine and Jax were really good help. We also cleaned up all of the old fence and boards that were down there and buried the jump wire part way across. The area that we were really having to do the most work in was very very rocky, so there were some real challenges. We also encountered wind, rain, hail, sun, then repeat the cycle. We decided to bring all of the mares in out of the desert once the fence was fixed so we would have less to do on Sunday. For some reason they missed their normal gate. Luckily Ben was down checking out our work and was able to get the gates open and let the mares in through the new gates. I drove over a rock trying to get the mares to go the right way and ruined my tire so had to walk back to the desert. Then we worked on the fence at the bottom of circle 6. Same weather- hail, rain, wind, sun, repeat. Once we got those fencing projects done we went back to get chores done.

Sunday the kids continued to work on heifers and steers and Kade had shooting in the afternoon. We got the Hereford cows and riding horses in off of the corn field. Ben and Anna rolled up the wire and the men and Anna picked up posts. Toni and I went to circle 5 and got all of the mares in. There were only 20, so they fit pretty good in the corral. Then we sorted and took the 4 red pairs down to the desert, the 2 crème pairs to Sagebug, and Shorty pair to Tank.  Toni and I moved Gunner and his mares to the desert, then went and got Rosie B and Revel from Mom’s and hauled them out as well. So Gunner has 10 mares.  It hailed on us, rained on us, the wind blew. Camas came over and asked Kaine to Sadies. Spoiler- he said yes.

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This has been one of those weeks.

Posted on June 22, 2022 by horseshoeangusranch

                It rained all of Sunday night, we were very happy all our hay was up. Monday morning we had more rain and cool temps, it is supposed to warm up during the week. Somehow one of the poles in King’s pen got knocked down, but it was an easy fix. One of Toni’s college roommates called Monday morning and was headed through the area, so she stopped and had dinner with the Meachams. We were all happy to hear how Kellie was doing, besides on Facebook. Mom and dad went to town on Monday, so Toni got to feed Molly B lunch, Molly B has been moved to 6 hour feedings and is giving mom her sad face. As an FFA Officer, Anna got to go and talk to the Connell School Board on Monday night to ask about going to FFA National Convention. They were approved to go. They are very excited. The boys finished up the cattle chores and cleaned out the barn.

Tuesday the wind blew, yea, shocking after the rain. Kaine and some of his friends were dressing up as frat boys for their last full day of school. Mike Chubb came out and harvested two more head of cattle on Tuesday, a grass and a grain fed, both were presold. Alli came out and ultradsounded Tuesday night. Toni and the boys caught the horses. Stinger, Butterfly, Abs, Miss Gen and Rosey all open. Good news is Cami and Annie are bred, so they both got moved out to the field.  However, 2/7 being bred is pretty bad. We are hearing across the board that it is a hard breeding year, so we aren’t taking it personally.  This is the first time Cami has bred naturally vs AI, so that is cool. Leroy is pretty good at his job. We moved Lendy, Stinger and Rosie in with King. Mis Gen is going out with Leroy and Butterfly is going back to John’s to get bred to PD. Then we went down and checked Jackpot’s pen and went home.  

Wednesday I left early for work and saw Comet in the fence, she is in the heavy pen, so in the corral I can check on my way to work. I raced down there and she was foaling and had rolled into the fence. I called Toni, dad and Ben, Dad and I had her most of the way out of the fence when Toni got down there,  Comet decided she was good enough to get up. We got a halter on her and dad held her while Toni put her arm in to see what was going on. Foal was backwards with a leg down. So we got it pulled up, Toni and I started pulling it when Ben got there and helped us finish. Comet is fine, foal is not. It was a cute blue roan filly, very disappointing. However, we are happy Comet is OK. Sometimes we just have to focus on the good and Comet being alive and doing well is really good.  Wednesday was turning into a real shit day. On the good glass half full side, Bob at work make me some peal rings, at cost, that are very nice, improved my mood to some degree. And he made a chain for mom, she wanted a shorter chain for some of her necklaces. Also, Wednesday was Kaine’s last spring Football jamboree. Some of the kids were already gone for summer break, so we had a pretty small team, only one extra person. And we played Pasco, so our Varsity and JV teams combined were smaller than their JV team.  But the boys played really well.  Kaine figured out the guy on the line and sacked the QB so many times that they asked him to just hit the guy in the back when he made it through the line versus knocking him down. Mom made a chocolate pie, it was great. Anna friends were over, and they helped Anna with the cattle chores, and then Ben, Anna, Josie and Brandi went to Booths to dr a highlander’s eye. Toni, Kade and Jaxsen did chores, moved water, etc. When I got there after the game we checked horses and waited for John to show up to get Butterfly. Then Toni went home for a call and I went down to give Comet a shot.

Thursday was the first actual day of summer break. Toni had court then her and the kids had their annual lake party. The kids worked on their show animals while Toni was in court. Then Kaine, Kade and Anna’s friends came over and Kendel, Scarlet, Kolton and the rest went down to the lake. They all had a blast. They stayed at the lake until chore time. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. They paddle boated, had the motor boat, kayaks, a tent for some cover, some floaties, and lots of snacks.

Friday Anna and Kaine went and helped sell strawberries with McKenna in Richland. Toni went down and loaded the two Hereford bulls for dad to take to Connell. One to go back to Joe so he can sell it in TX and ours to get his horns cut so he doesn’t look like a goober.  Toni and Kade  tied up steers. All of the steers are really coming along.  When they got back McKenna helped the boys clip their steers to go to Saturday to Hermiston.  Toni had Dad leave the trailer at his house and practiced loading Dagnon in the trailer to get her ready for a person to come look at her on Saturday. She loaded really well. She has been a really great filly overall. Too bad she is grade, but she will make a great horse for someone else. Marlo was also out on Friday and helped Toni with loading and getting Dagnon used to new people.

Saturday Ben, Anna, Kaine, Kade and the BB Crew went to the UCCA Desert Classic in Hermiston. They had a good time. Kade with 5th overall with his steer. Anna and Natalie were reserve champion in showmanship and Kaine was grand champion in showmanship. Everyone did great. Ady and Julian showed well too.

                At home Jaxsen, Toni, Tux (the cat), the shags (dogs) and I tied up the steers and did chores. Then we got in circles 4 and 5, Toni sorted circle 5 with us. Toni went to feed Molly B, since mom and dad went to Hermiston. Then we sorted cows, Toni had to leave for a while to sell Dagnon, so I just had Jaxsen and Tux, but we got it done. We hauled the bull calves down to circle 5 and went to haul the heifer calves back, but they had gotten a gate down and were out. We fixed fence and then did chores. Ben and the kids drove by while we were doing chores.  Because Dagnon was sold, we got Sam in and got her haltered and ready to be the next project. As a yearling, Sam is already 13.2  hands, so pretty good sized. PBJ and Kat also came in with Sam, so Toni caught them and worked on picking up their feet to get them ready for Chad. We are down to the 8 yearling fillies. That sounds like too many but we like them.

                Happy Fathers Day. The kids tied up the steers in the morning, while mom made pie and potato salad, I made burgers, hotdogs, german dogs, green salad, and Toni made apple crisp and Texas sheet cake with Grandma’s maple frosting. We had a great lunch with the fathers. Then Anna went to Toni’s house to pick out dresses to wear to Jr Nationals, as the WA Angus queen. Ben and Kaine went out and fixed the water line. I cleaned up the house and did dishes and laundry until chores. We put Miss Gen and Comet in with Leroy and tried to bred Abs to Stetson again, hopefully it takes this time. We took Lucy the outside mare down to see if Sagebug likes her today, since she was in heat. He still does not like her.

This has been one of those weeks. Good things have happened and bad things have happened that test your faith. We try not to dwell on the bad and instead focus on the good. I think that is one of those life lessons being a rancher teaches you, if you dwell on the bad, you are so wrapped up in what went wrong that you can’t learn and move forward.  At the end of the week, we have 2 mares left to foal, and what seems like too many mares left to breed.

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This June still is cold and wet, so it doesn’t feel like summer

Posted on June 14, 2022 by horseshoeangusranch

Monday Dad took Crystal up to Allie’s to get bred to NZ Scotch Time. Toni went and made Crystal’s old pen into a creep feeder for Molly B, so she could get more grain without Tulip getting it. It has been raining the night before so when Molly B went crazy with her new found freedom she did fall down. Toni also started calling her the Monster which Mom has forbidden Toni from calling her that word. I went to a meeting in Ephrata for work, and then we got to tour some of the small Hydro Power plants. Dad picked out a mare he wanted at Allie’s while he was up there. Chad came Monday night and we trimmed two yearlings and Cad. Toni’s 1 and 2nd best she says on the yearlings, Glo and Fabby.  It was their first trim, one did better than the other. Toni has 4 picked out for herself in the yearling pen, hoping she gets one of that group as the kids continue to take hers or they get hurt. I told Toni that she can’t ride my horse, Cad, because she is 25. Now Toni is trying to find ways to ride my horse.

Toni, Kaine and Kade worked on the two and three year olds when Kaine got home from football practice. Kade’s three year old, Stormy, that he stole form his mom, is doing really good. It is really Toni’s fault he stole her, she let him start her and he has not given her back. Kaine’s 4 year old, Pow, is with Rachel in CA, so Toni gave him Peanut to start, and calls Peanut “his.” Peanut is very sweet and is generally pretty good. And Nelli is cousin Patricias, I think that Kade normally works her, but sometimes Kaine or Toni does. She is pretty good, except, if you work her too much she decides she is just not coming in from out of the pasture for grain, it is not worth it. She is fat, so that motto is clearly not hurting her. It seems like Toni or Kaine normally work Jean, we had too many to start so put Jean on the for sale page. She is doing pretty well. We also have Star, but she isn’t as big, so she is just getting a light start. Dad ran to Lovejoys and got us all strawberries and mom made us strawberry shortcake. Toni, Jaxsen and I went down to build fence on circle 3 and put up half of the rebar posts. Kade roped after his chores were done, he has been working on his roping skills. Anna rode Kady after she got done working on her show animals. Kaine went out and chopped down Russian Olive Trees.

Happy Birthday Mom. On Wednesday Anna took Pistol, Gunner’s dam, to school for her Animal Science class. Pistol did a great job and was a big hit. Toni and I finished putting the posts in circle 3 and got the fence up. We tried to chase Tank’s pen out into that area, but they ran off. Kade went and helped cousin Hayley stack hay after chores. It was his first “real” job where he got a little money. I guess working for the ranch doesn’t count, but he does gain a lot of muscle, so there is payment. Kaine and Ben went and chopped down Russian Olive Trees.  Kaine still has football practice after school. No activity bus, so Dad is running to get him.

Thursday Lendy finally foaled. A fancy buckskin filly by King. Thursday was Joss birthday, so Joss got to name her. Her name is KT Special Edition or “Joss.” This leave four more mares to foal. The final four, the final countdown, whatever you want to call it, but they need to get with it. We also got two outside mares on Thursday. Our buddy Jake has been trying to AI two of his mares and he is sick of shipping semen, so they came out to Sagebug. One of the mares is a Double daughter out of our old Cash mare. She looks like a twin to Money, but since they are full sisters, that makes a little sense. Kade worked on Stormy, Toni got down there and he was using one of her “good” saddles, she got it on a auction for cheap but she has decided it is a good one. But then after the two discussed it, she decided he could use it. Stormy did great, she is a great three-year-old.  It was Stormy’s first time being saddled. Kade normally just rides her bareback but it is time to make her a horse. Yes, he got on after saddling her and rode her around.

Friday mom and I went in and got our hair done with Tennelle, then we needed to kill 30 min to get our Chinese food from Mei-Lings, so we got some groceries, coffee at Kaffrins, some spiced apple stuff for mom to try, and cruised main street.  We went home, I went and checked Tank and Gunners pens, then picked up dad and we headed to Kaine’s football game/jamboree. Toni, Kade, Anna and Jaxsen did chores. Marlo met dad and I at the football jamboree. It was an interesting game, they did 8 plays and then switched. The kids played really well. Dad and I took Kaine to Bob’s burgers after because he was very hungry. This was his first game as an almost high schooler. Where has the time gone?

Saturday morning Anna and Kaine went and got Camas and brought her over. The kids washed their show animals. We caught the steers that had not been jackpotted, some for the first time and some had been caught. Anna’s friend Brandi came over, and we got some pics of Anna with her Nile heifer, then Toni and I went a little crazy, and got Angus Queen pictures and just some pictures in the neighbor’s flowers (we asked permission and were not trespassers). Then Anna and Brandi went to the Lind Combine Derby and hung out. They had a lot of fun. The boys wend down and broke the beaver dam, did chores, worked on their steers, etc. Jaxsen and I went down and fixed some fence and took some pictures. Kade rode Stormy for the second time with a saddle and because she was so good, he rode her in the driveway. We were all like, dude, this is gravel, if she bucks you off it is going to hurt. Kade didn’t care and Stormy didn’t buck.

Sunday Kade and Jaxsen came down and the kids tied up their steers again. We got ready for Mom and Erina birthdays. Ben made bacon wrapped shrimp, Tri Tip and Dutch oven potatoes. Toni brought a dessert buffet and appetizers. We all had a great time. Erina wanted to take one of the puppies home. After the party Toni and the three older kids led the not halter broke steers a bit. It didn’t go great. We will leave it at that. The steers did get let go after that. We went down to do chores and started moving mares around. Shadie went in with Comet to the heavy pen. Are they heavy? Probably not but we are hoping that they are. Rosie, Mil, and BB went out into the big pasture. That resulted in lots of running and craziness.  The weather didn’t help as it was stormy out. It was fun to see the mares and foals all running around and showing their stuff.

It was our second weekend in a row with no cattle show. The kids have a jackpot next weekend, so I guess that is over. Then after that jackpot we get ready to go to Jr. Nationals. We are starting to plan the route and by “we” I mean me because Toni is still in denial that she is going. The kids are almost done with their long school year, and just in time because we were going to Jr. Nationals, school or no school.

It is crazy to think we are almost done foaling, and at the same time this feels like the longest foaling season ever. This June still is cold and wet, so it doesn’t feel like summer, yet it is almost mid-June already. This 2022 foal crop is just amazing. Every single foal out in the pens has got the wow factor and it is really hard to want to sell them.  For anyone looking for a foal, come take a look, you won’t be disappointed. 

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Last Week in Pictures

Posted on June 13, 2022 by horseshoeangusranch
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We need some sun to get the hay up, but we are thankful for all of the rain.

Posted on June 8, 2022 by horseshoeangusranch

We thank all of those that have kept us free. In memory on this Memorial Day 2022!

Monday Ben, Leslie, Traci, the kids and I came back from Salem. We did not have a lot of traffic so it was better coming home then going. Dad and mom took flowers up to St John to the cemetery. Uncle Skip went with them. Aunt Peggy and Uncle Tom came down to Connell to put flowers out and then came out to see mom and dad. Ranch worked continued on Monday, with some dirt moving, fence building, breeding mares, etc.  Toni just had Jaxsen to help her, but they got four mares put out with studs. We keep a list of which mares are supposed to go with which studs but since I wasn’t there, Toni put them where she wanted them. Blue got put in with King, the other three all went to Tank. Her rational was based on what she wants to keep next year. When we got home there were still chores to do, so we got them done and then went to rest.

Tuesday back to school and work, tired or not. Kaine had baseball practice, and High School football practice started. I feel like there is not a break from sports when you get to high school. Toni had court in Yakima, that actually went really well but lasted all day. The boys and I did horse chores. Then they went up and helped Anna with show cattle chores. The men did cow and circle chores.

Wednesday Kaine had his last baseball game and then a banquet after. The men rolled up the wire in circle 3, so Isidro could go in and spray on Friday. Toni had a big bankruptcy meeting in Prosser, but went well too, again just took a long time. Kade did horse chores and Anna did show cattle chores. Then Kade and Anna pressure washed the show carpets. Mom and dad went to town on Wednesday, so Toni fed Molly B before she left to Prosser. She actually schedules meetings around when Mom and Dad are gone around feeding Molly B, who Toni now calls the Monster.  Toni is continuing to work on the grade filly, who Toni started calling Dagnon because she came from Dagnons. She is coming along reallly well.

Thursday the schools all had a modified lockdown. We have heard that a child either had a gun at school or threatened to bring a gun. The information coming out about the incident has been pretty sparse. With everything going on, everyone probably needs more information versus less information. But we got what we got. The kids did come home from school at their regular time. Toni saw that Crystal was back in heat, which really sucks as she was confirmed in foal to NZ Scotch Time “Rip”. So Crystal needs to go back to Allie to get re-AIed.  Luckily they are still collecting Rip so hopefully we can get her in foal and keep her on regumate. Thursday Jaxsen had his baseball banquet, he was voted most improved. Since he was a super star all season, I do not know how he improved. Sounds like he was a rock star the whole season to me, but this is his version of things. Kaine started football practice, the activity buses are no longer running, so dad went and picked him up. When Kaine got back Kade and Kaine helped dad fix the hose to the big gun in Leroy’s pen, then went up to help Anna and the men move the cows out of circle 3 and push the horses in circle 3 to the back side of the lake. When I got home Toni was done with the main chores, so I went to hand breed Abs again, she was out of heat so I turned her out, I turned Sally out as well since it has been over a month since she was bred.

On Friday Toni took Smokey Joe to the vet to get cut, and Riggs in for a check up.   Mom and dad went to Moses Lake for a few hours, so they picked up Riggs on their way home. Mom needed some fabric from JoAnns and milk replacer for Molly B. Anna went to the Connell High School graduation on Friday night with her friend Brandi. Marlo came out for her weekly chores.  Marlo, Toni, and I drove out to the desert and checked the Gunner pen. Then we got back and Dad wanted Comet moved to the heavy pen, so we moved her to the corral. We are down to 5 mares left to foal. All are pretty late so we are debating what to do with them. Some people don’t even breed until June but we want to be done by June. So we will see. 3 of the 5 are old mares, so that is always a factor.

Saturday we had a lot of ranch work to catch up on. Ben and Kaine cut down Russian Olive trees most of the day. Anna, Kade and I hauled minis to Cecil and Debbie’s house. Then Anna and Kade washed their steers and heifers. I went and worked on the riding horse fence so we could turn them out. Toni worked on office work, went and took pictures of Dagnon and then the Meachams went to a graduation party.

Sunday Toni shipped out the yearling colt by Double. Yes, in the thunder storm. He loaded great considering the thunder was right above them and the lightening was flashing. He is a really good colt. He was our last yearling colt to sell.  We had the three left coming into spring, 2 that had been sold and the buyer backed out and the last Colonel colt. We finally got serious about selling them, started marketing them like they should have been marketed the whole time, and they were gone. A big thank you to our friends and repeat buyers that snatched these three colts up. 2 are going to performance homes and one sold as a stallion prospect. We know all three buyers really well and can’t wait to get updates and see their progress. 

I went and tried to get some videos of Mini Tank, but we had a lightning storm at about that time and so they didn’t want to stand, so I have group videos of them moving. The kids washed their steers and heifers. I did make them come in out of the rain during the worst of the storm. Then Kaine and Kade worked on their boat Sunday afternoon. They dewinterized it, washed it then I heard Kaine tell Kade, we had better get a picture of that set up. You know, of the Hammer Slammer and the 82 GMC. I finished the riding horse fence and then went and strung wire up in circle 3 so we can move Tank’s pen out. Murtaugh was supposed to be watching for rocks while I watched the wire wheel, but she did a poor job, maybe because she is a dog?? But we hit a rock and broke the front axle of Mini Butte. It scared Murtaugh, and she either a. jumped onto the floor, or b. was knocked onto the floor. We were not going that fast due to putting our wire, so I am going with a, Ben thinks b. Toni worked on “her” yearling for a bit, then on some ranch paperwork. We reconvened for chores about 3:30. We are still working through the list of which horses need West Nile and dewormed. We got some of that done. We are really almost done with all of them, but it takes a while. Then we caught Crossfire and Cappy and got new pictures of them. We are going to go ahead and sell them both. They are great colts but we are moving a different route with our breeding program. Not everyone in the family agrees with the decision, but a vote is a vote.

                We also finally started cutting our hay. Yes, we are aware of all of the rain, but we normally get first cutting up in May. It is now June, the hay is still not up. It is still not baled today due to all of the moisture. Luckily we feed the hay ourselves, so it isn’t as big of a deal as the farmers that are trying to market their hay. The saying, “make hay while the sun shines” is pretty accurate right now. We need some sun to get the hay up, but we are thankful for all of the rain.

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Last Week in Pictures

Posted on June 7, 2022 by horseshoeangusranch
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Life marches on at a very fast pace

Posted on May 25, 2022 by horseshoeangusranch

Monday was quite a day. I left early for work, I had a dr appt, no new foals. Dad went to get more pellets and decided the pickup needed new tires, so he stopped in Connell and got new tires on his way. So Monday was an expensive day (load of pellets and 4 new tires), but it could have been worse if he had a blow out or gotten stranded somewhere. Anna was going to have to stay after school and do some stuff for FFA, but she texted after she got to school that was canceled, so Toni called the Elementary School to let Jaxsen know he did not have to ride the bus home. At approximately 9:39 AM Toni texted that Abs had foaled, we finally had one of our AI babes. Abs was bred to My Skip Dun It, a homozygous dun champagne stallion. Toni went down to check it out and Abs had decided she did not want to stand and let it nurse. So Toni and mom brought Abs to the house and put her and the foal in Molly B playpen in the backyard, which is actually Sammy the German Shepard’s play pen. They gave the foal colostrum and were able to finally get it to nurse one side. Dad got stuck in road construction going and coming, he got there right at lunch, so he had to wait for the them to come back from lunch to get the pellets loaded. Kaine had a baseball game in Royal City, I asked one of his friends moms if she could bring him home due to the nature of the day. Connell beat Royal 12 to 2. We waited most of the day for a time when the shipper was going to be out, the communication was not the best. The pellets were unloaded when dad got home. He then took the flatbed trailer home and Kade and Anna unhooked it and he brought Butte back down. To go to Lewiston on Tuesday to get Cotton Seed Hulls for the show heifers. Sagebug crawled out a hole in the fence, so Toni, Anna, Kade and I fixed it. Dad went in and got Jaxsen from his baseball game in Connell.  The shipper showed up at midnight so we loaded Spunky out at midnight. Spunky loaded awesome considering it was dark, a new trailer, out in the middle of the driveway, with a strange person. We are really happy Spunky is going to such a great family. Monday was a crazy long day.

                Tuesday Dad went to Lewiston to pick up Cottenseed Hulls. Kaine had practice and Jaxsen had another game. Dad picked Kaine up from practice and took Jaxsen to his game. We finished the fence  we were working on which was a replacement fence along the northeast side of where the 2 year old stud colts are.  Toni joked the colts are going to get out now that they have the no crawl fence. Ben got done planting on Tuesday, yeah.

                Well Toni jinxed it. Dad texted Wednesday morning that Cappy was at the house.  Cappy had a jolly time getting to the house, fighting over the fence with Stetson, Double, and King before going to check out the yearling fillies. Dad and Mom put him in the corral. It was raining Wednesday morning so Toni thought maybe he just kind of slipped through the fence. Dad and Toni put a pole back up on King’s fence that they had knocked down, fixed Cappy’s fence, and took Cappy back. Cappy was still feeling his oats at the time, so needed some work, which he got. Dad and Anna took the heifers going to Salem to the Regional Angus Show into Sheena Wednesday after school to get their travel papers to go to Oregon.  Jaxsen had practice, Kaine did not, Kaine and Kade did chores since Anna and dad were at Sheenas.  Also on Wednesday we FINALLY got to meet baby Shea. Coco brought her up from CA for a visit. We all think she is the best baby. Its been a bit since we had a little baby to hold and cuddle. Shea is really good about letting us cuddle and love on her. Jaxsen has declared himself to be her favorite. Unclear if Shea agrees because at 3 months she can’t talk and tell Jaxsen to back off.

Thursday We had a FANCY FANCY colt out of Cammie and by DP GunnaOutShinYa. I wanted a bay, but I am pretty happy with this colt. Toni and Mom went down and really got to play with him. He is big. And you had to be quick if you wanted to buy him, he was for sale for less then 24 hours, then we decided to keep him and sell Cappy. Dad isn’t 100% committed to the idea. He thinks Joker (new colt) has too much white. So Cappy is now for sale, if you are looking for a two year old stallion. Cross is for sale to the right home. Cross was injured as a foal, so needs trimmed regularly. Toni and I finished the fence.  We just had to put clips on to keep it tight and up and unclimbable. The kids did chores. Jaxsen had a game, Coco and baby Shea went in and watched him.

                Friday we had another fancy colt, he is by King and out of Bunnie, aka Edie. He also looks grullo as a newborn, but he is a buckskin roan. Toni had to take pics of his nonexistent dorsal to prove to mom he was not a grullo. He is a tiny little guy. Toni got to babysit Shea, and ended up taking her for a drive around the ranch and got stuck out in the desert. Luckily Shea slept through it all because they were stuck out there for 40 minutes or so before someone came to get them out. Marlo helped with chores on Friday. Marlo, Toni and the boys hauled panels up the hill so the two year old stud colts had panels on the south side of their pen, instead of a wire fence. Kade and Kaine loaded the panels and brought the Titan down with the panels. The hill is incredibly steep, especially when you are packing powder river panels up it. Luckily they stayed strong and got it done.  The twins came and spent the night to go to the show the next day.

Saturday morning Ben, the twins, Anna, Kaine and Kade were all up early and headed out to the Wheatland Jackpot. They stopped and Connell, and convoyed with Traci, Leslie and Natalie. Coco and baby Shea met them up there. They all had a great time. Kaine and Natalie made it back into the final in Showmanship. Anna, Kaine and Kade all got third in their class, Natalie was in Kaines class and in the middle. They all did great.

                Toni showed AJ around on Saturday, AJ bought Walt a few years ago, Walt was by Sagebug and out of Cleo. This year AJ is buying Dually, Dually is out of Tessa and by Gunner. Both Walt and Dually are grulla. In the morning I fed all of the show cattle, since the kids were gone, and turned the fans on. We rolled up wire in Circle 4, moved the cows to circle 3, and misc other ranch work. While moving the cows Riggs got kicked in the leg and broke her leg. Luckily we have a phenomenal vet that is there for us, so a big thank you to Sheena, we don’t know what we would do without you!  Also, circle 8 got started, some weeds got sprayed, and misc other work. Saturday night we all went to Checos for dinner in Othello for Skip’s birthday, including baby Shea. Skip got birthday cheesecake and the works. He said it was his best birthday ever.

Sunday Toni showed some more people around they bought Stormn. Ben and I went and got a new generator Sunday morning, it is a 6500 and can run two blowers. Very exciting. Anna and Kaine washed their Angus heifers that are going to Salem. Anna dyed and clipped hers. We got back and Kaine and Ben tried the generator out while I ran down to mom and dads to meet people. Stinger was off so we got her in and gave her some immediate response. We broke for lunch. After,  I rolled up some more wire and brought the wire wheel in. Then Anna helped me get Sagebug’s pen in, and we loaded the mares and I hauled them back down to the house. Toni wormed and west niled the yearlings. I got down there with the mares. We unloaded the ones I had, loaded up Voodoo and Edie, and Ed, and Jaxsen and I hauled them back up to the house. We put Cammy and The Joker in with Leroy and turned Lona and Piper D out in the field. Jaxsen jumped out to help Anna. We unloaded Voodoo in with Bug and Eddie into the alley for now. Ed has a bit of the runs, so we want to watch him a little closer before we turned him out. Toni showed Smokey Joe while Jaxsen and I hauled the mares. I came back down and Toni and I moved Abs down by Stetson, then we went and fixed some fence and called it a day. 

It was a long long week. The kids are into the second week of four weeks of shows, luckily they are still pretty enthusiastic about it. It was great to be home this weekend and show people the horses. There is nothing better than having fun people out to look at the ranch and take the ranch tour.  Three potential buyers and three sales this weekend really helps to keep the spirits up. Toni will be here this weekend if anyone wants to come out. We have one person scheduled so far to look at the foals. Life marches on at a very fast pace towards summer and we are pretty excited to have the kids home and have some summer fun.

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