My favorite ex-show heifer is one we fondly call 7. Her sale tag number was 7 when we bought her for Anna from Traynham Ranches. We have been buying show heifers from Buckley and Brad for a few years and really liked what this heifer brought to the table. Our goal is to get show heifers that ultimately fit into our cattle herd. That is always a challenge but we have been lucky to find some really awesome breeders that we have been able to purchase heifers from year after year. Some of my other favorite ex-show heifers have come from Seldom Rest along with other breeders. I feel like we have been very lucky in our friends that we have gained in this chapter of the kids showing outside heifers. Back to heifer 7. Anna showed her all over and she did pretty well. Kellie and I continue to pick heifers that are probably more broody and future cow potential than true show heifers and 7 was no exception. After 7 was done being a show heifer, she did not calve as a 2 year old which is our goal. Always disappointing but not abnormal for show heifers to miss their first year in calving timely. They are under tremendous stress. To make up for the fact that 7 did not calve on time, 7 blessed us with twins when she was a three year old, again as a four year old, and this year as a five year old. In three years 7 has had 6 live calves. That is what I call a money making heifer.
On Monday morning Toni hauled Charlie, Annie and Abs in to Sheena to get their blood pulled to see if they could go off of progesterone. Annie and Abs can. When Toni tried to get fuel on her way out of Toni she discovered she had not gotten her pacific pride card back from Kade, luckily she found $75 in her purse to get some fuel. In the afternoon her friend Tracie came out to look at horses. She bought Robin and Fancy Gun. So they headed to the West side of WA. I went to Lewiston for a work trip/tour on Monday afternoon. Dad, Kaine and Kade were harvesting wheat. Anna and Jaxsen were working on steers and heifers. Wasps were everywhere. When Toni and Jaxsen were doing chores, Toni uncovered a wasps nest on the top of the hay stack and got stung multiple times trying to get off the stack and get away. Wasps during the heat really suck.
Tuesday I traveled to the Dworshak dam and National Fish Hatchery in Orofino. Toni sold Cappy’s filly Lassie, we were on the fence on keeping her. She is a fancy palomino roan. Dad and the big boys are still harvesting wheat. Anna and Jaxsen are still halter breaking calves and working on steers. Everyone is hot and just trying to stay healthy. Toni went to stay with Grandma Tuesday night after chores.
On Wednesday we took a boat ride to the Lower Granite Dam and went through the locks. We then toured the dam and saw all the fish passage. I got home Wednesday night. I got home in time for chores. Still wasps all over. Gates we go through everyday have wasps nests suddenly appear. The wasps even made a nest in our horse halters hanging on the side of our tack shed. We are like gunslingers, packing our wasp spray for the quick draw.
Thursday I was on a Family Farm Tour of the Quincy and East Irrigation Districts. We got the progesterone results back from the blood pull Monday. 2 of the mares also need SMZ tabs so we headed out in the pasture to catch them on Thursday. This was pretty short sighted as one is bad to catch. After spending 20 minutes stalking her around the pasture we got them both in, gave Charlie her shot, and fed them both their SMZ tabs in grain. You would think that would make day 2 easier as they would want to come in to get grain Spoiler alert- no.
Friday we took Sam from Family Farm on a Tour of the South District. After I got home Jaxsen and I went out and got some pics of some of the colts. No one wanted to help Ben fix a gear box on the circle Friday night, even though he snapped everyone. We spent another 30 minutes chasing Annie around the pasture. After that, both Annie and Charlie went to a pen in the corral. All the young horses came in with Charlie so Toni got out an aerosol fly spray can and started spraying down foals and older, any horse that would stand still for it. The foals were more excepting than the mares. Even though the can made a hissing sound like a snake, the foals didn’t seem to care.
On Saturday we went to the Junior Livestock Show of Tri-Cities. We all had a great time. Anna came with mom, dad and Skip, since she is too old to show there. They only let people that can show at the Benton Franklin Fair show there. It is a nice show, we always show after pigs. The kids all did great. They brought home 4 buckles and 2 cups, lots of banners. All three boys got awards, and our extended family also had a great show. We had some friends come in to watch the kids and saw our show family. It was a good, but hot day. It was actually one of the cooler days for that show that we have had. The men did chores for us so we did not have to do them when we got home. We did get Burger Ranch on the way home. Once home, we had to get Annie and Charlie fed and the dogs walked. It was a long but fruitful day.
On Sunday the kids washed their animals and worked on them. Anna worked on the calves she is halter breaking. We worked on the horses, put out big bales, check the calves, etc. Made sure everything was doing ok.
We are officially done with the 2025 jackpot season. Now we need to gear up for the fair season. Fun times ahead. Benton Franklin Steers below.
The weather turned cold on us, I guess Jack Frost wanted to remind us it was still winter. Toni sent me a random snap, about how I told her she can not keep all her pets. She has not narrowed it down to 2, the snap had about 10 filles all gathered around her. She is quite the challenge. She also said 5 head of cattle were out from the fence we just put up. There is one small old barbed wire side, Ben said when he got home the cows had found a hole. He fixed that hole and moved the fencer. Toni is also trying to work on Anna’s old show heifer Devo’s calf who is still in the heavy heifer pen. The calf, that Toni is calling Devon but I refuse to call him that, is really tiny so Toni wants Anna to show them cow calf. The rest of us are a hard no. Kade worked on Wild Monday night. Toni worked on the colts. They are both doing great.
On Tuesday Toni said more cows are out, so they must have made a bigger hole. Do not worry, they are just going to a different pasture, they are not out out. Charlette the Charolais calved on Tuesday, she had a bull calf. Dad named him Alan. Toni told City and Shooter to use their cute face so she could get a pic of them. It was just their normal face. Kade worked on Wild. People around us may have snow, but we didn’t have snow yet. Normal chores but Toni really likes these two colts. She is talking stupid that she wants to keep them. No.
Dad and Skip went and picked up meat at Bryans on Wednesday, mom stayed with grandma. We had a skiff of snow. It was junky. The Central Washington horse sale catalog was out and Toni sent a bunch of us a picture of I think the second lot which is an intact mini donkey. We started a betting pool on what he would sell for. The bets range from $1,000-$6,000 with a $10 buy in. Lord Farquaad was back in so I got a video from Toni with her precious pet and the little filly. She is going to change his name to Young Thug because he respects no rules, like fences. Toni worked on the colts. Kade worked on the horses. Ben and Kaine worked on the cows.
On Thursday Toni went to check her miniature horse pet had crawled in with the show steers. One of the bred heifers pushed him out of the feed bunk a few days ago and he figured out how to crawl out and back in. Now he is kind of a pain in the a** pet. Thursday was cold a lot of time was spent breaking water and feeding and making sure everything had water. For anyone worried about Opal, she has a shed that she basically refuses to go into since she is a range mare, and straw both in and out of the shed. Janette came out to stay with Skip on Thursday, so mom and dad went to town and had lunch. I stayed with grandma Thursday night. We got some pics of Sarge as a stallion prospect but they would like him to be older.
Friday it was spitting snow in the morning. Toni had some meetings then one of her really good friends that moved away came for a visit and brought a homemade chocolate cake. Addy, Coco and Shea flew up on Friday, so we got to spend the weekend with them. We didn’t know Addy was coming so it was a wonderful surprise to see her. We haven’t gotten to see her in the last few years because of her schedule. She used to come spend time with us every summer to show cattle. I think the kids all had a lot of fun. Anna got home on Friday too.
Saturday was cold and snowy, but do not worry, Addy, Kaine and Kade went riding. Pow Pow, Big Kev (and Kade went and grabbed Minnie out of the field who has not been ridden in at least 2 years and is pretty pregnant). I do not think the horses were as enthused as the kids. Addy did not bring enough snow clothes, so we were rounding up things for her to wear. We also had her drive around a bit to get used to driving in the snow. She is from CA so unused to snow driving and going to go to Pocatello to college next year. She needs to learn some snow skills. Jax went in the vehicle with her to give her tips. I hauled down some grass hay to mom and dads at chore time. Toni and I took pics of Shooter and City with our cell phones, since neither of us brought a camera. We also did an Opal update, and next Saturday we will have a live update so people can ask questions at 4:00 on Facebook live. Prince the donkey at Central WA Livestock sold for $6k! So Cousin Leslie won the bet.
Sunday it was cold and snowy again. And Addy, Kaine, Kade, Pow Pow, Big Kev and Benelli went out and got a sick cow in with her calf. They did a great job getting her in and Addy got more saddle time. Anna and I were putting out mineral and we drove over to assist when we got done. Ben was out putting up a hot fence around the pump house, the cows had been rubbing on it. Then we hauled more grass hay down. Got the colts in and left Laroy and Sarge in to work on. We had a bday party for Shea as her birthday is at the end of the month, and so is Addy’s. Then we went to the BB Cattle Co Sale Dinner. At the dinner we had some presents for baby Tel who turned 2. He came up with his mom from Wyoming for the bull sale. We got all of our kids for the weekend.
There is no better feeling than having a ranch full of family. We were missing one of the kids, but otherwise we had all of our kids from far and wide. We sacrifice so much to build a strong family but the return on that investment is well worth it. We had a wonderful week followed by one of the best weekends of the year.
KT Chex This Doc Colt, Sire Doll Docsan Dam: Sugars Badger Doll Date Born: 5/4/23 Click here for more pictures Color: Palomino Roan, Color Test, e/e, Rn/N Price: 10,000. The versatility this colt brings to the arena is unmatched. He is by Doll Docsan and out of Sugars Badger Doll. Sugars Badger Doll is a daughter of Star Chex Badger. Star Chex Badger was a son of Peppy San Badger and earned $6,450.39 in NCHA earnings and a COA. This mare is a fancy bay rabicano. She has Doc Bar on her papers twice. She also includes Doc’s Malbec, Win or Lose, and King Fritz. Additionally, she is a granddaughter of NCHA cutting mare Docs Star Chex who earned over $64,000.00 and a ROM. This colt’s sire, Doll Docsan is a stallion with a performance packed pedigree along with a very good disposition. He was a very smooth ride with tremendous talent, beautiful movement and huge stop. He was quiet and trainable. He consistently passes these traits along to his foals. He consistently produces fantastic foals with looks, color, conformation and brains. Doll Docsan has produced foals that have NRHA earnings, Western Dressage and more. He is a very versatile stallion. He is sired by Dolls Union Jac who has his ROM, NRHA earnings, and sired foals that have earnings in excess of $310,000.00 in NRHA, as well as earnings in NRCHA, Buckskin Assoc., and the AQHA world show.
The three boys were back to school Monday, we had Anna one more full day to check and do ranch stuff. Teresa came and AIed the 4 fall heifers on Monday, so Ben got off work early to help. The compressor went out in the big outdoor freezer, so we got a quote on that, not great. Toni was still sick so Kade and Jaxsen were on their own for chores. We just have the two fillies in, Peeps and Gold Bug. Kade didn’t really work on them, just went in and talked to them as he had plenty to do. Kaine did cow chores.
Dad went to Palouse on Tuesday to get pellets. We were out both for the show heifers and the horses. It rained, snowed and was sunny at different parts on his trip. It did the same to me on my way to work headed South, however, no sun since it was still dark. Keegan came home with Kade Tuesday night to help him with chores. The men unloaded the pellets when they got home. Anna headed back to U of I on Tuesday, she passed dad on the road at around Hooper.
Toni was supposed to start checking cows started Wednesday since Anna went back to college, but Toni was sick all week. I think we should have Anna do online college so she is home. Kaine checked when he got home, since it is dark when Ben gets home. But lets face it, how well do we think Kaine was checking, he was just looking for problems.
Thursday was the same as Wednesday, Toni was sick, Kade did her chores, Kaine checked for her, so things were not done to her standard. But they were done. Toni came down with Kade for a bit and supervised to start building her strength back up, since being sick just takes it out of you. I stayed with grandma Thursday night, and she was not a great sleeper.
On Friday Kaine went snowmobiling so help was even lighter. Ben ran Leo into Sheena to be a neutered dog, he checked cows before he went. I got home from grandmas, showered, then went in to get my hair done. Ben went out to build hot fence around one of the duck ponds. It was not holding water so they wanted the corn knocked down so they could work on it. The cows were happy to help them knock the corn down. Marlo came to help do chores. I was finally able to work on the 2 fillies. Peeps did really well and Gold Bug was a bit reactive but is small enough it doesn’t really matter. The good news is she likes to be scratched so other than being a baby, she will be fine. Peeps on the other hand is big, so luckily she is pretty slow motion and smart.
On Saturday we had people out to look at horses, and pick up horses. Kade help Ben get yearling weights on the heifers after Kade got home from trap and tied up his and Kaine’s steers. Ghost and Jetter went to their new home in Ellensburg. Jetter loves it because she is out of the mud, she is in the snow, but out of the mud. Kade rode Benelli out and checked Jon’s cows. Toni was on the mend and we worked on Gold Bug and Peeps, who have been in all week but have not been worked on much. Saturday was their second day.
On Sunday Kade came down and tied up his Nile heifer, Carla. We checked cows and then Kade, Ben and I got yearling weights on the bulls. Dan and Rusanne came out and looked at bulls. We fixed some fence that the heifers knocked down when Kade and Ben turned them out in the corn field. We moved Opal into a pen on her own, and she is now on Regumate and SMZ tablets. Kade rode Benelli, and a cold came through while he was out riding, and he was still cold when we did chores. Kaine got home and cleaned out in front of the feed bunk for the bulls. And let the steers and heifer go.
Overall it was a pretty nice week for December moving into January. We are slowly getting the cows calved out. The next step is getting them bred back so we are looking at bulls, getting semen bought, and picking our AI dates. Because the weather has been so nice, we are also having people come out and look at the foals that are available. We are slowly getting them moved. We are really lucky to have so many nice ones. We are down to just Peeps, Gold Bug, and Alotta left to halter break and then we are done! Done just in time to start foaling with the 2025 foals.
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