Tag: ranch life
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Kirk Branding Day 2012
Last Saturday we had a great day to have our branding. My son lives for brandings every weekend and usually gets a buddy or two to come down to help at ours. We got a heavy rain about 4 a.m. prior so the branding corral was pretty muddy but the calf wrestlers didn’t seem to…
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My Branding Day Checklists
We’re gearing up for our branding and one of the things I do to prepare for it is make lists to organize my time. Cooking a meal for a large crowd is a lot of work and takes time. I organize my days prior by creating lists I can refer to. I like to enjoy…
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Calving 2012
Over the past week and a half, some of our kids’ cows finally had their calves and Wednesday, the most important cow in the whole herd finally calved. Annabelle, currently our only Hereford cow and the kids’ first bucket calf that started their herd, had her calf. Every calving season it’s a big deal in…
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Inventions That Make Chores Easier
Every time my husband creates an easier way to do chores I fall in love with him all over again. Feeding our heifers just got a TON easier as a result of my husband’s handiwork with his welder. Over the years we had talked about coming up with a better, safer way to fill and…
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Sixteen Short Years Have Already Gone By
Sixteen years ago today life as my husband and I knew it was forever changed when we became initiated into parenthood with our firstborn; a son. We had no idea what we were getting into but we’ve been fortunate enough to figure it out fairly unscathed. Throughout my first pregnancy, the big joke with…
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Another Use for Duct Tape
Now that calving has begun, (as of last week) my husband and I started the process of every day, looking over the herd and making an educated guess as to which cows are most likely to calve soon. There are various signs to look for such as a cow looking bagged up (her milk is…
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Levi’s Lost Calf
Last weekend at the South Dakota Young Farmers and Ranchers conference I finally met journalist, blogger, author, and rancher, Amanda Radke from Mitchell, SD in person. She and I were both speakers at the conference and we had an opportunity to visit a little bit. I have read her articles in the Tri-State Livestock News…
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Learning in Style
How stylish one wants to look while doing ranch work is totally up to the individual. Correctly understanding what’s expected is far more important on our ranch. Learning through one’s style to comprehend instructions and process information is helpful in fulfilling job expectations but our ranch utilizes all three learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile…
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Bringing the Story of Christ’s Birth to Life
Many times during the winter months when we have chores to do at the barn for our heifer calves, my mind is full of wonderment about our barn. It was built by my husband’s great grandfather in 1914 and is three stories tall. I love admiring the markings left from the tools that made…
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Cowboy and Rancher Christmas Gift Guide Part II
I have 16 years of experience in agonizing over what to get a cowboy/rancher for Christmas and consider myself a seasoned gift giver to the cowman. More of my gift suggestions continue as follows. A milk replacer kit that includes a sturdy bucket, whisk, funnel, feeding bag and tube, and powdered electrolytes or colostrum packets…