Toni was mad on Sunday we did not get any Easter babies, especially after seeing all of the ones everyone got on Facebook. Still no babies on Monday. I do not know what they are waiting for. The weather was all clear, but cold, on Monday, so dad was finally able to take the load of cows and the bull to Toppenish. We had two mares down Monday that just weren’t acting right, so lots of texts with Sheena regarding what to do. The problem with horses is that they are hard. We kept them both going and kept bugging poor Sheena. We are very thankful for her as our vet. Toni and Kade did the horse chores, and then Toni took Jaxsen to his baseball game and Kade went to help Anna with the cattle chores. Dad went and picked Kaine up from baseball practice and then took him up to help with chores. The heifers and 050 were finally going to leave on Tuesday, so Anna and the men got them in and in the corral, since Arlen was going to be there at 6 Tuesday morning. The three bulls we have left to semen check were also moved to the house for Ben to haul in on his way to work on Tuesday. The lawn mower broke down at our house, which is fairly new, so I had cousin Kendel come and mow my yard, so I did not have to rake and bale it by the time ours gets fixed.
Tuesday morning Ben and Anna loaded up the three bulls and then Arlen showed up, so they loaded the heifers and bull. Still no new foals Tuesday AM. Both mares were still off, so Toni spend another day running back and forth consulting with Sheena. Luis texted me that the Hereford cows were out, so when Anna got home she started to get them in. Ben helped when he got there, after picking up the bulls. So Bullwinkle got pulled and the Hereford cows went out with the rest of the cows. Dad went to St John to take someone and their quilt to the historical museum, and maybe not actually to St John?? Then they went with Skip out to get Skip’s tool box that Ben bought from him.
Wednesday Reba had a dead filly by King. Barb was still bad off as well. Still consulting with Sheena on Barb. Toni and Anna got Reba in to see if Molly B, mom’s bottle baby, would be a horse, and not a pet. Dad and mom had appts on Wednesday, so Toni, Kendel and Scarlett came down and took care of Molly B at lunch time. The biggest issue with this whole scenario is that Molly B does not thinks she is a horse, she has never nursed a horse, and she is scared of Reba. Grafting Molly B is a fail. But we were able to milk Reba and get some mare colostrum for the freezer. The men worked on the pump in circle 5, and got it set up for Isidro to weld. Next it needs to be cemented I hear.
Thursday we had some nice moisture in the form of rain. Now we just need some heat units and the grass will grow. Cousin Traci called me, Apache is at her house since we have never been able to get her bred, for the kids to ride since she had started beating up the mini stud. I told Traci, Apache has been in with the mini stud so she might foal. She never has before, but she is at your house I feel like the chances are greater. Well, she foaled, and had cute colt by Derringer. Kayla has not named him yet. Dad was taking a bull to Nespleem on Friday and a bull to Wilbur, and bringing and bull and two horses back from Wilbur, so Anna and the shags got the bulls in and sorted. Ben got home and they got the tool box out of the back of Butte, the camper moved into the yard, to get cleaned for Spokane, and the red gooseneck hooked up to go. Kaine and Kade got here, after helping Toni and I put up some fence, and helped Anna get the tack out of the trailer. Jaxsen had a baseball game Thursday night.
Friday morning Dad and Steve headed north with the bulls and brought back a bull and two horses. Toni checked the cows and mares, no new foals. We lost Barb early Friday morning to what looks like a ruptured stomach. In hindsight, we probably should have tried to c-section the foal, but we were hoping for a good ending. Marlo came down to do chores, and one of the horses that dad brought back was for Traci to try, so Toni, Marlo and Anna all rode her. She is a retired cutting mare, so very very broke, and very fun. Marlo, Kade, and Toni put in another section of wood fence in Stinger’s pen.
Saturday Jaxsen went with Kolton to his birthday party in Tri-Cities, so Scarlett, Kolton’s sister, came down to hang out with Anna. Anna and Kaine caught their steers and heifers and washed them. Toni checked the horses on her way to my house, and we finally had a live foal, Mil had a fancy blue roan colt by King. Toni, Ben and I got the cows in and sorted them. Then a guy from Connell showed up with his two horse trailer. So we sorted off the sale heifers and he picked one and we loaded it up in his trailer. His wife owns the Brick Store in Connell, which is a cool store that had a lot of antique items and also is kind of like a second hand store. Next we had meat buyers show up, so we loaded their car, now we are out of meat until the next two go in to get butchered. Chad showed up to trim some horses, so Anna Kaine and Scarlett took him up to trim the miniatures, Ruby (the horse Traci is trying) and Katie (Anna’s horse). Ben, Toni and I broke for lunch and them came back down to work cows after. At around 3 Toni, Chad and Kade went down to mom and dads to trim Miss Gen, our new mare from Rusanne and Dan, and went ahead and trimmed Reba since she was there. Anna, Kaine and Scarlett came down to help finish the cows. Kendel got home so Jaxsen got to help as well. After we got done, Toni and Kade had already finished chores, so I hauled two Hereford cows up to put with the bull that dad and Steve brought back from Rusanne and Dan’s house. We worked on a little fence, teased some mares, and tried to get our normal stuff done.
Sunday we finished working the cows. Kade came down and we all went out and got the cows in. The two gray mares had foals, Butterfly and Zoey, and they are with the cows, so we pushed them out of the way of the cows. They both had big red colts, Butterfly’s looks gray for sure, but not sure on Zoey’s yet. Both have nice head markings. We were debating on which of the mares would foal first, so it is funny that they foaled on the same day. I still say mine, Butterfly, foaled first. So we finished getting the cows and sorted off the calves. Kade washed his steers and heifers. We had Hunter and Kaden come out to look at the foals, with Hunter choosing Lura’s big fancy buckskin colt, KT Call me Magnum. We got all of the cows and calves worked, then had 3 bulls to put in a pen for Dad to haul on Monday, and another bull left last Sunday afternoon. We are down to 1 Angus bull left to sell and 1 horned Hereford, both are semen tested and ready to go if anyone is looking.
We had planned to get more fence built to get Sagebug’s pen out, but the cows and calves needed to get worked now that the weather is finally heating up. It is always fun to mess with the calves, see which ones are tame, wild, and in-between. Jaxsen has already said he isn’t’ going to show his club calf next year. The calf was pretty reactive in the chute. I told him to trade with one of the other kids, but none of them were very impressed with the calf either. He is actually a nice calf, so with some work I am sure he will be fine. Sometimes the clubby calves are a little different.
We always try to plan for the unexpected, be ready, be prepared, but even with all the planning in the world, you can’t outsmart mother nature. Thankfully the bad weather looks like it is behind us and we can once again focus on good spring weather. That bad weather really set the mares back and we attribute it to the bad luck we had this week. In the ranching business you have to take the good with the bad, know that there will be bad days, bad weeks, sometimes bad seasons and just keep moving forward. This wasn’t our best week, but it ended on a really good note with three strong healthy colts.
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