Cool Down
I’m sorry for the long absence. Life got away from us. Two weeks ago we had decided that Megan could write a blog while I was off riding. She would be watching the kids, but said she would be able to edge out some time and then my mom called and said she was sick so Megan was up to ride. Then I had plans to write one last Sunday and instead I hopped in a car with my dad and drove to North Dakota to look at a tractor we wanted to buy. So we’ve been letting you down for a couple of weeks. I hope you survived our “vacation” from blogging alright.
What I have been wanting to share is about bringing the cows down the mountain. When the weather starts getting bad, we bring them back from the mountain to our mesa pasture. Sure, we might be able to get past a couple more of these storms and graze the mountain for a while longer, but it isn't any fun to have to gather cows in two feet of snow either. We have been weaning and pregnancy testing around (and in) these storms for a while so we don’t want to push our luck.
As part of our GAP Level 4 certification, we are supposed to only wean calves after they are six months of age. However, if there is a legitimate reason to wean early, you are allowed to wean up to 20% of your calf crop under six months. When the winter storms are coming and the conditions are getting tough for the calves to be grazing on the mountain and the cows to be nursing them, we pull them down and have to use this deviation. The good part about weaning on the mountain is that you don’t have to trail calves down and worry about pairing them with their mothers at the end. The cows sure know the way down, too, and after a little snow they usually walk down just fine. The problems are keeping them from piling through the gates too fast and tearing the fence down and keeping the cows that we trail through from joining in.
Another problem is what you should wear. Do you dress for the snow and cold on top, the moderate temperature on the slope or the warmth once you are down low? I chose the middle: a little chilly at first, but overall it worked pretty well for me. However, Jekyll was dressed for the cold. His summer haircut has grown back and he was looking for something to cool him down all the way. You can see in the picture above that the top of the mountain was cool enough for him, but the snow disappeared as we trailed down.
When he had a chance, Jekyll found the snow for a nice cool down.
After a while, he had to switch from snow to shade.
Then eventually he needed a swim. It didn’t matter that the cows were wanting to get a drink.
As for those of us on two legs, none of us were exactly wishing we could go for a quick swim most of the day. I hope all of you have been staying cool enough this past couple of weeks.
Also, if you ordered from us for October processing, the steers have been taken to the processor. If you have been thinking about ordering this year and haven’t, order now for December processing or you will be waiting until next year!
by Brandon Greet