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On Tuesday Kane was home sick. I guess he had too much fun at the sale. Toni checked cows in the cold, we lost one calf Tuesday morning. She was right by the house but of course it was a heifer and calved off of the straw. She was not calving when Ben and I left and was on the straw, but by the time Kendel left she saw it over by the fence and I sent Kaine out. Toni got there shortly after that. Luckily we are basically done calving, so hopefully the last few do not calve in this cold. Kade got stuck doing chores, Toni had to pull him out. Sarge decided the cold was a good reason to act like a fool when we were working on him. Kade went down to feed grain, Kaine’s chore, since he was sick. Bayley got turned back out and Rosie went into a pen with Shorty down at the corral. Rosie is super tame so a person forgets that she isn’t halter broke. When she wasn’t feeling well on Monday she was fine to halter and lead, by Tuesday she was back to her adverse self so Toni just got a rope around her neck and got her to the corral. Toni wasn’t a huge fan of Rosie on Tuesday which she normally loves her so Rosie was probably a real pill. Toni went and stayed with grandma Tuesday night.






It was even colder Wednesday morning. Mom went and stayed with grandma on Wednesday. Kaine was still home sick from school. Toni checked cows and gave Devo’s calf, Levon (or Lebron, or Devon depending on who you are), some pets. We are getting close to starting foaling, so checking on mares on top of everything else. Toni tried to find her overalls but ended up wearing a pair the boys had outgrown. Luckily she still fits in child size clothing sometimes. It was cold, but Sarge and Laroy still needed to get worked on. Laroy has been really spoiled his entire life so can be a bit pushy. Sarge still is a bit scared but getting better everyday.





More snow Thursday. I was supposed to stay with grandma Thursday night, but there were so many wrecks on 395 I did not want to drive to Connell after, so I switched with Leslie and stayed Saturday. Toni and I were supposed to get up early on Friday to sort cows and put CIDRs in, but Toni talked to Mark, our AI Tech, and we postponed a week. We were happy when the kids got home safely. We had lots of checking and bedding livestock down on Thursday.




Friday we checked, fed, broke ice, etc. Snow just makes everything take a lot longer. I told Anna to check the roads before she came home. She says she did. Toni and I got lots of pictures feeding the mares in the snow. We got more snow on Friday. Oh and Happy Valentine’s Day. We spent most of the day with our favorite gals out in the desert.







More snow on Saturday. By afternoon the world was like a snowglobe with this gentle pretty thick snow coming out of the sky. Ton’s pu got stuck in the alley. Jaxsen lets the freeze miser run all over and it has caused a big mess in the alley. We did get pulled out by Kaine. I used our dump trailer and hauled grass hay out, Jaxsen helped me. Anna, her friend Kaitlyn, the dogs and I checked cows. Kade went and helped at a food bank on Saturday then Keegan and Kade ran around the ranch doing boy stuff. Kaine still didn’t feel good enough to join them. The mares were still really pretty out in the snow and we didn’t get stuck in the desert. Even with the bad weather the mares out in the desert look really good. We have tubs out with them, grass straw, and we are feeding them. They are all pretty sassy too.





More snow/rain on Sunday. We sorted cows Sunday to turn out with bulls. The kids’ friend Keegan came out and helped, so we had Kade, Kaitlyn and Keegan running gates in the alley. Sorting would have gone better if we had used a kid that didn’t have a K name. It was freezing rain on us while we sorted so to say things were slick between the snow and the ice would be an accurate statement. We sorted off the Herefords that are too late to AI and put a Hereford bull in to make mom happy. Last year we just put them in with the Angus bull and mom is not happy about all the black ballie calves. The bull is a polled bull we raised that we really like. We also picked out the bulls we are putting out with the heifers, lots of debate. We finally narrowed it down. Bulls got moved into a feedlot pen so we could turn the cows we are AIing out in the pasture. The other cows all got bulls turned out.







I know people say weekends are to recharge your batteries but I don’t think we ever use weekends for that purpose. For us weekends are to try and get done all the stuff we didn’t get done during the week. But we mostly have fun getting everything done as a family. Sorting cows always brings families together. Anyone that has sorted cows can get a good a laugh out of that statement.


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.






























































































On Monday we had our first legislative call at work. Lots of interesting bills this year. WA is, I think, a billion short on balancing the budget, so the message has basically been if there are any fiduciary components, your bill won’t make it through, that is what I heard. Toni has had a big case that has been in the news, and there is an Environmental Crime Bill, that we think is from her case. Toni said that this was a good article for anyone that wanted to know about the case. She will also answer questions if anyone wants to email her- https://www.everettpost.com/local-news/digging-for-the-truth-king-ranch-owners-fight-claims-of-illegal-wetlands-excavation
Janette the nurse came and stayed with Skip on Monday and dad and mom went to town to run errands, have lunch with friends, etc. A much-needed break. Toni was on the phone late on Monday, so Kade worked on the colts, Buzzy and Fancy Gun. Both need their feet trimmed so are in to get work done on picking up their feet. While Toni was on the phone she kept sending us mares in an auction she wants to get. Mom and I told her if she got them for under 5,000, they had all earned more then that so we felt we were safe. Monday night I found some sunglasses I had gotten for Kaine, Kade and Toni for Christmas, I gave Kaine his.





On Tuesday I gave Toni and Kade their Shady Ray sunglasses. Hopefully they like them. Toni is continuing to check the calving cows and petting them if their mothers are agreeable. Toni worked on Buzzy and Fancy Gun, both colts did great. One of Kade’s old show heifers, Ramsey, and another cow, 055, were both trying to share the same calf, Ben and Kaine decided it is Ramseys, but we will DNA it to make sure, so they had to get 055 in with the other calf and lock them in the barn. Kaine hooked up the gooseneck for dad after him and Ben fed cows, dad and Skip were taking some beef cows to Moses Lake on Wednesday. Ben and Kaine also got the beef cows in and sorted them and locked them behind the barn.





Wednesday morning Ben loaded the beef cows for dad and dad and skip took them to Moses Lake. Once they were there they saw Uncle Joe had also taken cows to Moses Lake. Uncle Joe already had a lunch date so didn’t go get chicken fried steaks with them. Mom went and stayed with grandma on Wednesday. Toni checked cows and took a video of her Wee Lord miniature horse, since he escaped out into the circle when Ben and Kaine were getting the cows in, and she had to find him. Kade worked on Wild Wednesday night, got on and off of her and rode her around the corral. He ponied Fancy Gun around on Shadie, who is getting old but was fine with it because she got grain after. Then Kade had a Nile Merit heifer meeting and horse chores were not done, so Kaine came down and helped us finish them after he got done with the cow chores. Wednesday seemed long.





Devo the show heifer calved Thursday morning. Toni petted it but Devo was not thrilled with her. The little bull calf is only about 40 lbs but is a healthy little bugger. We were all a bit worried about Devo calving. She is a Primo daughter so we knew she was either going to be a good mother or think her calf was an alien and try to kill it. Luckily she likes him. Toni also tried to pet my bull calf of hers, Dano, but he ran away. Toni worked on the colts, she said they are doing great. Kade tried to ride Wild, but she did not let him catch her, so Toni caught her and left her in. Kade worked on her a bit. Toni stayed with grandma Thursday night.





We had rain Friday morning. Chad came out to trim horses. Marlo showed up after a few hours so Kade and Marlo got to help. They did the weanlings Buzzy and Fancy Gun, plus mares, a three year old, etc. They got as many done as they could with the amount of daylight that we have. They all did decently. Fancy Gun is pretty sensitive but they got him done. Kade worked on Wild. He is trying to be really consistent with her and just keep moving her forward. I stayed with grandma on Friday night. Marlo had dinner with Toni.








Saturday we tagged calves and did prep to build fence Sunday and move the cows out to fresh stalks. Kade had a trap meet in Colton, he said it was cold, he shot pretty good, 3rd on his team. Steve, who owns Gracie, came to see her and Whitty, her 2024 colt. The colts really enjoyed him. I hauled a couple of bales down in the dump trailer Saturday to put out with the yearling fillies and pasture. We took pics of Fancy Gun and Buzzy and turned them back out with the other colts. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures of the colts. They were all intrigued by Tipsy the lgd. Tipsy also tried to play with June the donkey, we aren’t clear if June thought they were playing or not but no animals were harmed with their activity so it was fine. Kade put his 3rd ride on Wild. Kaine and I went out and got an old mineral box out of the desert for my yard and put out mineral tubs. The mares all look good. Kaine wanted Powpow back in so he could start riding her again and I just walked up and caught her. Kaine thought she would be difficult to catch since she was turned out but she wasn’t a challenge for me to catch. Sometimes it is good for the boys to remember that we kind of know what we are doing.










Sunday we got the fence done around the rest of the corn field and turned the cows out so we could stop feeding them. Luckily the weather was really great. Ben repurposed the cows feed trailer to put the wire wheel on it so the cows thought they were getting fed. There was mass confusion in the cow herd for a bit, but then when we started calling them into the new corn stalks they were pretty excited. Fresh corn stalks is more important than their feed trailer. We hauled a few more bales down to the pasture and Kade but his 4th ride on Wild. We got the colts into the corral and got Shooter and City out to work on this week. They both did really well getting their halters on.







For anyone looking for an Opal update, she is holding her own. We are still in the danger zone but have hope. We are going to try to figure out how to do a live post so people can ask questions.












































































































































































Everyone except me was home Monday, so a lot got done. Toni, Kade and Jaxsen put some poles up between Cappy and MC that had been knocked down and then got some pics of Spark, Cappy, and MC. MC is looking good. So is Cappy. They also took pics of Ink as he was leaving for his new home the next day. He really hadn’t been loaded much so they did some loading practice. Toni and Jaxsen hauled Ink up to my house to get loaded out first thing on Tuesday. Ink didn’t unload very well but other than that did a great job, especially for his first trip on his own. He is a very intelligent colt. Ben, Anna and Kaine got the bulls in to get the last of the bred heifers out. They built a second nursery pen, since the first one was full with the jersey, Goldie, her 4 nurse calves and a 2 year old cow with her sick calf. Kaine and Kade tied up their steers and Kade tied up his Nile heifer. No new calves on Monday, but it was 17 degrees in the morning, so that was good.





Toni loaded Ink out first think Tuesday morning. The hauler was 30 minutes early, Ink jumped right in, so the hauler was loaded and gone before he was even supposed to be there. We have used this hauler many times and they are extremely reliable. The boys went hunting with their friends, so Toni just had Jaxsen to help her. The boys did not have school on Tuesday for grade prep or something. After they got back they caught their steers and heifers. Kade was not feeling great but worked on Gucci to get some fresh air. She was not ready to get back in the swing of things from being off all winter, she felt it was still winter. However, she did really good and is a really nice coming 3 year old. She is still one of our top picks.





On Wednesday Toni checked and petted some of the new calves. She tried to cause drama and told Kade we were taking Queen back. I told Kade he was fine, we were not taking his heifer back. He traded her for a different heifer. Queen was his 2024 show heifer and is about to calve. Ben came home at noon and Ben and Hank semen and trich tested a bull. Toni sent Ben a Tik Tok that if he was a real cowboy he would give a bull a wet willy. So he gave the bull calf that was born a wet willy and said he is a cowboy. See video below. Toni did not need to tie Alotta to June on Wednesday, she was great. Toni stayed with grandma Wednesday night.
On Thursday Toni checked, and the bulls were in the heavy heifer pen again. Just two this time. Queen had calved so Toni had to go and pet it. And lead her pet, the Wee Lord, around. I have great employees at work. They gave me flowers, a bracelet with KT engraved in it, a pinata, donuts, and we had lunch for my birthday (which is really on Friday but that is my day off). I felt appreciated. Billy from TLC came and butchered a steer that we had sold. I stayed with grandma on Thursday.






On Friday I got home from grandmas and checked the cows. Three calves were born on my birthday, I named the first two Steveo and Danno, from Hawaii 5-0. Toni, mom and I went to the Brunswick for lunch, I had not been there in a while and it was really good. I came home and Kaine and I checked the cows again. He got out and petted Steveo and Steveo’s mom, 4I, one of his show heifers. Then Kaine and I fed the cows. Kade, Marlo and Toni all rode Blueberry Friday night, we had someone coming to look at her on Saturday. She did great. Anna and Lane got home and Ben brought Checos home for dinner.







On Saturday we went out and checked cows, no new calves on Saturday. Anna, Lane and I went and got pics of the bulls, or a couple pics of the bulls, they were in the Russian Olive trees. We tagged calves, Ben, Lane and Kaine tagged Ben’s crazy long horn’s calf. Anna and I refused to assist. Kaine, Lane and Anna moved the minis up the hill, they were bothering the heifers. Toni and I did a new video of Opal. We had buyers out that ended up buying Blueberry and taking her home. They were a really good fit for Blueberry so we are excited to for them. Kade rode Jag and continued to work on the horses. We also had a buyer come out and look at the heifers and picked five of the reg heifers to buy.
On Sunday Anna and I checked, Ben was cooking for everyone to come down for lunch, Kaine was cleaning the house and Lane was doing home work. We got some new pics of calves, some pics of some eagles and some pics of heifers. Terry and Erina came down for my birthday party. We had bang bang shrimp and chicken, brisket, baked potatoes, rolls, strawberry trifle, caramel cheesecake and a layered cookie. It was all great. Then Jaxsen and I put out grass bales. Jaxsen and Toni got in the yearling colts, while I was getting the bales loaded by Ben, and Toni haltered Buzzy and Fancy Gun and left them in to work with again. Kade took his pickup to get looked at, then I helped him with his chores. Kaine and the men did the cow chores.






The ground has frozen, but the weather has remained decently pleasant. It has been really fun to have this many groups of people out to look at the ranch. Normally the winters are so bitterly cold that no one wants to come see us, but this winter, at least so far, has been pretty mild. If you are in the market for a horse, come out and tour the ranch before the weather turns bad. Same with bulls and heifers, we have a really good selection of livestock to chose from.
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