May turned out to be a warm month. We were lucky enough to get several rainstorms toward the end of May and beginning of June — very happy to get the much-needed moisture. On May 12 our last Bannerlane heifer calved. There was only one foot presented so we put her in the maternity pen and pulled the calf. The calf did well for a few hours and then he got scours. We treated him quickly and he recovered. A few days later he was very dull and had quit nursing the cow. It was very warm out and we had to get him fluids quickly, so we drenched him. It was quite the battle. The calf would make progress and then he would quit nursing and go downhill fast. We practically lived in the corral trying to save the calf while also doing field pre-work and seeding.
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On May 15, Joseph decided he could go walking all on his own. He and I were out in the yard playing when Gregory came home with the tractor. Joseph got up and went walking to Daddy. It was like a Hollywood moment, Joseph with his hands out striding bravely to his daddy. When all of a sudden he spotted something and made a sharp left hand turn to go investigate. Gregory and I both had a good laugh.
On May 17 we went around the fence on the neighbour’s pasture. Danny and Shelia Roth have graciously let us keep the horses on their old pasture. May 18 our yearling red Angus bull that we bought this spring from Ward Red Angus was delivered.
May 20 I took my gelding Danny and another three-year-old gelding I’m just beginning to work with out to the pasture at Landis to check the fence. Later that day we took nine cow-calf pair out to pasture. The trailer that Gregory and John had been working on this winter had its maiden voyage. It worked great. I took the calves in the two-horse trailer and Gregory took the cows with the new stock trailer. A couple of days later we took five more cow-calf pairs as well as two dry cows out to the Landis pasture. On May 27 we took the yearling heifers, four cows, and the Ward bull up to the pasture by Leipzig. We are renting pasture there this year from Phil and Tish Ulrich. May 30 we took the old Black Angus bull and the last Bannerlane heifer to calve out to the Landis pasture. That once-sick calf finally seemed to be healthy and is doing well now.
I started breeding mares June 6. We have five mares to breed this year. Four are being bred to our reining bred stallion, Juan Peppy Sailor, and one mare is being bred to our nice performance-halter stallion, Ima Stone Cold Kid. We are expecting some very nice foals next May and June.
June 13 David and Maxine Mitchell of River Bridge Herefords came out for a visit. We took them out to see the cows and calves. They were pretty happy with our Hereford-Angus cross calves.
On June 16 we celebrated Gregory’s birthday with a BBQ and a visit with some good friends and family.
