Fall Vaccination Day

The night before we worked cattle, my husband and daughter went to the Father Daughter Ball.

Working cattle on Friday turned out to be a decent day. Fortunately, temperatures were in the 40’s and the sun peeked out a few times.

The temperatures on Thursday only reached a high in the mid-twenties and it snowed in the morning. The neighbors were scheduled to have their calves shipped to sell in Belle Fourche that day, but due to snow their sale day’s been postponed until next week. The yard foreman was concerned about buyers showing up and the truck driver had reservations about road conditions on I-90. 

 
I showed up at the corrals about 8:30 with rolls and coffee.

The guys had everything sorted and were getting ready to work the bulls first so my husband could haul them back home once they’d been worked. 

 

Since it was cold out and the ground was too snowy for everybody to eat outside, I covered furniture to feed everybody inside.

 

We had a smaller crew helping us this year since the vet was booked on Saturday and had to settle for Friday. I also lost a few mouths to feed because some of the guys who helped up at the barn had to leave for other obligations and didn’t come down for dinner. There were still plenty of leftovers even though I didn’t cook as much as I normally do.

The vet had an intern along, so both gals took a turn preg testing each cow and heifer which took longer. I had dinner ready by noon but it was after 2 p.m. before the crew showed up.  I managed to get all the pre-baking and cooking done that I like to do ahead and most of the other prep work on Thursday but my feet and back were begging for mercy by the time I went to bed at 11:30 p.m. I allowed myself 45 extra minutes to sleep in on Friday and got up at 5:45 to do what I was too tired to do the night before.  After the dishes got done and leftovers were put away, I spent the afternoon putting my coffee urn, roaster, extra crockpots and silverware, coolers, and paper products away until branding time when I’ll need them again.  Next up is getting our calves to the sale barn. We plan to sell in Belle Fourche on November 19^th.