Month: October 2009
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oo-Mom-ee
Umami is not a word cattle producers are likely to make a habit of using regularly but has an effect on them whether they know it or not. Umami defines what an aromatic beef dish tastes like and is the reason farmers and ranchers never tire of eating beef. Umami is a Japanese word derived…
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Difficult Co-Workers on the Ranch
There’s nothing more frustrating than having to deal with co-workers that can’t be trusted or relied on. They make working together difficult. My husband and I try to help improve the morale of these fixtures in order to keep our cows on one side of the fence instead of both sides but the whole…
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Getting Ready to Work Cows
We’re gearing up for working cattle next Friday. I’m planning my dinner menu in order to get all the groceries needed to bake, cook and prepare food for the meal. I generally cook the same thing, but always check my standard menu grocery list anyway. At our place, I usually make BBQ short ribs, roast…
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Getting the heifers and bulls moved
Getting the heifers moved turned out better than expected. We ended up borrowing the neighbors’ panels and set them up alongside the fence instead of using the corrals that belonged to the neighboring old bachelor where the heifers spent the summer. The temperature on Friday was in the mid 20’s so the family put their…
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Bootism Disease
Bootism Diseasolumn for Oct 11-17 My family has a genetic disease called bootism. It’s a rare disease that affects only ranch families, but knowing that there are other families like ours all over the country with too many boots is reassuring. The disease can infect a person at infancy, as it did with both of my…
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Cowboy Shirts That Fit
I can still remember the shirt my husband wore on our first date like it was yesterday. That’s because he was wearing it yesterday. Upon close examination of the long-sleeved western shirts that hang in a cowboy’s closet, one might see how ranching cowboys’ (different from PRCA rodeo cowboys in my opinion) loyalty to things…
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A Lot of Junk Drawer Miscellanea
While escaping the craziness of opening weekend of elk season for the SD Festival of Books in Deadwood, it turns out I didn’t miss anything exciting. A few tags were filled but the report I got was that those who went farther south of Pringle to hunt down in the Minnekahta area between Hot Springs…
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What Really Counts
People who spend any amount of time around a rancher should expect to be asked to count something sooner or later. My rancher counts things like money, days, years, bales, elk and cattle. After selling culled cows at a sale barn, he counts each day that the expectant check hasn’t come in the mail. Once…