None of That

This week was a change of pace.  The cows are in from the badlands, eating hay, and the weather brought more snow.  This last storm dumped eight inches of fresh powder.  It's wet and sticky, like a spring storm.  A few weeks ago I was hoping that the snows would hold off so the grass in the badlands was easy for cows to eat, but now I'm perfectly happy with the snow falling down.  We need the snowpack for the spring and it won't hurt the cows one bit to eat hay off the snow.

Gemma enjoying the nice weather while we were feeding. 1/19/18

The storm did slow down work outside and more work in the shop has gotten done.  Some repairs to equipment is getting attention and even a few projects that have been building up are being addressed.  Today, however, saw none of that.  Today the snow let up and we took the time to enjoy the new snow.  The kids, their mothers, and grandmother spent the afternoon sledding while my brother, my father, and I took our snowmobiles for their first ride of the year.

We went up the mountain above to ranch to see what the storm left up there.  There was more snow than in the valley, but not a ton.  As we expected, there wasn't much of a "base" below this fresh snow because of the warm weather that we've had.  It was good to get out and get some miles on our machines.  With calving season fast approaching, it will be harder and harder to break away just to play.

A look down from the mountain. 1/21/18

It's back to work outdoors this week.  In a couple of days, we plan on vaccinating our cows to prevent scours in the upcoming calving season.  We get some help from one of our neighbors for this job and then we'll return the favor when he vaccinates his cows.  After they are vaccinated, our cows will be split into two groups for calving (one of the older cows and the other the younger) and put in different places.  Our first time mothers are already separated from these cows.  This helps us manage their feeding and calving.  It looks like the weather will be nice for all of this, with maybe another storm coming toward the end of the week.  If it all goes according to plan, I'll tell you all about it then.

by Brandon Greet