Posts Tagged With: #washingtoncattlemen

Another fun week in the books and the first part of April.

Posted on April 4, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

We had a few late nights early on in the week, or really the whole week probably. Ben, Kaine and Kade continued to pack the trailer and get everything crammed in the nose. Including building a fan rack for the 4 fans. McCall came over Monday after work and helped Kade finish clipping his fall heifer. No new foals, Monday or Tuesday. Mom went out and helped us check the mares on Monday. Toni was preparing for a big hearing on Tuesday. Both nights we did normal chores, Kade rode Roanie, and we just got ready for our big trip. Roanie is for sale, and if you want more info go to our sale page.

The last of the trailer got packed to go to Reno on Tuesday. Kat came down and stayed the night so we could leave early from our house. Kaine got himself on the Ag Sales team so he was studying for that on Tuesday. His other option was go by himself with me to Angus Regionals in Madras, since it is finals week for Anna at school, and Kade and Jaxsen were already going to FFA State. I guess he did not want to have a road trip with me by himself…

I took the three big kids and left Toni, Mom, Dad, Ben and Kicker, and Jaxsen to do all the chores, foaling out mares and turning them out with studs. We were Reno bound and trucking with Kat and Kady Vejraska. Jaxsen had his last student led parent teacher conference in Jr. High. His grades are ok, he could do better, but has done worse. So I guess that is a win. Wednesday evening Emma came out and grabbed Boone to hypothetically use her for Wrangler girls. Last year she borrowed Kevin, so she is switching it up for this year. Boone loaded great and off she went for the rodeo season. Then Toni and Jaxsen started chores. They were way behind and couldn’t find all of the mares.

Thursday was a quiet day in Reno. The cattle were doing great and Kade did livestock judging. At home it was rainy and gross but that didn’t stop Toni from shipping out Rad and Gold Buckle to their new home. They did really well loading into a new trailer. Kendra came and picked up the foals for their owners and took them to Colville. Our farming operation started going full tilt on Tuesday, we sent out rebreed contracts for open AI mares, and had a super busy day. Once again Toni could not find 14 of the mares, which started to make her nervous. She called Ben and he was able to find them. Sagebug had swam the lake, which he has never done in all the years we have ran him with mares on the far side. Then he proceeded to gather up 14 head of mares and try to make them swim back to his side of the lake. None of the mares would go and he had them bunched up on a little peninsula that is  hard to get to and hard to find. You can drive out close to it, but it does require some walking and dodging of big sagebrush, mud holes, rocks, etc.

Friday was a decent day. Juan came over and picked up Buzzy the Bug. We are excited for Juan to have him. Juan also wants a mule, just like Kade does so Toni and Juan started talking mules. Then Jeana, Scott, and Jaycee came and brought their mare out to breed to MC. We called the mare Bay Mare, thinking that was her name the entire time we had her when we bred her to Gunner, but her name is Venus. She has a really neat Gunner colt so now they are going to breed her to MC to see what they get. Jaycee also went  ahead and jumped on Roanie to see if he might work for her little cousins. He isn’t a hard horse to ride, but is really big so we don’t think he is a good fit for little kids. For chores Toni and Marlo went out to try to remedy the Sagebug situation. They found mares scattered all over. Lura had just foaled, so fresh the foal wasn’t up yet. They drove all over and couldn’t find Sagebug, but did find all the mares he had originally taken and they couldn’t find nine other mares. They finally found Sagebug with the nine missing mares by the gate back into Sagebug’s pasture where he was driving to drive these mares. Again, he had them bunched into a small area but the gate and fence stopped him from taking them where he wanted the mares to go. Toni and Marlo tried to get the herd up to my house, but Sagebug wouldn’t let the mares go that direction and kept trying to drive them across the land bridge where he wanted them to go. Ben came to help and they all finally decided to leave the horses in Circle 3 for the night. When Marlo and Toni got back to Mom and Dad’s Lightening Bug was just foaling and they were able to get right out to the new filly. Mom was disappointed it was a dunskin/buckskin, but she is a big beauty so whatever.  Because the twins turned the big 25 on Friday, they got to name both of the new fillies. I don’t think we have had a year go by when they didn’t get a foal on their birthday or 2! In Reno the kid had showmanship. The heifers and kids all did great.

Saturday first thing Dad told Toni the colts were out. She got down to the house and the colts had knocked down a pole and Fire was out. She got the pole up and Fire in. Dad and Skip went in to the baseball game. Then Mom called that a stud was out. The gate to Cappy’s pen was not chained correctly so they were out. Mom and Toni put them back in. Cappy was acting like the young stud that he is but went back in fine. Then Toni and Jaxsen went out and walked up and caught Sagebug, long trotting him back to my house so we can build a fence and put him in a much smaller pasture. He really screwed himself with his behavior. I would say though that he was awesome to catch and take out of the mares, so that took way less time than scheduled. In Reno we had breeding classes. Kade showed Cookie and Blossom, Anna had Hazel and Kaine had Baby Jewel. Kady had Maddy and Laxy. All the kids and heifers did great. Kade was 4th in this class with Blossom.

Sunday Kendel called that we had a new foal in Circle 5 so Toni went down and Peanut had a Cappy colt. I texted that I thought Nutjob, yet I want to call him that, was beautiful. Toni ignored me. He is a big pretty colt. Everything on the desert was good for once and that was our only foal on Sunday. Toni did take my horse for a spin with her new halter our friend Suzanne sent. It is Toni’s color- leopard print. We got the cattle loaded and headed home from Reno after a great week. We needed to take Kady to the airport, so I thought we were dropping the trailer and then hooking it back up. Nope, Kat rolled through the airport with the Wilson and we headed home from there.

Another fun week in the books and the first part of April. Always exciting to see the foals on the ground and start breeding mares back. Soon we will be AIing mares on top of everything else. Spring is a hectic fun time. If anyone is looking for a Shadoodle Anna has Shadoodle puppies. Idaho Shagg x Mini Poodle.

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Last Week in Pictures

Posted on April 2, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch
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KT Damsel Bug

Posted on March 23, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

KT Damsel Bug
Filly
Sire: KT Gunners Sage Bug
Dam:  KT Major Shasta Dais
Date Born: 3/4/25
Click here for more pictures
Color: Bay (Roan?)
Price: 5,000
Here is another impressive Sagebug filly, that is out of Shasta. Sagebug is out of Continental Lady Bug and is by KT Gunpowder N Lead, “Gunner.” Gunner is a roan dunskin son of Cue Bars Laddie, AQHA point earning and producing stallion. Gunner’s dam, Pistol, has been shown NFQHA, has been featured on rule book and in the NFQHA magazine. She is a great working ranch horse, rope horse, and the kids can ride her as well. Continental Lady Bug is a big boned Continental Cad daughter going back to Mr Blackburn on the bottom. Shasta’s dam, Totchie was a daughter of Poco Cisco Bueno, shown AQHA, and a Sonnys OO Buck and Codys Royal Dancer (AQHA point earner) granddaughter, as well as a granddaughter of Annies My Granny, an AQHA point producing mare, and a Docs Superstar Bar and Docs Adonis great granddaughter. She threw really big, growthy foals that had a good mind and were easy to break. Shasta’s sire, Zinks Major Kid, was shown at local show before we got him. He was a producer of cow horses and performance horses and his foals continue to live on in many arenas. He was a great stallion, with an award winning personality that he passed on to his foals. They have a lot of try and like to please. This is going to be a fancy filly that will excel in many arenas.

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Life continues to be hectic but rewarding. We are gearing up to start the cattle show season with some really great show cattle and even better kids.

Posted on March 21, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

Monday was drive your tractor to school day. Kaine hauled the skidsteer in, Kade was supposed to ride in the golf cart with the other FFA Officers, but him and Jaxsen drove Maxx’s pickup in the beginning of the parade. Which in the video he zipped by so fast you could not really see him. Kaine and Cyson brought up the rear in Big Red. Anna is home on spring break, so she picked Jaxsen up after school to wash and blow his steer. Mom had Toni moved Opal into the back yard so she could watch her better at night, she will show up on the camera better due to the yard light. Tank had a couple of poles down in his pen, but they were easy fixes. Fixing fence never ends. Toni stayed with Grandma on Monday night.

Kade started tying up the Reno heifers in the morning on Tuesday. Kaine goes to weight lifting in the morning, so does not help Kade with the heifers in the morning. Luckily Kaine’s is Baby Jewel and really tame, or Kade would probably not help him out. Anna put 6 hours on the skidsteer Tuesday, hauling cobs to the alley and cleaning up around the barn. Jaxsen worked on his Angus steer to get ready for Field Day. It is definitely spring.

We had rain Wednesday night, we really needed some out on the desert, it is starting to dry up. Dad went to Palouse on Wednesday to get more pellets. It was pouring rain, so Anna unloaded them when he got back. Toni and I fed horses, kids did chores, etc. We had some interest in one of the coming two year old fillies, so got some video of her in the rain. She didn’t look her best but she still looked good enough. Normal day.

Thursday was a bid day. Opal foaled Thursday night, Toni and Anna had to pull him, and yes there was only one. It is common in horses for one twin to absorb the other twin. The placenta was very interesting, but also gross. We had moved Opal to the backyard on Monday but she wasn’t really doing anything. On Thursday when Toni went to feed Opal she called Mom to come out because Opal had significant wax. Mom and Dad really were watching Opal like a hawk after that. They called Toni about the time she started dinner. I had gone to Grandma’s to stay with her. They also called Anna. Toni and Anna watched and timed Opal and realized that the process was not progressing. Anna went and grabbed some baling twine (easier on the foal than chains). Because Opal is a range mare, she then had to stand up, but they commenced to pull and finally got the colt out. Luckily his nose came out easily so they were able to get him air during the process. He was not an easy pull. Ben also came down to help, but luckily they had him out by the time Ben got there. Ben did pick him up and move him to the straw. The first night he didn’t nurse, but Toni and Mom were able to milk Opal and get colostrum into him, so they felt ok about things. He is a big Red Dun colt, he is our first foal by Midnight Kat Dr. There was also an eclipse Thursday night, so he is named Eclipse. It was a long night for everyone.

On Friday I stopped to see Eclipse on my way home from grandmas. I grabbed Skip, dad was going to Cottonwood, so Skip went with Anna and I to check cows, horses, put out mineral etc. Toni’s extra kid Evy came out Friday. Lots of checking and petting of animals with a four year old around.  We sold Radiant Rifle, but she is the only one that let Evy hang off of her neck, so we might have to get her back. Just Joking if you are reading this. LOL. Kade rode Roany around, he had someone coming out to look at him on Sunday.  Kade had been riding Roany all week and getting the kinks out. Toni jumped on him Friday as well just to take him for a little spin. Marlo came out to see Eclipse and the puppies. We are still waiting on the DNA test for the puppies. Kaine and Kade went to an FFA welding competition with two of their good friends. We haven’t heard how they did but their prompt was equestrian so they welded together a guy on horseback. Those boys have some talent.

                On Saturday we tried to tag the 4 calves left to tag, but the two Angus cows had their calves “hidden” so would not come over to them, so we only got the two commercial calves tagged. We rolled up the electric fence and let the cows down below, so the famers could come in on Wednesday. The cows were happy to be out on grass. Traci brought Savannah and Kayla out to see the puppies, so they got to pet Eclipse, and Savannah needed to go and see her birthday colt. Savannah has Kade’s old gelding Slick, so her favorite of the broodmares was Pinky, one of Slick’s sisters, and she is going to take her from Toni. She also informed us (me) not to call Bolt, Bolt Action, Bolter, or any version of his name that is not Bolt. We think both girls had fun riding around with us. We also had some of the 509 Show Circuit come out with Alyx and take a tour around the house, getting some knowledge on horses that they probably don’t need. Alyx is a good friend and shirttail relative so always a pleasure to see her. We also got our Hereford heifer that we bought from CX Herefords delivered on Saturday and we are very happy with her. Thanks Kayla! Kade was trapshooting in Garfield and his team won the trap shoot.

Sunday we got the fence up on the bottom of circle 5, it is not hot yet, but just getting ready. Barb was out with her friend Autumn to look at Roany, he is a little too big. So if anyone is looking for a big older red roan gelding, Kade has one for sale. He really wants to ride him through Moses Lake, but if someone really wanted him you could probably talk him out of it. Sally had a fancy palomino roan filly, our first foal by Cappy. Cappy had one foal last year, but she is not ours, Terry and Erina have her.  Sunday was a bit windy but a nice day to fix fence and check livestock. We still have Opal in and on meds due to the pull, colt size, laminitis, and just an abundance of caution. She is doing great, the colt, Eclipse, is doing great. They seem to be bonding, but it took a bit. Overall we couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out with Opal.

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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 3rd individual for their specific competitions and their teams were 1st. 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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“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.

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Last Week in Pictures

Posted on February 25, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

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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.

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Last Week in Pictures

Posted on February 12, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

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. 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.

Posted on January 31, 2025 by horseshoeangusranch

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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