Monday we woke up to a skiff of snow that when you headed south it didn’t last long, but the roads north were snowing and foggy. No new foals on Monday. The boys did chores, Anna had FFA competition in Ag Sales after school. Everyone on her team placed in the top 10 and her team placed first. Good job Anna, Keegan, Hardy and Brandy. Dad and Toni took the red trailer into Othello welding to get fixed at around noon, so Toni could take dad to subway for lunch. The handle on the middle gate had broken off when dad hauled a load of cows to Toppenish last week.
Tuesday Kade went his FFA competition during the day. Toni checked and we finally had another calf. The last few cows are drawing it out. Dad and mom went and had lunch with grandma. Othello welding called Toni and the trailer was done, so Toni and dad went and picked it up after Toni’s meetings. We FINALLY had a foal on Tuesday, a striking black colt, he is possibly a blue roan. He is out of Mocha and by Gunner. Mocha’s foals have coffee names, and Gunner’s foals have Gun names, so to a casual observer his name of, KT Black Rifle, could be confusing. However, we have a local coffee stand called Black Rifle Coffee, hence the gun coffee name that no one will understand except us. Toni is threatening to keep this colt, I told her we have too many that are related, so as of now he is for sale. In typical Mocha foal fashion, he came up to see us when we were checking. Mocha is a favorite mare to everyone that meets her, and her foals are favorites to everyone that buys one, so I am sure all of those people are siding with Toni. We are still talking about a barn name for this handsome colt. After we got done talking to Mocha and petting the colt we went and fed our cripple heifer in the cattails. She came out of the cattails since we took so long, which is good, maybe we can start working her towards the house.
Wednesday Oreo finally calved and had Cookie, or Traci said should be named Thin Mint since it is TINY. It was also Kicker’s birthday on Wednesday, so Toni calls him Kicker’s Cookie. Jaxsen and I decided Jaxsen can show him as a steer next year since he has a lot of hair. It was cold and rainy on Wednesday, Mocha had black rifle up in the hay line. Mom made us a really good butter cake, even thought it was Wednesday. Isidro moved the mower to circle 4, which means they have mowed all the trees they can in 5 and we will have to hand cut the rest which is a big task.
Thursday dad was headed out to go to Topp with Steve to drop off some cows, and saw two mares had foaled. Except one of the mares was open, so Toni ran down. The kids and Dad already had the mares in. Anna had a string in her hand to catch the thief mare and separate the mare from her “baby.” For future reference if you have a mare that is strong and dedicated enough to steal a foal from a seasoned mare, probably don’t use a piece of twine to catch and move her. Toni did use the twine and did get her moved but said that her arm almost got ripped out of the socket. Dad’s comments centered around how great the kids did and how dumb mares are. Goldie had the colt that was stolen. Mom and Toni got nursemate into him and left them locked in. Cleo had a filly that mom and Toni are fighting over. Toni told the filly that they could be best friends forever. The mowing in circle 4 is going a lot faster in the top part. The kids mowed it last spring but it did not get sprayed. Dad also harrowed the pasture during the week. He got the heavy mare pen done, circle 8 and part of 7 this week. Thursday afternoon Mud foaled and we had another black colt on the ranch. This is the first foal out of Highbrow Lil Shadow aka Stetson, so this colt has a pretty cool pedigree. We moved Miss Gen down with Tank so she couldn’t steal another baby. She is an older (ok maybe old is a better word for her) mare so we figure she might need the extra time to get bred.
Friday we pulled CIDRs on the cows. Anna stayed home to help and Toni came down after court. We got through them pretty fast. Friday was a crazy weather day, it was cold, we had snow in the AM, then it warmed up then got cold again. We checked, fed, etc. Anna went in and got the boys from school. Marlo was out to do chores, so she got to see the new babies, pet Queenie Bellini, etc. Stina had a cute mini horse filly by Derringer, Toni claims Stina and her sister Spicy, so she named her KT Blue Eyed Devil. I told her I was not naming the sweet little baby Blue Eyed Devil, so I put down Blue Eyed Dreamer.
Saturday morning the cows got their 2nd shot. We got up and sorted them and ran them through. We had lots of help on Saturday, Ben, Toni, Kaine, Anna and I. Kade was at a shoot somewhere there was lots of snow. He did really good, had a 39 score and was 6th overall. He won a knife. We also fixed a bit of fence one of the Hereford bulls had knocked down trying to get out with the cows that were coming into heat. Anna and Lane had prom Saturday night, so Anna went to Tonis and they did her hair and makeup. They went with Anna’s friends, Brandy and Emilee and Lane’s friends Trey and Travis (who are twins). Leroy was a super creeper in pics. They had a great time.
Sunday morning the kids caught their steers. Sophie came and picked up her Angus steer that she bought from Anna. We took her down to see Baby Blue and Anna showed her some things she needed to get. After lunch we sorted cows and then Mark came and AIed them. Kaine and Jaxsen left at one point to go down and do horse chores. After we got done Toni and I went down to work on The Judge and then go feed and check the mares. The boys stayed and helped get everything turned out of the corral, let their steers go and feed.
Everyone loves cattle sorting AFTER the fact. Then it is funny. Anyone that tries to tell you they haven’t yelled or been yelled at during cattle sorting hasn’t really done it. Last Friday it was Ben, Kaine, Anna, and Toni. Afterwards I asked Kaine how it went. He said his dad didn’t talk to him, Anna yelled at him, and Toni talked to him like he was a kindergartner. I just know that the code words were By, AI, and Hereford, so the only easy sort was the Hereford pen, and there weren’t many in the Hereford pen.
