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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.




On Monday the CA crew was out bright and early to look at horses and get Peaches, Joss and Santana and head back to CA. Toni and Kade took them around for the tour. Everyone had a great time crammed into Toni’s pickup bouncing around the ranch to meet all the studs and mares. Later that day Kade rode Jag and Benelli and checked Jon’s cows. Anna and Ben checked our cows, we have another twin, this one we need to DNA, we think it is 801Ms, but not 100% sure. Goldy the Jersey is doing great with her two calves. Kaine and Ben have been working a trailer project, they are making a small flatbed trailer. Kaine and Kade are also catching their Spokane steers daily. Anna and Kade have also put CIDRs in their fall heifers and are AIing them right after the first of the year. Kade has been working on Benelli to get her in shape to start roping off of. Toni started halter breaking the next group Monday night, she thought this was going to be an easy group since two of her “pets” are in this group, Astra and Zell. Guess what, Astra and Zell just want to be pets, not horses. So she is planning on getting in a donkey on Tuesday, maybe two donkeys. North is the third one in, and she did great.






On Tuesday we had another calf, they are just trickling in since the AI cows are done. The CA horses made it home Tuesday morning, they were happy to have green grass and no mud. Toni got the donkeys in on Tuesday and tied Zell and North to donkeys and was the donkey for Astra. We had another twin on Tuesday. Ben, Anna, Kaine and Scarlett expanded the cow fence up to the Old Valley. We went to Connell and had a New Years Eve party in the show barn and played games. Toni and Kade both rode as the weather was decent.




Happy New Year! We let the cows into the New Stalks for New Years, they were pretty excited about it. Toni and I tied Zell and North back to the donkeys and Toni led Astra all over. Astra wants to please Toni so once she figured out what was wanted she has been good. North is also really good, just big. Zell wants to be the boss. I took Jet for a walk about, she did great. Anna and Ben came down and put out grass straw bales, I helped Anna when they got down there. We all went to bed early from being up all night the night before.






Guess what, it rained on Thursday. I did not know what we were going to do without the rain. Ben had to go back to work on Thursday after his month off. He was depressed about it. Anna and Kaine came down to Kennewick to pick up the minis that were at a coworkers house. They stopped off at my work and brought me lunch, and everyone went outside to pet the minis. Except Nikki who was in the lunch room and no one told her they were here. She is still upset about it. Toni went and stayed with grandma on Thursday.
Kade went for a ride on Friday between the rain storms. We have not gotten any good pics of the foals we are halter breaking because they are covered in mud. Toni took them for a walk about and they all did great. Marlo and Kade did chores Friday, Toni was down for a little bit but was starting to not feel well. Luckily the foals are all at a really good spot so she could just mess with them and not have any fights. Chad came out and trimmed the two minis we got back from Bobs.






We tagged the few calves we had this week Saturday morning. Then Anna and I made a feed area for Goldy the jersey in the nursey pen for her calf and her nurse calf. We opened the gate so she can go in the barn and down to the new pen so she has more room. Kaine and Kade tied up their Spokane steers and got weights on their CA steers. They are growing nicely. Then Kaine and Ben put out straw to the cattle around the barn so they had something to sleep on besides mud. Anna and I took flax mineral tubs out to the mares on the desert. Then Kade and I tired to put more cobs in the round pen, we were going to try to put them in Mirage, Copper and Jetts pen, but we could not get in there. So we switched to the round pen, also got stuck. Kade tried to start the Ford tractor, it would not start. So Ben had to come down and pull us through in the Case, but we got them out. Then Kade and I did chores. I led the three fillies while I was waiting for Ben and turned them out.







We had another new calf on Sunday, they are just trickling in now, and we tagged it so we can start out next week without everyone tagged. Then we got some pics of the bulls, or I did, with Murtaugh and Miranda who were not particularly helpful. Kade and Kaine worked on their steers. Anna worked on the two mini weanlings so we could get pics of them. Ben and Kaine then worked on the feed bunk at the top of the hill, the couple little weanlings calves we have have been crawling out, so they added another bar. Anna and I went back out to check and D187 had calved. We got some new pics of the calves. Kade and I got Peeps and Gold Bug in and haltered them and then did chores.





































































































































































Bright and early on Monday Kade and Toni hauled Santana, Peaches and Joss to the vet for travel papers to go to CA. All three did great. Gina also went to get a blood test to see if she is pregnant, she did not do great. 5x NRCH champion DID not want to ride to the vet with two yearlings and a two year old. Peaches wasn’t in to go to the vet and was not on the agenda, but the buyers decided they thought they wanted her late Sunday. Luckily she was easy to get in and loaded really well. It was probably nice for Santana to have a buddy. Sheena did ask what color Joss is because everything is so covered in mud. The drive to the vet was really foggy and stressful so Toni and Kade stopped for breakfast sandwiches before they came home. This was the Featherlite we bought first real trip and it pulled really nice. It is nice to have a smaller trailer for smaller groups like this. Chad stopped by to trim Ghost and Jetter before they go to their new home after Christmas. Both did great. Poor Jetter looks like a mud ball since the round pen is so muddy. Toni stayed with grandma on Monday.






Happy Christmas Eve. I took dad in to get laser eye bright and early on Tuesday, we were back by noon. It rained all day pretty much, but we had a short window midafternoon, so we went out to the desert to get Christmas pics of the kids. The horses came running across the desert to get in the pictures. They did not want to be left out. Some were nosier than others. We also had a donkey request, so we caught May and she got a bow. Kade rode Benelli in the rain. We worked on the foals then went to Christmas Eve at grandmas. We have soup and do the white elephant gift exchange. It was pretty bland this year, not a lot of fighting over gifts. However, I did go to the bathroom and Anna had traded her uncle kicker my gift for one he had she wanted. NOT HERS, mine.










Merry Christmas. We had a couple new Christmas calves, including a set twins, Joseph and Mary dad said. We opened presents Erina and Terry came down, we had prime rib, mashed potatoes, rolls, pies, the whole works, after mom made us a big breakfast as well. We played a new game Anna got the night before, that she did not trade for whatever Kicker had. It is Old Vs Young, So Post 1980 born people ask pre 1980 born people questions and vice versa, but we did men vs women, so young and old on both teams. Except the old Skip did not play. Then we played another card game. We had a great and family filled Christmas.






On Thursday we had a few more calves, one of them being mom and Anna’s char x jersey cross heifer calved. Worked on the foals in the mud, since it is still raining. Hauled pellets, hay, corn cobs out, etc. Basically just tried to keep an eye on the livestock and suck up as much mud as possible with the tools we have on hand.







On Friday we had people come out from Montana to look at the three big fillies we have left- North, Peeps, and Kenna. She liked North the best so North gets to come in with the next group. Our new horse showed up, Ruby, and Fabby came home from the trainers. Sold a couple bulls. Had another new calf. Kaine is in bed sick, so we did not see him much. He tried to help with chores and fed some grain before he wore himself out. We had Marlo for chores on Friday. I stayed with grandma on Friday.







On Saturday the same people came back to look again, still North. We had interest in the other 2 as well, one of the other people are also from Montana. Had a few more calves. Kade rode Benelli out to check cows. We got some videos of Peeps for a gal in Montana. Kade jumped on Blueberry bareback with a halter, she did great. We took Jet and Santana for a walk about, they both did great. They look like mud balls from it being so muddy.






A few more calves on Sunday, we got them all tagged. We took Sanatana and Jet on their final walk abouts, well not Jet, but Santana is headed to sunny and not muddy, at least at his new house, CA. We got the jersey Goldy and her calf, Noel, in so Goldy could nurse another calf. We have a couple of bottle calves in. Fabby and Ruby went down to Mom’s house so she could call Ruby hers. We turned Blondie, Smarty, and Kenna out and got North, Astra, and Zelle in for this coming week. Astra and Zelle are Toni’s pets so she thinks they will be perfect. They all haltered pretty good so maybe. We also got Peaches in and haltered so the people from CA could see her on Monday. Then we went and had our annual dinner with our good friends and neighbors where we were served a Hungarian chicken dish that was excellent.





We had an excellent week full of love and laughter. Thankfulness for the gifts we have received, meaning our way of life and our freedoms. We got to spend another Christmas with Grandma in our lives and Skip. There is no blessing greater than our loved ones and we hope everyone had a family filled amazing Christmas with yours.



































































































































































We had our last club calf on Monday, Kade’s cow Kissy had a heifer calf by Trump Train. Toni isn’t happy because I will want to keep it and we will have to argue about it… Anna has been loading up the left over silage from weaning the calves and hauling it out to the heifers in the dump trailer. She is almost done with that, and next she will have to clean off the pad behind the feed bunk. She got some pictures of the yearlings heifers and miniature horses while she was out and about as well. Kade rode Joss through the water and opened the gate on Monday, since the sun was kind of out. Toni and Kade worked on Jetter, Shooter and Piney. Piney is the only one that got hooked to the June the donkey.








On Tuesday Fatniss, who is no longer fat since she is not a show heifer, calved. Our two new heifers from Blue Drifter showed up, Anna got a chance to talk to Gail and Eric for a bit. Kade worked on Joss some more before she heads to CA. Toni and Kade worked on Jetter, Shooter and Piney. Piney is the only one that got hooked to the June the donkey, for the 2nd day. He is actually really soft and supple he just doesn’t want his head touched so that annoyed Toni. Jetter was letting the first day so probably won’t get the donkey. Shooter doesn’t understand how he went from the favorite pet to actually having to do something. McCall came over and gave Toni and I Wilbur Ellis jackets for being customers. We are really proud of her and are thankful that we can support her and have her as our fieldperson/agronomist.





Anna got a bunch of calf pictures Wednesday when they checked. Her and Ben got some more stalks fenced off and the cows ran over, so Anna got lots of pics. Shooter got tied to June on Wednesday, all three foals lead great. It was a stunning sunset Wed so Toni took some pics o the foals with the sunset behind them.






More calves on Thursday, we have slowed down a lot but the cows that did not take to AI will start calving here soon. The weather is still holding, so hopefully we can get a lot more before it breaks. Kaine and Kade put corn cobs in the round pen, Anna and mom were going to do it, but Ben did not think they could I guess? But Kaine and Kade made it. However, they do not drive as good as me so they could not get in through the blue gate. Both big boys came home from school early due an assembly and overall “boring” school day with it being the end of the week near Christmas break. Kade went and grabbed Jag and went on a ride and rode Joss.





Anna and mom went to Othello on Friday, dad and Skip went to Pasco and visited Traci and the girls. Toni arranged the vet appointment for Joss and Santana to go to CA, they are headed to see Sheena Monday morning bright and early. Marlo helped Toni with chores Friday night and led the foals, to make sure they don’t have stranger danger, they did really good. We had a few new calves on Friday. Kade rode Joss. Joss has been a really fun horse for him to start his young horse breaking and selling side of things. We don’t necessarily want him to focus on that but we are fine with him doing a few per year. Joss had some challenges but is extremely smart, athletic, and able. We are excited to see what her next chapter is like.






Saturday was pretty rainy, and cold because you were wet. We checked in the morning and tagged calves. The Twins stopped by since McKenna is home for a few days from Kansas. Kade and Kaine tied up their steers. Then Kade and I went out to the desert to put out protein blocks, and Kade is going to ride Benelli since she is open. Ben loaded some grass straw onto the flatbed so then we put out hay. Ton’s godson Tate came out for a bit and rode around with her. We led the colts and Jetter around on a walk about, they all did great. Toni and I fixed the down poles (due to jerk face young studs) at the corral. I stayed with grandma.





On Sunday we finished tagging the calves. Baby cow, Kades show heifer, calved, so Toni called the shipper who hauled her for us and named her Baby Cow, and now she is mama cow. LOL Ben and Kaine took Kaine’s pickup to Raymond the mechanic. Kade rode Benelli around, and Jag. Toni, Kade and I practiced loading Joss and Sanatana since they were going to get their travel papers Monday morning early. Kade and I took the colts around back to put with the other colts and Toni led Jetter around. Then we got in Kenna, Blondie and Smarty to halter break next.






We had a tough week this week, we lost three of our special old mares, Rudy, who was a 1999 mare, Cleo, also a 1999 mare, and Comet who was only a 2000. Love is never a burden and those old mares gave us everything they had. Cleo and Comet have been with us since birth and we raised their mother. We are thankful for the time we did have with them all and thankful to Tina for having the faith in us to let us have Rudy for the years we had her. All left their mark at KT Ranch.












































































































































































Monday was another hectic day. Kaine’s football banquet was Monday night, Jaxsen had a basketball game. We had some people out to look at foals. Dad had a dr appointment. Cows calving, Ben tagging calves, you know, a usual Monday. Kaine was co defensive player of the year with his friend Tucker. We got a picture of all the Jr boys, there is a big group of them. Kade and Toni moved the weanling colts around back, got three more in the halter breaking pen, and fixed two down poles in between the studs in the dark. It doesn’t sound like much, but moving the colts was a job on its own. They had to get all the weanlings in, sort the fillies back out, then move the colts. I hear it went really well. Sarge decided he couldn’t go with the other colts so he got walked back to the pen after all the rest. The colts went to the back of Mom and Dad’s in between the old mare pen and the corral, so the colts had to walk around the house, passed a bunch of stuff and they all did great.








Tuesday was foggy, but not as cold. We had our first clubby calf, out of a Red Angus cross cow we got from Mike Corrales and by Trump Train. Ben went and got some little straw bales, a friend said we could pick through their bottom bales before they discard of them, there were only a dozen or so that were still good. Toni and Kade tied the foals up to the donkeys, the donkeys had had a few weeks off due to mud, and I guess they thought they were done for the year, they were not the best. The colts in this week are Fire, who is really big and our oldest foal, City, and Gold Buckle Dreams. Yes, we call him by his full name. Gold Buckle Dreams took about 5 seconds and was done. City wasn’t impressed and didn’t do as well. Fire is big, broke a halter and a lead rope, will definitely need more time on the donkey. Kade also started riding Joss again. He just hasn’t had time to ride her, but with her trip to CA coming soon, he needed to make time. She did really well. After chores Kaine went in and watched the girls basketball game.






We had a few more calves on Wednesday. Gold was only the donkey for one day, City two days and Fire three. The final count was that Fire broke 2 halters and 4 lead ropes. Kade led Gold Buckle Dreams on Wed, City they were able to lead after being on the donkey for Wed. Kade rode Joss again on Wed. Kade helped dad get his big star up for Christmas. It is lighted and can be seen from the road. Kaine opened his birthday present from us since I was staying with grandma on Thursday. Toni went home to meetings and I got a text about 8 pm that she found some horse she wanted to buy.





Happy Happy birthday Kaine, you are the big 1 7. Anna and Lane came home from U of I on Thursday afternoon. They finished their finals and are on Christmas break. Kade rode Joss around out in the driveway and in the mud. Fire had his last day on the donkey and Toni could lead him a bit by the end. Toni and Kade worked on the other two colts, leading them around the corral. Once City got it, he got it, no dinking around. When we talk about leading them, we also tie them for short periods of time. When the week is done, they have been led around and tied all week. I stayed with grandma. And she was a horrible sleeper. Jaxsen got taken to the dr and has pneumonia, which is allegedly going around- the bacterial kind.



On Friday Toni had a hearing, I had a Family Farm call, so Anna went down and showed Suzanne and Mike the horses. I got down there when my call was over, so Anna and Lane went back to cleaning the alley and putting down corn cobs. Suzanne and Mike had lots of choices, so went home with a long list. Toni went and grabbed straw from my house the little bales Ben had picked up, then Toni came down and Marlo, Toni, Kade and I did the horse chores, per the norm. We also put out straw to try to soak up the mud. The straw doesn’t do as well as corn cobs but the straw makes better bedding for the foals We also moved Belle into her pen, where she will stay until she foals this next spring. Kaine went and did the cattle chores.








More calves on Saturday, we got them tagged. Toni showed the boys the colts again on Saturday and they took Shiney Guy home with them. Toni got some pictures for Suzanne and Mike, who are still trying to make a decision on which horse to go with. While out in the pasture, Absolute broke Toni’s pu mirror and took a big chunk out of her pu seat, so she is not happy with that horse. Toni and I got some pics of Fire, City and Gold with our cell phones and took them for a walk about. We also got a bunch of pictures of the fillies. Saturday was a beautiful day. You couldn’t ask for a better Dec day. Kade rode Joss. Anna and I got some pictures of the new calves.






On Sunday we had Kaine’s birthday party, Erina and Terry came down. We had meatballs and Dutch Oven potatoes. Mom made trifle and we had pie. Lots of good food and good times. The overarching theme for Kaine’s bday presents was stuff for his pu. I guess when you turn 17 and are a boy, your pu is your main priority. Kaine and Anna also got to open their Christmas presents from Grandma Sherri. While we had the bday party, a big bald eagle landed in the tree outside of my house, so that was cool. Then we worked on the horses, took the three colts around to the colt pen and got the last two colts in to halter break and Jet. Kade brought his welder down and welded up a joint area on the continuous fence. Both Kaine and Kade are pretty good welders. Thanks to the FFA program at Connell that teaches welding and other really useful life skills. We weaned Santana so he can also get ready to move to CA. Joss and Santana are moving together at the end of the month. They are going to a family we have known for many years that was one of the first families we met in the AQHA Youth program, so that is really cool.








Well we aren’t dashing through the snow, but we are dashing through December. We do have a couple of December specials right now on foals, so if you are wanting a really good deal on a nice weanling, let us know. The Fire colt is big, gritty, smart, and just needs a bit more one on one that we are giving him, so is priced, to the right home, for $2500.00 for December. Peaches is also priced at $2500.00 but we have someone coming to look at her at the end of the month. However, if you want to talk about either of them, let us know. Again, the right home is a must. The countdown to Christmas is upon us! The best gift has four legs and comes in lots of colors.


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