Posts Tagged With: #wabeef

Last Week in Pictures

Posted on March 11, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: #2025Calvingseason, #2025foal, #AQHAforsale, #AQHAforsaleinWA, #AQHAProud, #Barnbabies, #QHColor, #Quarter horses for sale in WA, #Quarterhorseforsale, #QuarterhorsesinWA, #ranch life, #Ranching, #RanchingHeritageBreeder, #ranchingspring, #ranchlife, #ranchliving, #ranchraised, #wabeef, #WABeefLove, #WAJrAngus, #WALoveBeef

Per the norm, we had a busy week. Also per the norm, we forge on.

Posted on March 6, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

On Monday Kaine took Old Red to school since the fuel light was on after getting unstuck putting out grass straw. Kaine called me after school and said guess what happened mom? I said s***, you ran out of diesel? He said no, Riggs had puppies. Anna’s dog Riggs had 6 puppies on Monday. Now to DNA them and see what breed the sire is. Anna thinks it is Leo, the mini poodle, who was neutered about the time she came out of heat. I am so sure he is not the dad, we have a $25 bet. But, if he is the dad I am keeping one. So I am hoping I lose, but pretty sure I am not. There is a red merle, a red one, two border collie looking ones and two black ones. Leo is black. Kade had a running start meeting Monday night, so Toni and Kade went to that after chores. Kaine tried staying on the back of the pickup while Ben tried to not get stuck while they were feeding cows. Muddy mud out there.

On Tuesday headed to work, to get pellets in Palouse, court, etc you were either racing tumbleweeds, dodging them or passing them as they went the other way. Lots of wind and tumbleweeds all over. Tuesday was a windy B. Toni had to stop on her way to Court to give Opal her morning dose of medication to keep Opal healthy and hopefully the foal(s). Opal was having some issues with laminitis, pain moving, etc. That is on top of everything else she is going through. Being a range mare she can be problematic to get meds into. I thought for sure we were having a foal, it seems like they are born when it was windy. Sure enough Shiney had a foal, we think it is a filly, but she is out on 500 acres and we are not 100% sure. It is a nice dunskin by Sagebug. At least the wind was firming up the mud. Kade, Jaxsen, and Kaine all went to Finley for an FFA Jamboree for their various competitions. Both Kade and Jaxsen were 3^rd individual for their specific competitions and their teams were 1^st. All boys did a great job and are having a fun time at FFA.

Wednesday morning I had an appointment with my dermatologist, if you want to see someone, Rebecca Eng is great at the Center for Dermatology Excellence. She is a rancher, barrel racer, her sister and mom buy bulls from us, great person to visit. I had a spot burnt off of my nose. We had a sunscreen discussion. Then Kaine and I went to breakfast at SagePort Grill, it was excellent. Then we went to our dentist appointments at Quail Ridge and I got to catch up with Franny. We had people out Wednesday during the day for their second look at the foals. They were able to narrow it down to two to purchase. It was a fun visit with a person that used to show cattle with our Grandparents, so lots of fun stories. Toni and I checked the mares Wednesday night. They wanted some hay and followed us around. Breezy was waxed up, so we put her in mom’s dog pen since it has been so windy.

Dad texted Thursday morning that Breezy foaled. She had a cute buckskin colt, but Barb, Toni and I are disappointed it is a colt. I have not told Toni yet, but after 6 panel and color testing I might convince her to keep him for Gunner’s heir…. I feel like she is going to tell me that is Sagebug… We will see what happens. We also have a Gunner son in CA that is standing at stud if anyone wants to breed to one in that area. Mom and Dad went to town to Toni spent the day running back and forth to Mom and Dad’s as they thought Opal was foaling but she was just laying down. Kade started welding on the Meacham new tack shed. Toni thinks she needs to buy more saddles to fill up all the saddle racks. But she literally has saddles everywhere, at my house, mom and dads house, her house. I feel like she has enough saddles.

On Friday Toni and I got up early to pull CIDRs from the cows and give them a shot. They did not want to get up early either so were kind of balling up Bs. Toni finally grabbed Kevin, since he was in the pen with them. But she was just riding him bareback, so barely better then on foot. Then they balled up at the end of the alley and broke the chain and got out in the corn field. Luckily their calves were already sorted off, so they came back for the most part. Only about half of them got out. So I went and got them in and Toni started pulling CIDRs. It is a slow process with two of us, but luckily we have good dogs. We got started at 8 and got done around 9:30. Then we had one of our bulls leave, and we talked to him for a bit. Then Toni went and gave Opal her meds, got Jaxsen, who came home sick. Anna got home around noon so we went out and got some new pics of Shiney filly. Anna gets to name it since Shiney is “her” mare. I came up with a great name for Breezy’s colt, KT The Mighty Gun.

Saturday morning the cows got their next shot. Kade rode Jag now that the weather is better, Toni did not let him ride her when the weather was really bad. We had people out looking at bulls, a bull left. We checked cows, horses, etc. It was a pretty nice day on Saturday. Kade went and shot trap. I took a load of corncobs down to Mom’s to try to clean up the alley. Ben brought the tractor down and we got a good section of the alley kind of cleaned up. The horses were a huge pain in the butt to get that done. I had to back into the gate area from the pasture with horses in the way the entire time. I also got a couple of bales put out for the week. The big pasture has really slowed down on eating the grass hay now that grass is kind of growing. We also got mineral tubs put out.

Sunday morning Terry and Erina came down to help AI cows. We sorted the calves off and then into AI groups, had lunch, then Mark and Alex were there to AI. We AIed cows the rest of the day. Toni and Erina when and checked the mares. Then we were done AIing the Herefords, so Toni jumped on ol Kevin bareback, I am guessing he is sorry for his decision to get in with the cows, and Toni, Erina, Jaxsen and Kade pushed the Herefords down with the Hereford bull. It was a couple miles so by the time they got back Toni was regretting riding the boney back of Kevin, but whatever. We were done with the Angus cows by the time Toni and Kevin made it back. So we pushed them down to the corn field. Terry and I ran the chute. Ben and Alex were getting semen prepped. Kicker and the boys, Toni, Anna, and Erina were bringing up the cows. We had a really good day to AI and things went well. We are hoping that helps with the conception rate. We finished up, got everything moved then went and did normal chores. Opal was also doing better by Sunday and was unaccepting of any oral medication.

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Last Week in Pictures

Posted on March 4, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: #AQHA, #AQHAforsale, #AQHAforsaleinWA, #AQHAProud, #QHColor, #Quarter horses for sale in WA, #Quarterhorseforsale, #QuarterhorsesinWA, #ranagereadystallion, #ranch life, #ranchcolt, #Ranching, #ranchingFebruary, #RanchingHeritageBreeder, #ranchingspring, #ranchlife, #ranchliving, #ranchraised, #rangeradybulls, #wabeef, #WABeefLove, #WAJrAngus

“It Will Never Get Easier, but You Will Handle Hard Better” is a great video by Duke Coach Kara Lawson.

Posted on February 28, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

Happy President’s day. Toni, the kids, the friends and I finished up sorting the cows and turning out bulls. We got the joy of sorting Ben’s longhorns, both have calved. The nice one, Wilma, decided to switch places and become the mean one after she calved. Basically they are both real joys. Ben was at work so at least we didn’t have to hear how we were handling them wrong, making them mean. We don’t handle them wrong. They are just mean. Luckily they didn’t get anyone, we all get out of their way. We ran the Hereford down to mom and dads. Still snowy, icy, and a mess out. Toni and I got some more pics feeding the mares in the snow. Anna and Kaitlyn headed back to college after lunch. There was a break in the snow/rain at around 1, so that is when they left. And it was 35 degrees. Emma came out and took some pics of the mares in the snow.

was up to the high 30s on Tuesday, Toni had a heck of a time checking cows between the snow and the melting snow. It was a pretty gray day. Motley calved and had a bull calf. Kade and Jaxsen fed the horses, Toni was filing documents for court. The men and Kaine did cow chores and fed the cattle.

On Wednesday I stayed home from work sick, the dogs were happy that someone was home all day. Mom stayed with grandma Wednesday day. Monica the clubby cow had a cute grey/silver calf that Toni wants to keep. Another cow had an Angus calf. We are on the tail end but still have calves trickling in. Kade took a bull and heifer to the vet before school. It is National FFA week and Wednesday at Connell happened to be “Going Showing” day. Kade got to dress like a showman and take the pu and trailer to school so he was taking the theme seriously. Toni had court Wednesday morning, then she showed her miniature horse cold, Lord Farquaad, to some people. She only agreed because they were keeping him as a stallion. Jaxsen helped Toni feed the mares since I did not go down. Toni stayed with grandma Wednesday night.

On Thursday Toni had a hard time checking with the fog, slush, frozen slush, ice, etc. But she made it. It took two trips around the field to find the heavies. Toni and I fed the mares on Thursday. They were not as excited to see us as they have been since most of the snow has melted. But everything is a muddy mess and trying to drive around is not fun. Coco the lab needed to ride in the cab of the pu because she doesn’t like riding on the back while people are feeding hay and having horse noses in her space. Lots of water all over the place with the massive snow melt.

More nice weather on Friday, it was cold first thing but warmed up. Ben stayed home from work and put CIDRs in the cows so we could AI the following Sunday. Toni was going to help him but she had court scheduled on Friday, so he was on his own with the dogs. He could have asked for help but felt like he could get it done. They all got it done. Anna and Lane came home on Friday. Most of the snow was gone by Friday night so we did not feed the horses in the desert. I went and stayed with grandma, she is sill not sleeping.

Kade went to St John to shoot trap on Saturday. I think the Connell Team did pretty good. Anna and I got some pictures of calves when we were out checking. We checked everything and put mineral out Ben, Lane and Kaine put straw out and cleaned up the pen with all the rain we have been getting. We had people come out to look at foals. They had one picked out but ended up falling in love with a different filly and decided they needed to get two. Kade got stuck in the canyon going down the alley, I was out putting grass bales out when he called. So he started the old Ford tractor while he waited for me and we jerked the canyon out. The mud was deep and things were really a mess. I drove up and down the alley to break all the ice up in the FORD while he finished chores. Toni came down and helped him feed hay out in the pasture.

“It Will Never Get Easier, but You Will Handle Hard Better” is a great video by Duke Coach Kara Lawson. It is one of those inspirational videos that reminds you that hard times suck but you can handle it. Even though we continue to encounter setbacks with Opal, we continue to work through issues with the hope that even if the foals don’t live, we have done everything within our power to help Opal through this and keep her healthy. We will have a new update this weekend. We heard come feedback that people were bad they did not have one last weekend. Sorry.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: #AQHAforsale, #AQHAforsaleinWA, #AQHAProud, #QHColor, #Quarter horses for sale in WA, #Quarterhorseforsale, #QuarterhorsesinWA, #ranch life, #Ranching, #ranchingFebruary, #RanchingHeritageBreeder, #ranchinginwinter, #ranchlife, #ranchliving, #ranchraised, #wabeef, #WABeefLove, #WALoveBeef, #washingtoncattlemen

Last Week in Pictures

Posted on February 25, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: #AQHAforsale, #AQHAforsaleinWA, #AQHAProud, #QHColor, #Quarter horses for sale in WA, #Quarterhorseforsale, #QuarterhorsesinWA, #ranagereadystallion, #ranch life, #ranchcolt, #Ranching, #ranchingFebruary, #RanchingHeritageBreeder, #ranchinginwinter, #ranchinwinter, #ranchlife, #ranchliving, #ranchraised, #rangereadybulls, #wabeef, #WABeefLove, #WAJrAngus, #WALoveBeef, #WAlovebeef #ranchingheritagebreeders, #washingtoncattlemen

I know people say weekends are to recharge your batteries but I don’t think we ever use weekends for that purpose.

Posted on February 20, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

I told Uncle Joe Sunday night that I was going to go to work on Monday, it was too cold for me to go to the sale. He told me that was not allowed, it is a family Holiday. So running gates is where I was. Toni was buying bulls, bidding on one for us, and buying some for one of her clients. Who was online watching to make sure she did it right, but he did not want to bid online. Kaine, Kade and Addy were riding at the sale, they took Pow Pow, Poor Ole Big Kev and Benelli. Anna was running gates with Traci. Ben was sorting bulls with Jolene and Mar and Jaxsen was watching kids. Erina came and her and Marlo were on my gate team, with Amy and Luke. Terry also came but he was watching the dog. Sale was good. It was cold, but it has been colder. We did not get a bull because they sold really well. We are happy for BB Cattle Co on the success of their cattle sale (had heifers sell too so not a technical bull sale). We got home to Bayley acting off, so she had to come in. Then we noticed Rosie was down rolling, so she got to come in too. We spent quite a bit of time getting the old mares back on the road to recovery. The super cold weather is just really hard on the mares over 20. We have them by the house, getting extra feed, lots of straw, but we can’t fix the weather just make it as comfortable as possible.

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.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: #AQHAforsale, #AQHAforsaleinWA, #AQHAProud, #QHColor, #Quarter horses for sale in WA, #Quarterhorseforsale, #QuarterhorsesinWA, #Ranching, #ranchingfall, #ranchingFebruary, #RanchingHeritageBreeder, #ranchinginwinter, #ranchinwinter, #ranchlife, #ranchliving, #wabeef, #WABeefLove, #WAJrAngus, #WALoveBeef, #washingtoncattlemen

There is no better feeling than having a ranch full of family.

Posted on February 15, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

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.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: #AQHAforsale, #AQHAforsaleinWA, #AQHAProud, #QHColor, #Quarter horses for sale in WA, #Quarterhorseforsale, #QuarterhorsesinWA, #ranagereadystallion, #ranch life, #ranchcolt, #Ranching, #ranchingFebruary, #RanchingHeritageBreeder, #ranchinwinter, #ranchlife, #ranchliving, #ranchraised, #wabeef, #WABeefLove

Last Week in Pictures

Posted on February 12, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: #AQHAforsale, #AQHAforsaleinWA, #AQHAProud, #QHColor, #Quarter horses for sale in WA, #Quarterhorseforsale, #QuarterhorsesinWA, #ranch life, #Ranching, #ranchingfall, #ranchingFebruary, #RanchingHeritageBreeder, #ranchinwinter, #ranchlife, #ranchliving, #ranchraised, #rangegreadybulls, #rangereadybulls, #wabeef, #WABeefLove, #WAJrAngus, #WALoveBeef, #WAlovebeef #ranchingheritagebreeders, #washingtoncattlemen

And just like that, another week gone.

Posted on February 6, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

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, 3^rd 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 3^rd 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 4^th 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.