I first became aware of Grainews nearly 50 years ago when the first editor-publisher John Clark contacted me after he saw one of my articles in another publication and wanted to reprint it.

After that, I started sending him a few articles on topics such as calf scours and horse care, and a few personal experiences with unusual situations — like saving a newborn calf with a broken lower jaw.

That calf belonged to a friend whose cow had stepped on it and he gave the calf to us because he didn’t want to deal with it. My husband Lynn, the kids and I went to get the calf. We brought him home in our old 1957 Volkswagen, with the kids holding onto him in the back seat.

We taped the broken jaw into place and fed the calf with a nasogastric tube (into the nostril and down the throat) for three weeks while the jawbone healed.

At that time, I was a young ranch wife with two small children. My husband Lynn and I were struggling to make ends meet, to pay for our ranch and cattle. He did part-time jobs for other ranchers. I did my “off-farm job” at home, writing stories and articles for horse and livestock publications on an old LC Smith typewriter at odd hours between taking care of kids and cows.

Cattle and horses were my passion from the time I was a small child. My goal in life was to learn as much as I could about them and their care and to share that knowledge with others. It was fun to sometimes add a bit of humour along the way.

After a couple of years purchasing a few of my stories and articles, the editor at Grainews asked if I would write a regular column about daily life on our ranch. He suggested I obtain a small camera to take around with me while doing chores, riding range, etc. which I did, to illustrate my columns. For many years I mailed my typewritten columns and printed photos, and then in 1985 I finally got a computer and was able to send my material by email. I am grateful for the multiple editors I worked with over the years, who published my articles and column in Cattleman’s Corner and especially enjoyed the friendship with Lee Hart — the most recent editor — who came to visit us here at the ranch a few years ago.

My Rancher’s Diary spanned several decades and chronicled the life of our family as our kids grew up and helped us take care of cattle and horses through all the challenges and fun times. When we had unusual situations or interesting adventures, I shared those, too — for example, the premature calf that lived in our kitchen for four weeks, in our daughter Andrea’s old crib, until he was able to live outside. Or the cow that got her foot caught in a cattle guard and tore the hoof shell off; we kept bandaging it until she grew new hoof horn. She and her calf lived in our backyard that summer.

Our kids were good help. They both started riding range with me at a young age on my old mare Khamette, the first horse I ever raised, who became a very dependable kid horse.

Michael helped Lynn irrigate and do the haying, and Andrea started riding the range by herself early on, training her young horse. Our family made a great team on the ranch and our lives were closely entwined with those of the animals in our care.

Readers of my diary column sometimes called — to ask advice on various things they were dealing with on their own places with their own cattle, or to tell us how they solved a certain problem, or just to visit because they identified with what we were doing.

We had pleasant surprises when people stopped by our ranch to visit. We met a lot of wonderful folks who went out of their way to come to our place when they were travelling. The result was many lifelong friends we still correspond with, and some have come to visit multiple times.

When we nearly lost our daughter in the summer of 2000 — she spent much of that summer in the ICU at the Intermountain Burn Center in Salt Lake City, after being badly burned while trying to help control a range fire — we were amazed and blessed by an outpouring of love and care from many Grainews readers, some of whom were burn survivors themselves or had family members who were burn victims.

It’s been a great experience, sharing our lives with other farm and ranch families. Over the years, you have all become like a big extended family. Even though I will no longer be writing the column, I am grateful for the chance to have had this interaction. We have appreciated the phone calls and visits from folks who have gotten to know us and shared our journey. See you around sometime, out on the range!

The post It’s been a wonderful visit appeared first on Grainews.

Last week we moved the cows to the lower back field to join the heifers They can all graze there a few weeks. We checked the temporary fence around the deep gully — to make sure it was still secure enough to keep cows out of that gully. It’s so deep and narrow that if a cow fell into it she would never get out. Hopefully we can get a truckload of rocks hauled across the field this winter when the ground is frozen, to dump at the base of the hill so Michael can fill that chasm with his mini excavator.

Andrea spent several days preparing food for the celebration of life for baby Ammarie, which was held at the Sacajawea Center Oct. 14 — the day she would have been six months old. Samantha took time off from work and classes in Twin Falls and was here a few days. Many friends helped; some brought food and Emily helped Dani prepare the slide show. David and Rosina Yoder and kids (our Amish neighbours up the creek) sang hymns and David gave the opening prayer. Andrea and I told about our special memories of that baby girl, and Dani read the life story she’d written. My brother gave the closing prayer, then dinner and visiting. The hall was packed with people who came to support Dani in this time of loss and grief and to honour the memory of a child whose life was abruptly snuffed in a tragic way.

On Monday Andrea and Lynn drove to Tower Creek to locate water for folks who need a well. That afternoon the old crab-apple tree above my hay shed split and half of it broke off and fell down. That tree is the last of four that were here when we moved onto the place in 1967; they were planted in the late 1800s. That 130-year-old tree was loaded with apples and limbs were sagging low. We thought a bear might have been in it, causing it to finally crack and break.

Yesterday Andrea and Lynn drove to Dillon, Montana, to locate water for two wells. Coming home after dark, two deer bounded across the road in front of them. The buck — chasing a doe — smashed into the front of the pickup, broke the grill, dented the hood and fender, but didn’t damage the headlights, so they were able to drive home.

October 29

Last Saturday Andrea and Lynn went to Kirtley Creek to locate another water source for a well. That evening we had Nick here for supper, and Andrea and Christopher joined us.

The next day Jim sawed up the fallen-down portion of the old crab apple tree and hauled off everything except some of the useable wood. Nick filled his water barrels at our hydrant. While he was here he swept out leaves that collected in the valley of our roof, and used a flashlight to look down the chimney to see if it needed to be cleaned. It’s still good, from when he cleaned it last winter.

Andrea and I are trying to select the bulls we might bid on in the Pharo Cattle Company sale in Montana, checking information on them and their videos that were taken this summer. We need a list of at least 20 we’d bid on; there will be high demand for the ones with guaranteed calving ease, good dispositions, mothers with good udders, and other traits.

Tuesday Lynn had for his appointment at the clinic for an echocardiogram on his heart. He’s still doing pretty well but needs another checkup later.

Our weather changed — colder and snowing. Andrea and I strung out an extension cord from the barn and plugged in the tank heater for the heifers’ water. She checked all our ditches again to make sure they are securely shut off at the creek so we won’t get ice flows across our fields.

November 6

We checked the cows and they were still doing OK and grazing through the snow. The weather moderated this week and they continued to graze.

Lynn took our pickup to the auto shop to be fixed; insurance will pay for damage from the deer running into the front end. We bought parts for new brakes, and Charlie will do that job for us.

The past few days have been warmer, thawing during the day, and the snow melted. We’ve been diligently working on fall projects we need to accomplish before the ground is solidly frozen.

Andrea, Dani, Emily, Christopher and Charlie went to Twin Falls for few days and stayed with Sam. Andrea went to one of Sam’s EMT classes and talked to the class about her experiences as a burn survivor. They celebrated Dani’s birthday there. Christopher got to see a real train. He loves making tracks for his toy trains but had never seen a real one.

While they were gone I worked on several projects, putting tin and dirt along the outer wall of our bathroom where there’s still an air leak that tends to freeze our water pipes. I spent a few hours on a couple days shoveling sod out of the ditch that goes by the calving barn (so it can carry more water in spring runoff and won’t flood the barn) and put the sod and dirt in low spots along the front of the barn. Snow coming off the barn roof piles up in front of the barn, and if snow is deep in the pen by the barn, water runs into the barn when it melts. Having a berm in front will deflect that runoff.

Andrea got home from Twin Falls last night and today helped me move the cows from the lower backfield. They came running and followed her four-wheeler through the barnyard past the bull corrals and up to the swamp pasture and big field by her house. If that feed doesn’t snow under, it should last about 45 days before we have to feed hay.

We took off Dottie’s shoes this afternoon and trimmed her feet.

November 14

While weather was still nice, we took off Willow’s shoes, trimmed her feet, and trimmed Ed’s feet. Andrea took down the fence we put around the gully chasm on the hill above the lower backfield two years ago, so we can hopefully fill in the gully this winter. She got all the step-in posts out easily, and most of the steel posts, and rolled up the wire and netting. Some of the steel posts were difficult to pull by hand; she borrowed Michael’s post puller for those.

Lynn was able to start the big tractor one afternoon while it was warm and we didn’t have to plug it in. He put power service in it for winter, and brought it around to the shop and air compressor to inflate a low tire — then parked it closer to the barn so we can plug it in on cold winter mornings when we’re feeding hay.

Andrea put a hot wire around her house and yard, but lets the cows in there for a few hours every morning (while she’s around to supervise and make sure they don’t rub on vehicles or damage anything) to clean up weeds and tall grass before winter. Saturday morning when I did chores I discovered two of the neighbour’s horses had been here all night, roaming around our barnyard, fighting with our horses over the fence, eating on the haystacks by Shiloh, going up past the bull pen, wandering down to the lower back field, etc. I saw them coming back up the lane from that field and shut some gates, opened the gate into the main corral, then hurried down through the little bulls’ pen to get below them before they could run down to the lower field. I was able to herd them into the corral so they could be collected.

I thought that episode would be the end of it, but next morning, they were back again, and brought a buddy. There were three of them eating on our alfalfa bales. From the looks of the big holes they ate out of multiple bales (on all three stacks) and numerous poop piles, they’d been eating there all night! We’ll have to leave our driveway gate shut (an inconvenience for all the people who drive in and out to get to Andrea’s house as well as ours) but it will keep roaming livestock out.

Sunday morning Andrea helped me fix the makeshift feeder in the main corral — that we created last winter for the big bulls when the bull corral was being rebuilt. We’d tied poles up with twines, and it worked, but we want it to be a permanent feeder. She used her chain saw to cut off the extra length of one pole and we screwed them to the fence. The bull we buy will live in that corral so we wanted the feeder improved.

Today we’re making our final list on the bulls we might bid on at the sale.

The post Making a wish list of bulls for next breeding season appeared first on Grainews.

Last Wednesday Andrea got her pickup hooked to the trailer at the loading dock, ready to go to auction, and we put hay in the trailer to create better footing for the cattle. That evening I put the steer calves and two open yearling heifers in the calving pen where they’d be easy to access the next morning, fed them good hay, and filled their water tubs. It started raining in the night; they were cold and miserable and didn’t eat or drink much.

I did chores early that next morning. Charlie helped us load the cattle and went with Andrea to haul them to Butte. It was a slow trip with wind and bad roads, but the cattle looked good when they unloaded. The weather was even colder over there, but the pens were bedded with straw.

It was a big sale the next day (almost 2,000 head) with buyers from all over — even from Canada — and prices were good. The steers brought $3.24 per pound and the two yearling heifers brought $2.32 per pound. That’s our highest price ever.

Andrea left the truck and trailer backed up to the loading chute again when they got home, and we shovelled out the wet hay. The rain and snow blew into the trailer, but the hay helped keep the rubber mats from being slippery. Charlie fixed the thermostat on Andrea’s pickup.

The neighbours rounded up most of their cattle off the range that weekend. We kept our driveway gate shut for several days to make sure none came into our place. They made their biggest drive on Saturday — it quit raining by then.

Andrea and Carolyn went up to the 320 on four-wheelers to make sure the riders didn’t push any cattle through our fences. Fortunately, our fences stayed intact and they got their cattle past our place and on down into the low range where they sorted them.

That afternoon we put new bedding hay in the trailer and Charlie came out to stay the night. He, Andrea and Nick joined us for supper. Early Sunday morning we loaded the four cull cows and Andrea and Charlie headed to Butte again. The weather was better this time — cold, but no rain or snow. The cows sold well on the regular sale on Tuesday. The big red cow (the one that tried to kill us this spring when she calved during a blizzard and we had to sled her calf into the barn) weighed 1,425 and brought $1.12 per pound. Lilligator (the three-year-old that’s just as mean and ornery) weighed 1,150 and brought $1.27 per pound. Those two cows we didn’t put with a bull this summer because we planned to sell them. The two younger cows that were open (first-calvers) were a little smaller and brought $1.35 per pound.

The weather warmed up for a few days, so Andrea and I made a fast ride yesterday to check the range and see how many cows got missed on the big roundup. We didn’t see any on the low range and middle range (just two rattlesnakes and one bull elk that jumped up out of the sagebrush and spooked our horses).

We rode today on the high range — a longer ride to see how many cattle might be left there. We went up through the 320 and saw several cattle above us on the mountain toward Withington Creek. When Andrea checked with binoculars, she could tell that one of those four animals was a bull. As we rode out that gate and started up the hill to check those cattle to see whose they were, we saw a neighbour riding around the hill above us. When we started out around the mountain, we met him coming back with three of those animals, but no bull.

He went on down the hill with the three cattle and picked up a couple more to take around the mountain and into his 160-acre pasture to take down to the road. We checked Baker Creek — no cows or tracks — then back out over the mountain toward Withington Creek and found the bull he’d left. It was another neighbour’s bull left out there with no other cattle, which will make it difficult to get him home. We’ll call and tell them where he is.

October 10

The memorial celebration of life for Ammarie will be this Saturday, on the date she would have been six months old. We are all helping Dani prepare for this occasion, and many family members and friends are preparing the food.

Friday we moved the heifer calves to the pen next to Shiloh and Sprout, where there is lush regrowth of grass. They grazed that for a couple of days, then we put them in the big field below the lane. Regrowth from that hayfield and pasture should last until it snows under.

We moved the cows to heifer hill for a few days to eat that regrowth, but will move them to a new pasture this afternoon to join the seven pregnant heifers in the big back lower field. When that’s gone, we’ll move them to the field and hillside by Andrea’s house. With luck, we’ll have enough pasture until winter sets in.

Saturday Charlie came out and changed the oil and the air filter in our old feed truck, and got the window (that fell out of its track and down into the door) functional again. He stayed for supper; Andrea, Christopher and Nick joined us and we had a nice visit. It’s great to have our two grandsons nearby and able to get together! Nick came on Sunday and adjusted two of our corral gates that were sagging. The younger generation is great to have around.

The post Pleased with top sale prices for steers appeared first on Grainews.

Last week we moved some big bales in our upper stack that was leaning over into the bushes toward the creek. We stacked them on the end of the smaller stack, reconfigured the black plastic covering and put deer mesh around them to keep the deer out.

Emily’s wedding was Friday — marrying her good friend AJ. Andrea and AJ’s mom and friends supplied food for the reception dinner. Sam came home from college for a few days to help with all the preparations.

Thursday we moved the cows from the field below the lane and took them up the horse road to heifer hill.

Friday morning everyone left early to drive to AJ’s dad’s place at Gibbonsville to get things set up for the wedding. Lynn and I drove to Jenelle’s ranch the other side of town and went with her; she drove our pickup so Lynn wouldn’t have to drive so far.

It was a lovely outdoor wedding. Samantha and Dani were bridesmaids, along with several of Emily’s friends. Four-year-old Christopher was part of the procession. After all the other bridesmaids walked to their places Dani led Christopher by the hand as he pulled a little wagon that contained a bubble machine spewing bubbles into the air. The bubbles were in memory of Emily’s Grandma Bubbles — the nickname she had for her dad’s mom, who died when Em was very young.

The wagon also contained flowers and a quilt with pictures of Ammarie. The original plan, before Dani’s baby died, was for Ammarie to be in that wagon in a car seat, as the flower girl, pulled by Christopher.

Many of Emily’s elderly patients at Discovery Care Center wanted to come to her wedding, so she arranged for the Discovery bus to bring them. Many people helped them get around in their wheelchairs for the wedding, and the reception dinner at the old schoolhouse afterward.

At the dinner it was heartwarming to see Emily in her wedding dress, helping those old people with their food and making sure they had everything they needed. It’s easy to see why they love her.

I’ve never been to a wedding that had so many old folks and young kids! AJ has a big family; some of his siblings, relatives and friends have little kids and they were all running around having a great time. Christopher has many new cousins to play with.

Christopher is growing up fast. He tells people that baby Ammarie is up in the stars. He likes to go outside at night and look for Ammarie. One night he told Emily, “It’s dark now; I want to go outside”. He sat on the porch and said he was looking for Ammarie — but it was overcast so Emily told him it was too cloudy right then… and he said “I’ll wait.”

At an evening barbeque for Emily and AJ and family the day after the wedding, Christopher saw some moving satellites and got excited and said Ammarie was moving around up there. He’ll probably always equate stars with that cousin he only had a brief chance to know.

Saturday, when Andrea and I checked the cows and calves on heifer hill — which we didn’t have a chance to check Friday because of the wedding — we discovered Zorina (a first-calf cow) lying in the bushes. She was dull, with moderately fast respiration, and didn’t want to get up. I had to rub on her to encourage her to get up. She was weak and took a couple of tries to get to her feet.

We located her calf (Zork) and brought him to her, and eased the pair through the gate into the next field. We slowly brought them down through that field but the calf wanted to run back to his buddies. Several times we thwarted his attempts to run back past us, but then he made a big run and got around us.

It was a weekend and we weren’t able to get a vet (the new cow vet is only in our area part time) so we gave her Banamine to reduce pain and inflammation, and a two-day dose of antibiotic. The pain relief helped; she started nibbling grass, but she also missed her calf and started pacing the fence.

We went back to heifer hill and selected a couple of pairs that would be fairly easy to handle on foot and used them as a little “herd” to bring Zork back to his mom. We left those two pairs in the pasture next to her pen, so she’d have them close by for company, and not be so stressed.

She did better the next couple of days, pooping normally and chewing her cud again, but wasn’t recovered. We called the new vet, and he came to look at her. She was definitely better than when we first treated her, because this time she was livelier and did NOT want to go in the head catch!

Dr. Abbey checked lungs and gut sounds and checked her rectally (and she was 80 days pregnant). He discovered that her rumen wasn’t functioning properly and might benefit from probiotics to get it working better, but didn’t have any with him. So he simply gave her more Banamine and antibiotics. She’s still a little dull, but eating and drinking and maybe Mother Nature and Father Time will aid her recovery.

September 13

This past week Jim has been splitting wood, preparing our piles for winter. We had a power glitch Friday evening and the phones went dead for a while and the internet went out. I had no internet service for several days and had some urgent deadlines for articles and many interviews to line up for future articles, so my brother accessed my email messages from his computer and read them to me over the phone or printed out the ones I desperately needed for interviewee’s corrections/changes to rough drafts I’d sent them. I called some editors and they gave me extensions on deadlines. Finally on Tuesday a tech person came out and spent a couple of hours working on my computer internet problem and got it going again so I’ve been madly trying to catch up with interviews and article deadlines.

September 20

It feels like fall, quite cold in the mornings. I’ll need to start draining my hoses for watering cattle and horses.

Monday morning I did chores early, then called the cows in from the field above the house and down into the calving pen. Andrea came down on her four-wheeler as I brought them through the driveway past the house to the corrals, and helped me sort the cows into one pen and calve into another. By that time Carolyn and Charlie arrived and we were ready for Dr. Abbey and his wife.

We got the cows and heifers preg-checked, dewormed and vaccinated, then put the calves through the chute to vaccinate and Bangs vaccinated the heifers. Andrea and Charlie took the calves to the orchard pasture; it has green grass more than a foot tall and should be adequate feed until we sell the steers.

Today the brand inspector is coming to look at the calves and cull cows we’ll be selling, since a brand inspection is required when cattle from one state are sold in another state. The weather is supposed to be bad Thursday, with rain and maybe snow, so Charlie will go with Andrea to haul the calves to the Montana sale. He’ll be a lot more help than us old folks if they have any trouble on the road.

The post Great gathering for granddaughter’s wedding appeared first on Grainews.

We bought some big square bales from Phil Moulton; he hauled and stacked them for us, and Dani helped us put black plastic over the bales. We always buy some hay to augment the little bales we put up on our few acres of hay ground.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Andrea and I were able to ride and make sure there were no range cows in the 320-acre pasture. We also repaired the electric wire over the driveway that our stackwagon tore down when we hauled hay from the field below the lane. Lynn used the tractor and lifted Andrea up on the hay fork (with a wood pallet over the tines to create a safer platform for her to stand on) and got her high enough to reach up the poles to reconnect the wire.

Wednesday Dani showed us her new puppy — a cute little border collie-Corgi cross — and the beautiful urn she ordered for Ammarie’s ashes.

Our first fire of the season is out of control on Hayden Creek, just over the hills from us. The past few days have been very smoky.

We moved the cows a few times into new segments of pasture, and Andrea finished putting step-in posts and hot wire around the heifer hill hayfield so we can graze the rough feed around it and let the field grow back before we graze it.

While our cattle are fine, some on range pasture are running out of feed.

Aug. 15 — We had more hot weather and were immersed in smoke the past couple of weeks. The Hayden Creek fire is out of control and burned 27,000 acres. We had several lightning storms but hardly any rain. The power went off on two different days, and when it goes off our phones don’t work, sometimes for longer than the power outage. Our phone company doesn’t have battery backups on outlying rural systems.

Nick has a nice spot for his trailer on our hill pasture. He has a generator for electricity, and several 50-gallon plastic barrels he fills with water once a week at our hydrant by Sprout’s pen for his water supply. A couple of weeks ago there was a three-foot-long rattlesnake by his trailer door. He shot it and showed us the rattles. He has now built a porch so he won’t be stepping right out of the trailer and onto another snake!

We took the cows up the horse road to heifer hill to graze the outer edges for a week, then let them down into the next circular pasture (rough edge around the hayfield). Rotating and letting those pieces regrow to graze again increases our pasture production.

Aug. 30 — Jim has been taking his trailer to the woods once or twice a week to get firewood for us and Andrea. We had more hot weather, up to 37 C. The creek is dropping and the watermaster shut off all of Michael and Carolyn’s ditches (fourth right). It’s a good thing Andrea is a good irrigator and can do a lot with a little.

Last week I called my uncle Bob Smith in Tennessee to wish him and his wife a happy anniversary. They’ve been married 71 years. He’s my dad’s youngest brother and is now 92 years old.

We moved the heifers out of the pen next to Shiloh where they’ve been grazing. Lynn put air in a low front tire on the tractor, and it was ready that afternoon when Phil brought two loads second cut-alfalfa round bales to stack there. Rain was predicted and he wanted to get it hauled before it started. Wind was blowing and rain was starting as he brought the second load that evening, but we managed to get it covered with black plastic and tied down before the rain came for real. Nick came that evening to fill his water barrels and stayed for supper.

It rained hard that night, and when Nick started down the hill next morning, the road was slippery and his truck slid sideways and almost into the gully. He had to leave it there (we had 1.5 inches of rain over three days) until the road dried enough to drive it on down. He borrowed one of his folks’ four-wheelers to go up and down the road when it’s muddy, leaving his truck at the bottom of the hill.

Sunday evening we had belated birthday celebration for Charlie (his 22nd birthday was Thursday) and pot-luck dinner at our house. Dani made a birthday cake. Monday we rearranged a few big bales in the stackyard and put deer netting and elk panels around the stacks. Andrea took out more step-in posts and rolled up the electric wires, to get our temporary fences removed before winter.

I took care of Christopher part of the day while everyone was working on these projects. He “helped” me in the house. At one point he somberly told me, “Dani’s baby gone. She’s in the stars.” We are all missing that sweet child — even her four-year-old cousin.

The post Water in short supply for irrigation appeared first on Grainews.

Two weeks ago, after the doctor here checked Dani’s baby, they were sent to Community Hospital in Missoula to be checked and monitored overnight (see ‘Tribute’ at bottom). Ammarie was doing better by next day so Andrea brought them home.

Later that week we had a vet look at Barney, our new bull. We were worried about the lump on Barney’s lower jaw, and Dr. Abbey confirmed our suspicions — it’s a bony lump. We might be able to clear it up with several treatments of sodium iodine given IV, but prognosis isn’t good. I called Kit Pharo, since we bought the bull from him and there’s a one-year guarantee. He said it was too late in the season to replace the bull, but we could use him and replace him this fall, with our purchase price (minus salvage value) going toward a new bull.

Last weekend Charlie helped get the haying equipment ready to go, greasing it, checking hydraulics, changing oil, and hooking the swather up to the tractor. The hay is nearly ready to cut. Andrea shut the irrigation water off our fields a while back and it’s dry enough — if the weather clears up!

MORE ‘Rancher’s Diary: Cattle out on pasture for another season

July 14 

We were finally able to start haying after the setback from several days of rain and the family crisis that that took precedence over everything else. Getting back to tasks at hand — trying to get hay harvested between storms and machinery breakdowns, has been therapeutic. Dani has been staying with her friend Talesha but they came several days to help with haying, and this has been good for Dani, to be doing something useful and keep her from focusing only on her grief.

Tribute to a great-granddaughter

Editor’s note: In late June the Thomas family was cast into grief as Ammarie, the great granddaughter of Heather Smith Thomas, was found in medical distress. Emergency medical efforts in Idaho and at a Salt Lake City hospital were unable to revive the infant.

There will be a memorial service later for Ammarie, so I wrote a few things I’d like to say in remembrance of that special little girl, and I will share them here.

When Lynn and I first heard about the baby that would arrive in April, we were excited. When Dani and Roger had us guess if it would be a boy or a girl we were hoping for a girl — our first great-granddaughter. We have four great-grandsons and thought it would be very special to have a little girl.

We were given a pink heart and a blue star, to have us guess until they knew what the baby would be. When we found out, we put the little pink heart on our calving calendar that hangs on the kitchen wall, and wrote “It’s a Girl” on it. That little pink heart is still there as a reminder of that special time.

When she was born April 14, on Carolyn’s birthday and a day before Michael’s birthday, we thought that was special, too — a birthday that would be easy to remember in the family cluster of April birthdays — including Ammarie’s second cousin Joseph and her great-uncle Nick.

My favourite photo of Ammarie is the one Emily took the day Dani’s baby was born, with the smiling young mother cradling that precious new little girl in her arms.

Lynn and I got to see her when Andrea brought Dani and baby home from the hospital. We went out in the driveway as they drove past on their way home to Andrea’s house. They stopped briefly so we could get our first close-up look at that beautiful sleeping baby.

She was a sweetie, and charmed everyone who saw her and got to hold her. When Lynn was at Andrea’s house this spring on several occasions to help babysit Christopher, he got to see little Ammarie also.

We grieved deeply when we all lost that little angel, but there was one bright incident amid the grief. A beautiful butterfly hovered around our windows in the sunshine the afternoon before Ammarie was truly gone. Lynn noticed the monarch butterfly that continued to flutter around our kitchen and dining room windows for several hours, as if her little spirit was saying good-by.

We shall miss her deeply, and regret that we won’t have a chance to see her learn to crawl, and walk, and grow into a lovely young woman. But we shall cherish the moments we were able to enjoy her, in her short life, and the brief memories, and hold her forever in our hearts.”

The post Haying season gets underway, a tribute to a great-granddaughter appeared first on Grainews.

This past week has been bitterly cold. On Valentine’s Day we had a snowstorm and nasty wind. We decided to move the big bulls to the main corral sooner than planned since they refused to drink the water coming through their pen. It’s murky and probably bad-tasting after the waterway was rechannelled through the swamp above it. Eventually it will run better and cleaner. It will take a while for the water to clear up. We’ll be rebuilding one side of the bull corral in a few weeks and were planning to move the bulls during that project, but their refusal to drink made it urgent to move them now.

Andrea and I locked the young bulls out of the main corral. They can have their little pen where I feed them and the lane to the squeeze chute runway and the creek behind it, and the older bulls can live in the main corral. We tied an old feeder panel in the lower corner of the main corral next to the new loading chute and I can throw their hay over the fence into the new feeder.

Andrea broke ice on the creek to make a water hole for the big bulls, but the bank is steep with thick ice and they were afraid to step down that far. They were still licking snow. So she carried several buckets of water from the creek to put in tubs, and they were grateful. She also put a bale of coarse slough grass in the protected corner by the running chute (which makes a windbreak on that side) for them to sleep in. It was so stormy and windy that Michael and crew didn’t work that day on the fence projects.

The next morning was minus 22 Celsius, but there wasn’t any wind or blizzard, and it warmed up a little by afternoon. The guys braved the weather and put in a full day on the brush-clearing and fence projects. Michael used his mini excavator to drag more brush to the burn piles, and to break ice so bulls and cows could drink. Andrea brought a batch of fresh muffins down for the crew for their lunch break.

Thursday was still cold, but the guys got all the old rotten fence torn out along the lane to the main road. Lynn was able to get the tractor started (though it was grumpy in the cold weather in spite of being plugged in all night) and we were able to load another big bale on the feed truck.

Michael and crew got all the new posts set along the driveway on Friday, and had to pound through more than a foot of frost. Andrea and I put two poles along the bull feeder to keep them from bending and breaking the old metal. Now they have to push against the poles instead of just the feeder. They were starting to bend the old metal.

Sunday evening we had Nick here for supper and another good visit. We showed him the book Emily had printed for me — the first 10 years of the blog I started after my book “Beyond the Flames — A Family Touched by Fire” was published. Nick enjoyed looking at all those old photos. Lots of family history there.

Yesterday was the warmest day we’d had for a long time — above freezing by afternoon. The blackbirds came back and were singing in the cattails.

Andrea had Christopher that day and he went with us to feed cows. He played with his little trucks and tractors on the flatbed after we fed the hay, while I walked through the cows to see how soon some might start calving.

Today was windy. It snowed five inches here, and 12 inches the upper place where Michael and Carolyn’s cows are. They have more than two feet of snow now.

March 1

A week ago it was very cold, with a terrible wind. Andrea’s four-wheeler wouldn’t start so she hiked down to help me feed cows and break ice on the creek for the bulls and cows. We had an oil pan heater on the feed truck (since the engine heater no longer works) and it started, so we put it on the tractor (to help warm it, along with the engine heater that was plugged in all night, and a canvas around the engine to block the wind).

We fed the cows close to the brush and put five little bales in the brush for bedding. Andrea gave the bulls more bedding and tied an irrigation dam on the upper fence in the creek water hole to block the wind. The little bulls have been sleeping in there because the brush is thick on three sides and it’s a good shelter.

By midafternoon Lynn was able to start the tractor. It was sluggish, but with the extra help from the oil pan heater it did start — so we were able to load a big bale on the feed truck. While he had the tractor running he plowed through the big snowdrift along Andrea’s driveway, and the deep snow on the main road by our mailboxes.

The guys took several days off from fencing; weather was too miserable to work. We took more bedding bales up to the brush for the cows. Friday was a little better so Michael and Carolyn braved the bad roads and made a trip over the mountain to Lima, Montana for more poles. The road had been closed for several days because of drifting snow. Nick and Matt finished putting wire on the new fence along the lane, and hung gates in the new little pastures below the bull corral.

Saturday Andrea helped me repair the little bulls’ feeder; they are not so little anymore and broke one of the uprights; they broke the weld at the top, but the bottom was still hanging on. We straightened it up and drove a steel post inside the feeder to reinforce it and tied the upright bar to the steel post.

Yesterday was cold again, but Michael started tearing down the old chicken house behind the shop next to the calving barn. It’s been falling down with the roof caving in, and needs to be removed so we can utilize that space for more grazing. A few of the old things stored in there — some are antiques — were salvaged, and the rest they hauled down to the post pile pasture to crush and bury or burn.

Today we had more snow but the guys kept working on the demolition project. They got more of the chicken house gone, and the old outhouse. Next was the tack-room building across the driveway — where we used to keep our saddles and other horse stuff until we made a place for them in the back porch where the mice couldn’t get at them.

The little building had a lot of stuff stored in it for the past 50-some years, but the roof was coming off, and it was no longer a viable structure. Nick took everything out of it — old tires, a pile of asphalt shingles, and many things that are no longer any good — plus a few antique treasures. He sorted what to keep and what to send to the trash pile, while Andrea, Lynn and I went to the annual water meeting for our water district. It was determined that the district needs to find a new water master. The one we’ve had the past two years (Tony) doesn’t want to do it again.

March 14

Last week the guys got the old tack building removed, and burned brush for several days in the little pen we’ll now have alongside the calving barn. They took out all the brush that’s overgrown that area and cleared it out.

They sawed out the huge sagebrush that grew next to the little Ford tractor (1960 model) that was parked by the tack room building for nearly 35 years. Then they were able to move the tractor and took it to the hold pen where it now sits alongside the old red International Harvester model H (1950) which was the first tractor Lynn ever drove; his dad let him drive it in the driveway the day he brought it home from the dealer, when Lynn was seven years old.

Michael and crew got all the old junk and machinery out from behind the old blacksmith shop and tore out the old fence. To get to it, they had to unhook the power line that went from the shop to the calving barn. The old pole that originally held it up started to fall down years ago and we’d hooked the power line to the old shop roof — so it was too low to work under with the mini-excavator. The power had to be “off” in the barn until that cleaned up, the fence rebuilt, and a new pole installed.

The heifers’ water tank heater depends on an extension cord from the barn, so it wasn’t working for the six days that the power to the barn was off. I was breaking ice on their water every morning and scooping it out with a shovel.

Monday, after Lynn and Andrea loaded the feed truck they took the tractor up through the fields to heifer hill (through about two feet of crusted snow — almost more than the tractor could get through, even with chains on). They dug an old 40-foot pole out of the snow. It was a full-treated pole that was extra when we replaced the bridge timbers (that were rotting out) in the bridge across the creek for Andrea’s upper driveway. Though it’s been lying at the edge of the field for 12 years, it is still sound and solid and will work as a new power pole. Andrea hooked a chain on it and they dragged it down through the field on the snow.

The next day I put Dottie in the side pen, and Ed in Breezy’s old pen so the guys could tear out their old fence. The fence for Dottie’s pen had been hit several times with the stack wagon and other equipment because the lane by my hay shed was always too narrow. Some of the old poles were rotten, and the horses were chewing on them. The guys will rebuild that fence, moving it a few feet to make the lane wider, and use net wire on it instead of poles (with a hot wire to keep the horses out of the fence).

Andrea screwed some boards along the bottom of the stall walls in the calving barn, on the side toward the creek where the cats and skunks have been going in and out. We need to close up those holes to keep critters out of the barn when we have cows and babies in there, and keep the wind from blowing in.

Thursday Michael and Carolyn drove to Montana again to get another load of poles, before a storm arrived on Friday that would make the roads impassable. Nick and Matt starting rebuilding the horses’ fence — but the ground was too solidly frozen to set posts. They set several “ovens” to thaw the ground. These ovens are half barrels with holes cut out for a smoke vent, and screen over the top to keep sparks from flying out and catching anything on fire. Fires in those ovens can thaw the ground underneath.

Friday morning it was snowing lightly when the guys came to work but they wanted to make progress on that fence. The ground was still difficult to drive posts, with the rocks and frost; they spent all day setting most of the posts (which ordinarily would have taken a couple of hours). Some were impossible to drive without digging out some of the rocks. Nick spent nearly two hours on one post hole that was solid gravel and ice. Oh, the joys of building fences in wintertime!

To make it even more challenging, we had some gusts of wind, up to 40 miles per hour. But they persevered and got all but four of the posts set, not even stopping for lunch.

Andrea had Christopher for the weekend. He rode with Lynn in the tractor to break down deep snow in the orchard and horse pasture. Then we were able to drive in his tracks with the feed truck and spread hay, in preparation for bringing the cows down.

Sunday was a nice day for moving the cows. I tied hay twines together and made long strings of fake hot wire to put along the lane by the bulls so the cows would stay out of the bull hay and the machinery. Lynn took care of Christopher at Andrea’s house and Andrea and I moved the cows, leading them down from the field with the feed truck, through the corrals and barnyard to the orchard (maternity pen) and horse pasture. The snow is still very deep and dense out there but the cows can tromp it down and hopefully we’ll get some warmer weather before the first calves arrive.

The post Cold temps slow fencing and yard cleanup appeared first on Grainews.

Last week I added a short pole to the little bulls’ feeder to divide the space where one of the upright bars is missing, so they can’t climb into it. I went to the dentist late that afternoon to have a broken tooth prepped for a crown and the dentist put a temporary cap on it. This is the last of four major tooth repairs in the past few months, so now I will be able to chew again!

Lynn did town errands while I was at the dentist and it was dark when we headed home. It started snowing hard; we had three inches of new snow by the time we got to our driveway. Visibility was poor and Lynn nearly ran off the road a couple of times coming up the creek.

Last Friday was cold (-20 C), but the cows were still grazing on the hill behind Andrea’s house and eating the field grass that isn’t quite snowed under yet. Andrea took them two more protein blocks.

The next day was a little warmer, and after being plugged in all night, the tractor started, so Lynn took another big alfalfa bale to the young heifers and a big bale of straw to put along the brush for the cows to have more bedding. In this cold weather they also eat some of it, as long as they have enough protein.

That morning about 60 antelope came barging through the fence by Andrea’s house, and crashed through the hot wire at the edge of her driveway (knocking it down in a few places) and ran down through the cows. They milled around a while, then went out through the fence on the other side. It’s been a long time since we’ve had that many antelope here, and rarely in winter; we’re not sure where these came from.

Sunday was cold again and Andrea helped me pound ice out of all the horse tubs when I did chores, and broke ice in water holes at the creek for the cows. They’ve now eaten almost all the tall grass around her house and along her driveway, so the next day we started feeding them a little hay, and by Wednesday were giving them a full feed.

Thursday was -25 C and windy, which made it miserable feeding cows. That afternoon I made gifts for family members (drawing horses and cartoons on white T-shirts); we were celebrating Christmas a couple days early at Andrea’s house since Friday was the only day she’d be able to have all her kids home.

That day the cold water faucet in our bathroom sink froze. We always let it drip during cold nights because the outside wall in the bathroom isn’t insulated and those pipes freeze if the water isn’t running. At least that drain won’t freeze, so we can let those faucets drip. But we didn’t let it drip during the day and the cold water was frozen by late afternoon.

We had a nice dinner at Andrea’s house and it was fun to see everyone. Sam and her boyfriend were here from Twin Falls. Christopher took the gifts around to everyone to be opened. Someone would read the tag for him and he’d take it to the right person.

Saturday Andrea went to town to mail a bunch of belated Christmas letters for me, and went to visit Cope and Terrie and gave them a card and letter from us.

Christmas day was warmer (almost up 0 C by afternoon) and our bathroom sink cold water finally thawed out. Dani and Roger stopped by to have us guess whether their baby will be a boy or a girl. It’s a girl! The baby is due at the end of our calving season, about April 26.

January 5

We had a couple days of warm weather — the warmest all winter — and the snow settled, especially after a little rain last Tuesday. The snow was soft and slushy and it was difficult to get up and down Andrea’s driveway. Roger and Dani went somewhere in his little car and were driving back home with a friend that evening, and the car spun out several times. The first time, when Roger tried to back down to get another run at it, the car went off the driveway, down a bank and into the lower swamp field, and he had to roar it through the frozen humpy bumps to get back to the driveway. After several tries, he finally got the little car up to Andrea’s house.

That day we lost our dear friend and veterinarian, Dr. Cope. He had done fairly well up until then — even going out to several ranches to preg check cows (reading the ultrasound screen from his wheelchair) during the two weeks before Christmas. But that Wednesday morning he had no feeling in his arms; they were immobile and he was having trouble communicating. Friends and a nurse came to help Terrie, and he was given medication to keep him comfortable.

They tried to make his last hours pleasant, and he was conscious enough to hear what they were saying. He smiled a few times, then peacefully slipped away. That man will be greatly missed — by hundreds of friends and thousands of acquaintances around the country — and especially the ranchers he served for 44 years as their veterinarian.

I started interviewing a few people who knew him well, to write a final tribute to this great man. My brother Rockwell did the New Year’s Eve program on the radio — something Cope had done for 36 years. For this year, to honour Cope, Rocky interspersed tidbits about Cope — his life and various interesting things about him — with the six hours of music requests.

Today I finished the tribute to Cope that will be published in the Farm & Ranch section of our regional paper.

January 14

Last Friday Andrea drove her truck to Idaho Falls (roads were too bad to take her car) and took Dani and Roger to an appointment. Dani needed to get signed up for Medicaid assistance for her and the coming baby. Roger doesn’t have a job and they don’t have a home since the house they were renting in town burned. Until they can find something, they are living at Andrea’s house and Dani is working part-time in the kitchen at Discovery Care Center.

These past few days have been uneventful — just feeding cows every day, loading hay, giving the little bulls more bedding, and regular chores — but we had four inches of new snow on Wednesday. With the warmer weather I did two loads of washing; the drain (in the back room) won’t freeze up at these temperatures. My old washing machine still works, except it no longer fills automatically. I put buckets of hot water into it from the nearby sink, and use a hose for the cold water, from the indoor faucet next to the old wood stove. It still beats doing the wash by hand. Maybe in the spring I’ll be able to afford a new washer. First I had to pay for getting my teeth fixed! I’m not sure which will wear out first — our old bodies or our old machinery.

January 23

Last Sunday Andrea took Christopher to visit Bob and Jane and he had fun sitting on Bob’s lap and riding around with him in his wheelchair.

Monday I drew lines on the aerial photo maps that Michael left here for us, for places we need new fences and some old ones rebuilt, so he can estimate whether he needs to get more materials for our projects.

Wednesday morning he brought his skid steer to plow snow in the hold pen to create a parking area for the fence crew, and clear snow away from areas where they will be starting the fence projects.

The next two days Nick and Matt started sawing out trees for what will be another grazing pen below the pen cleared last year when they built a new fence. Michael brought his mini excavator to tear out big patches of brush. They are burning the brush and this will make room for growing a lot more grass.

Thursday was Emily’s 25th birthday. Her boyfriend AJ took her out to dinner but surprised her by having his parents and grandfather there, and Andrea. At the end of dinner he proposed to Emily and gave her a ring. It was a very special occasion and we are delighted that we’ll have AJ as a son-in-law and Christopher will have a good daddy.

The post Community mourns the loss of a longtime veterinarian appeared first on Grainews.

Last Thursday morning it was snowing hard. Michael called to tell us he was worried about Andrea and me trying to take our trailer to the bull sale Montana the next day. We’d have to chain up the truck and trailer to make it over two of the passes. We realized another problem would be the cold weather — it was predicted to be -35 C at Three Forks, Montana and -25 C here)

Andrea’s diesel pickup would need to be plugged in. We called the hotel where we’d be staying and they didn’t have any way we could plug in a vehicle. We decided to take Andrea’s car instead; it has good tires and starts in cold weather. A purchased bull could be delivered to a sale yard near Dillon, Montana (just over the mountain from us — only a three-hour drive). We could get him later and not need to have Andrea’s truck plugged in overnight.

That afternoon and evening we got everything ready for our trip, with lots of warm clothes, and I cooked some things Lynn could have for meals while I was gone. Friday morning it was -20 C when I went out in the dark to do chores and get ready to leave. We got to the stockyard near Three Forks late in the morning. We walked around looking at bulls and making notes until we got too cold, then drove 10 miles to the hotel. We met other folks who’d come to the sale — buyers and some of the people who raise bulls for Pharo Cattle Company. I met Kit Pharo; I’ve interviewed him for articles and known him for more than 20 years, but had never actually met.

At the sale the next day we managed to buy a bull, though the first 18 we liked were way out of our price range. The one we bought is a very mellow fellow; our main criteria for selection were calving ease and disposition. His registered name is Jurassic Park but we nicknamed him Barney — the friendly purple dinosaur.

We took our trailer over the mountain to Dillon on Monday to pick up the bull. Even though it’s only 100 miles from here, it’s a slow trip over Bannock Pass with 15 miles of rough gravel road. When we got home and unloaded Barney into the pen with the older bull, they were instantly buddies and got along just fine.

Today we had a family get-together for belated Thanksgiving dinner at Andrea’s house, since this was the day her kids could be there (except Sam, who couldn’t get off work in Twin Falls). We also invited Nick, so Lynn and I had four of our grandkids there.

December 5

Last Sunday was windy and I did evening chores in a blizzard. The next day Andrea helped me get a load of little bales from my hay shed to stack by the gate to the heifer pasture. I’ll continue feeding the weaned heifers some grass hay twice a day (plus a sled full of alfalfa every morning). They are doing OK with that ration but we’ll soon give them more hay. Andrea checked on the bred heifers in the lower back field. They are still grazing the rough feed sticking up above the six-inch-deep snow.

Thursday Michael and Carolyn drove to Jackson, Montana for a mini excavator. He’s been periodically renting one for some fencing jobs, and spent enough in rent over the past few years that he could have purchased one. He found a used one in Jackson that will work better than the one he had to rent. It was a rough trip, with snowstorm and bad roads — eight inches of new snow on the passes. He had to chain up truck and trailer for about 50 miles each way. They finally got home late that evening.

With the new snow we thought we might have to start feeding hay or plow driveways, so Lynn plugged in the tractor that evening, but we only had about three inches of new snow here. The cows were still able to graze, but we took protein blocks to the bred heifers in the lower back field. The protein will stimulate them to eat more of the rough feed that they can still get to.

The gate to the lower field was impossible to open, with wooden uprights frozen into thick ice where the spring flooded into that lane. But Andrea’s four-wheeler fit through the small space between the gate post and the first upright (we could open it that much) to take protein blocks to those heifers. Then she and Lynn took a big bale of straw to the cows, putting it in the brush at the edge of their field where they like to bed. They can bed in the straw and eat some.

Andrea called us Saturday afternoon to tell us the old house that Dani and Roger are living in was on fire. Dani had come home from work (she works part days on Saturday) and was taking a nap when Roger came home and discovered the smoke and woke Dani, and they got out OK.

The fire started in old wiring in the attic and burned through the ceiling into the laundry room. The fire crew broke a hole into the front of the house and were able to get the fire out within a few hours, then allowed friends and family to go in briefly and get as much stuff out as they could salvage, though much was damaged by smoke and water. Andrea took their clothes home to wash, and filled the back of her truck with other belongings. Dani’s dad and Charlie filled their trucks and neighbours helped, too. The bed and couch will need to be cleaned before they can be used again. The house was destroyed, so they are staying temporarily at her dad’s house.

Today was a little warmer but it snowed again. Dani and Roger came to Andrea’s house to get some of their things and some clothes Andrea washed, so Dani would have something clean to wear to work.

December 14

Last Tuesday we started feeding the weaned heifers big alfalfa bales. Andrea pulled the bale feeder out to their field with her four-wheeler, and we cut the deer netting and made a “gate” we can open to get into those stacks. Lynn was able to get a big square bale (first-cut alfalfa) from the stackyard and put next to the corner of the corral where I’ll be feeding the weanling bulls this the winter.

The second-cutting alfalfa we gave to the heifers was pretty rich — mostly leaves — and we hoped they wouldn’t bloat. They were somewhat adjusted to eating alfalfa with the flakes I’d been giving them daily for more than a week, but it wasn’t this rich. I checked on them a few hours after we gave them the big bale; they were all very full and a bit bloated, but none in danger of fatal bloat. I checked them again just before dark, and they seemed OK.

Weather continued cold, and the straight alfalfa wasn’t adequate for generating body heat (ruminant animals need more roughage for that) so I’ve been giving those heifers a little grass hay in the evenings.

We had more snow on Friday. The cows and bred heifers were still able to graze, but we gave them more protein blocks. Water for the heifers in the lower back field was becoming an issue. About the only places they could drink were some little spots where a spring comes out of a patch of brush on the hill.

Sunday was the warmest day we’d had for a long time (above freezing!) so we decided to vaccinate the bred heifers (first scour vaccine, so they can have a booster shot before calving when we give the cows their annual booster). The heifers need a two-shot series of the vaccine to help them create antibodies against E. coli, rotavirus and coronavirus in their colostrum and give their calves protection against those common pathogens.

Charlie, Dani and Roger came out to help, after Andrea and I got the heifers safely across the ice in the gateway out of the lower field. We vaccinated them and put them with the cows in the field by her house. We also sorted the two little bulls out of the weaned heifer group and put them in the main corral for winter.

The next day we realized those little guys were too timid to step down into the creek for water, where we’d broken a water hole; they were eating snow instead. So we let them into the old “water gap” in the brush behind the chute, where the ice was easy to break and the bank not so steep. They are happily drinking there, and can use that sheltered area in the brush as a windbreak during winter storms.

The post Winter conditions made it difficult to travel appeared first on Grainews.

Last Sunday Andrea’s washing machine quit working and Jim helped her take it out of her house; he hauled it and our old stove to the dump. 

Thursday Jeff Minor brought his dad back from the hospital in Idaho Falls and got him situated at Discovery care center here in town. He’ll be there a while, and doing physical therapy to try to get stronger before he goes home. 

Andrea drove to Vern England’s place to pick up our old stock trailer. Vern fixed the door hinges, welded several broken areas, and put a bumper beneath the back door to make it better for backing up to the loading dock without a space for cattle to put a foot through the gap.

The next day Andrea helped me trim Ed’s front feet. They were getting too long and one front foot was starting to split at the toe. We got it trimmed enough to remove the split and smoothed the toes to where they won’t be splitting.

Yesterday evening Andrea took a young kitten to town with her to visit Bob and it curled up beside him on his bed and went to sleep. Bob was more comfortable and content than he’d been for a while; he really likes cats.

Today I found a few more old photos for Andrea to add to some she is putting together to make another poster for Bob’s room. I had a lot of photos I originally put together to illustrate my book Beyond the Flames; A Family Touched by Fire, but the photos were never used in the book.

This evening our granddaughter Heather in Canada called to tell us her 2½-year-old boy James had a broken elbow. He had surgery on it and is wearing a cast. He’s frustrated because he’s having trouble riding his tricycle with one arm in a cast. The exciting news is that they are planning to come next week to visit and we’ll get to meet those three great-grandsons that we’ve never seen. We haven’t seen Heather and Gregory since their wedding here in July of 2016.

October 9 

Last Wednesday Andrea helped me take shoes off Dottie. We only got to ride a few times this summer (Andrea rode Willow four times and I rode Dottie five times) and Dottie was the only horse I put shoes on.

We started picking rocks in the main corral so Dr. Cope’s van can be driven in there without high-centreing on big rocks. He’s in a wheelchair but the guy who drives the van for him has been taking him around to some of the ranches so he can still preg-check cows (reading the ultrasound screen while his helper runs the probe). Andrea and I took a big piece of particle board and some smaller boards into the corral to put on the ground next to our chute, for Dr. Cope to have his wheelchair on a level spot.

Thursday Andrea visited Bob at Discovery and was able to take him outside in a wheelchair. Being out in the sunshine lifted his spirits tremendously.

Friday I lured the weaned calves in from the field below the lane and into the grassy area next to Sprout’s pen. The two little bulls were slow to come so I was able to leave them in the field and didn’t have to sort them. We needed just the heifers to Bang’s- (bovine brucellosis) vaccinate the next day; the calves have had all their other shots.

Andrea and I moved the cows from the ditch pasture to the lower swamp pasture above the corrals. Yesterday morning when I did chores I called those cows into the holding pen above the corral. Andrea came soon after and helped me put them in one of the side corrals and bring the yearling heifers into another corral. Then we brought the heifer calves and put them in the grassy runway to the chute.

We had everything ready when Charlie got here, just before Dr. Cope and his helper Bart arrived. Cope expected to just sit in the van to read the ultrasound, but when he and Bart saw the nice level board we’d set by the chute, he was able to get out of the van in his wheelchair to sit right by the chute. Another friend, June Playfair, arrived. She often helps when Cope goes to various ranches. We Bang’s-vaccinated the heifer calves, with June giving the shots and Bart putting the tattoo and clip in their ears. Andrea, Charlie and I took the heifers back to the field below the lane and put the yearling heifers in the chute. Dani and her boyfriend Roger showed up, and they were good help moving cattle through the chute. Charlie ran the head catch, Andrea took out the old fly tags, and I vaccinated.

To use the ultrasound probe, Bart had to be behind the squeeze chute, so Roger’s job was to keep the next cow from coming too close and bumping into him. Dr. Cope read the screen and told us the results. Luckily, we’d monitored the cows and heifers closely enough during the past two months and saw that two heifers and one cow were cycling (not pregnant) after we took the bull out in early July; we sold them a few weeks ago when we sold our steer calves. However, we wanted to check the rest of the cows and heifers to make sure we hadn’t missed any that were open. They all were pregnant!

It was great to have Cope out here again. He was so happy to be outside, and not just sitting in the van. He was at the chute like old times, swapping tales with the crew. As he loaded up in the van again to leave, I thanked him for doing this, and he said he’d promised his clients that he would continue to do whatever he can for them, for as long as he can, and he wants to keep that promise.

October 14

It’s been freezing every night but temperatures have been warm in the afternoons. We desperately need rain, but we’re enjoying the nice days. 

Monday evening we talked with granddaughter Heather in Canada; they were still planning to come later this week to stay awhile with Michael and Carolyn and have a chance to visit us. Joseph was excited, wanting to meet his second cousin Christopher and to pet the cats and hold a baby kitten. 

The next day, Lynn went down to Baker to locate water for Gordon Stephenson on the little place where he keeps some of his cattle. He doesn’t have enough water for cattle in winter and was hoping to put in a well. Lynn found several spots where there’s water, but it’s at least 160 feet deep. Gordon was hoping for a shallow well, since the cost of drilling has increased dramatically. Well-drillers used to charge about $90 per foot but now it’s $116. 

Yesterday morning I called Michael and Carolyn, to see if Heather and Gregory and kids had made it down from Canada. They tried to come the day before, but when they got to the border, Gregory was not allowed to come through because he hasn’t been vaccinated for COVID. They had to turn around and go home again. So Heather and the boys were coming by themselves; Michael and Carolyn were getting ready to drive to the border (in Montana) to meet them and convoy back with Heather and kids. They finally got here at 1:30 a.m. this morning.

Michael and Carolyn had to go to Montana today for more fencing materials, so Heather and kids came to visit us. It was great to see her again and finally meet our three great-grandsons. We showed the boys around the barnyard and they got to meet the horses and cats. They were most excited when we took them down to the creek. They’d never seen a creek before; there are no creeks on their big prairie in Saskatchewan. They spent about an hour throwing rocks in the creek.

Then they went to Andrea’s house to see her cats and pet the baby kittens. Emily brought Christopher (Andrea will be keeping Christopher for a week while Emily and AJ go hunting) so Christopher got to meet his second cousins and they had a lot of fun together. After they played awhile at her house, Andrea took Joseph and Christopher down to the creek by heifer hill, where they had fun throwing rocks in the water and putting sticks in the creek as “boats.”

They stopped here again as I finished chores, to visit with Lynn and me a bit more. By the time they went back to Michael and Carolyn’s house, those kids were exhausted and so were we, but will be fun to have them here for a week. Heather wants to drive to Arco tomorrow to see her other grandma, but we’ll have a chance to visit with her and the boys several more times before they drive back to Canada next weekend.

The post Good weather persists, but rain needed appeared first on Grainews.