Category: Kirk Cattle
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Revisiting Ranch Country
It’s time for a trip back to ranch country which means another lesson in the country’s language. The following are more words and popular slang terms used by natives of ranch country. Gather: To scatter in all directions or spread out. By doing so, horseback riders can search for cows in a large area. As…
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Learn the Language
Anytime someone visits a different country and culture, it’s helpful to learn the native language. The following is a language lesson covering some of the most commonly used words in ranch country. It’s a complicated language that’s similar to English but has room for misinterpretation. Slick calf/cow: A calf or cow that is NOT slippery…
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My Little Heathens’ Cow Herd
Our kids’ cow herd got started with this cow: She’s our only Hereford cow in the herd. I’ve blogged about Annabelle before and wrote a column about her too. She was a twin and was our kids’ first bottle calf way back in 2003. When the kids started bottle feeding her, they named Annabelle, after…
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Go With An Easy Gate
Trying to reason with a difficult gate is like talking to a post. Every gate has a different personality and when I have to get a gate, I find myself talking to it. I don’t always talk nice to them either; many try my patience. I get along with some gates better than others, like…
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AgriTalk: The Voice of Rural America
While out feeding cows with the bale bed pickup, I like to listen to AgriTalk on the radio at 9:06 a.m. (10:06 CT). AgriTalk is a live radio show that discusses current events and hot topics in the news regarding agriculture and hosted by Mike Adams. I find it enjoyable to listen to, and it’s not even a…
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Working Cows
Working cows in t-shirts is not normal around here. For years we’ve had to dress in long johns, warm clothes, coveralls, hats and gloves to keep warm. We worked cows October 22 this year and the weather was warm enough that most of the crew peeled off their jackets and worked in t-shirts. Since the vet was…
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On The Road Again
Being on the road again makes me weary. I might enjoy it if it were to go somewhere fun, but driving errant cows on back roads at a resistant cow’s pace is tiresome. Our cows have been through enough routine pasture moves that they’re trained to know which back roads, shortcuts, and trails we use…
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MILK
Milk is an important part of my grocery budget. We are a huge milk drinking family. I’m sure there are families that drink more milk than we do but we go through at least four gallons a week. My guys especially, drink a lot of milk at every meal. My son prefers whole milk…
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Spouses In Translation
Some days I wish I was a cow. Then maybe I could communicate with my husband better and get the same attention our cows do. I recently read Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin, about decoding animal behavior in hopes of finding out what a cow’s got over me with my husband’s attention. Cows seem…