Toward the end of January, the weather warmed up substantially — and while the cows were on full feed, they were not due to start calving until the end of February, so we decided to try to go to Idaho to visit family. My family had not seen the kids since October of last year, so no one had met Anna yet.
It was a lot of work to try to get everything organized so the chores would be less work for John, who volunteered to do chores for us so we could go. Our neighbour, Leon, also said he would help out.
Read Also
Beef demand drives cattle and beef markets higher
Prices for beef cattle continue to be strong across the beef value chain, although feedlot profitability could be challenging by the end of 2025, analyst Jerry Klassen says.
The day before we headed south, Gregory discovered one of our broodmares had slipped her foal. Thanks to the warm-up it had become quite slippery in places and she more than likely fell down. It was quite sad and upsetting but there was nothing that we could do, so we continued with packing and preparations.
On Feb. 1 we loaded up the kids and headed south. It took us 13 ½ hours to drive to Salmon, Idaho. I packed sandwiches and lots of snacks, so we only stopped for fuel and potty breaks. We arrived at my mom and dad’s house at around 9:30 p.m.
We were able to visit with quite a few friends and family, including my parents and my brother, my Grandma Heather and Grandpa Lynn, my Aunt Andrea, a few of my cousins, and my Great Aunt Jenelle.
We made a special trip further south to Arco, Idaho to see my Grandma Allen and Uncle Mike. My good friend Michelle drove over from Missoula to see us and we had a good visit with her parents as well. Everyone enjoyed meeting Anna for the first time and they had fun getting to know Ian a little better. He was only eight months old the last time they had seen him. He was much bigger, much more mobile, and quite interactive on this visit.
My brother Nick was able to take Joseph and James on some adventures hiking around the hills behind Mom and Dad’s house. The boys had a blast. They greatly enjoyed the different terrain.
On Feb. 6 we drove to Grandma Allen’s in Arco. Grandma enjoyed meeting Anna and Uncle Mike enjoyed taking the boys on quad rides to push the snow out of Grandma’s driveway. In no time, five hours slipped away on us and we needed to start heading home.
From Arco we traveled to Helena, where we spent the night. It had started storming on our drive to Helena and continued through the night into the next day. The next morning, we carefully continued our journey home on slippery roads and arrived home later that evening.
The next day we were out on the road again, taking Anna to her baby checkup in North Battleford. Thankfully John and Barb were able to watch the boys so they did not have to be in the vehicle again. Barb had her cataract surgery the day before and was sore, but had missed her boys while they were gone.
Barb had a second cataract surgery on Feb. 14. She was quite sore after this surgery and healing will take some time.
First calf
On Saturday (Feb. 24) we set out on the road again to do some more visiting with family. We went to visit Gregory’s Great Uncle Joe and Aunt Betty. Aunt Betty made Anna a beautiful quilt when she was born. Due to the weather and some health concerns, Aunt Betty and Uncle Joe were not going to be able to come and see us to meet Anna, so we decided to make a very quick trip to see them.
The weather was looking like it was about to turn very cold toward the beginning of the week and there was a good chance of a snowstorm. Calving had started Feb. 23, with a healthy heifer calf. Crossing our fingers that there would not be more calves over the weekend for John to try to take care of, we packed up the family and traveled to Edmonton.
We arrived around 12:30 p.m. We had a good visit and Aunt Betty and Uncle Joe enjoyed the boys and little Anna. We left around 3 p.m. the next day. It had started snowing just before we left and continued through most of the drive home. We arrived home around 8 p.m. and the storm got worse. Through the night it turned into a blizzard and the temperatures dropped.
We were very happy that we were able to do so much visiting in February. It was more travelling and visiting than we have ever done as a family. Both of our trips were almost perfectly planned around the weather and calving.
