Tag: cattle
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Moving Cows to Callon Spring 2012
Thursday we moved our cows to the other unit that we lease from the Forest Service. It turned out to be the perfect day to do it. It was overcast and the temperatures were in the low 70’s, unlike the steady sunny 90 degree days we’ve had most of the summer. We had a great…
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My Morning View Over Coffee
 I love it out here first thing in the morning. It’s kind of a sanctuary where I like to come and absorb nature while I have my coffee. The air is fresh and crisp and damp. I like the way it smells; earthy, sweet, and damp.   Every morning, usually around 6 or 6:30 a.m., I head…
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In My Next Life I Want To Be A Cow
In my next life I want to be a cow on a United States cattle ranch so I can find out what it feels like to be spoiled. Cows live a cushy life as a result of a rancher’s hard work and his pocketbook. If I were a cow, I would get to eat an…
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Lookin’ At Life in Black and White
  Since the majority of our calves look like these, we tend to get excited whenever we get some black baldy and brockle-faced calves. For those who are unfamiliar with such terminology, a baldy is a white-faced (or to us, mostly white-faced) calf and a brockle-faced calf has black and white markings on its…
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Producers and Their Cows
Part of the reason people don’t know much about cattle handling practices is because the cattlemen are busy spending time with their cows. Ranchers are committed to raising and caring for their stock to the best of their ability which means getting frequent updates on their herd. Numbered ear tags serve as an identification and…
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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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Stress-Free Environments
I’ve read several articles recently, suggesting ideas for reducing stress and shrinkage in calves but none address the stress-related concerns I have. Some articles mention minimal handling, eliminating hot shots, whips, and sorting sticks while others suggest trying plastic nose clips (on the calves) or fence line weaning. What I want to know is how…
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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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A Working Ranch/Marriage
The column “What I’ve Learned,” about my sixteenth wedding anniversary evolved while trying to come up with material based on an idea I had to write about things I’ve learned since my husband and I got married. During my free-writing session, I created two lists; one that went into my column and another that was a list…