Rancher's Diary Archives - Page 2 of 2

With their mom Heather close by the Eppich boys James and Joseph
visiting their great grandmother's ranch in Idaho are impressed with the
creek. While they have ponds and dug outs on their home farm in
Saskatchewan seeing a creek was somewhat of a novelty.

Good weather persists, but rain needed

Dr. Cope makes one more ranch visit to preg-check cows

By Heather Smith Thomas November 30, 2022

October 4 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 […] Read more

With hot and dry conditions it has been a challenge to keep water supplied to cattle on some of the summer ranges.

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Grass tetany claims a young cow

Rancher’s Diary: Dry conditions, forest fires and a brush with a rattlesnake

By Heather Smith Thomas September 9, 2022

July 1 Last Thursday the water tank on the hill pasture was nearly empty so Andrea, Lynn and I took the pump and hoses up there and pumped from the ditch across the road and filled it again for the six pairs grazing up there. That afternoon I helped Andrea finish putting up electric fence […] Read more

Cattleman’s Corner, Cow-Calf, Rancher’s Diary

Cold weather or not, fencing continued

Rancher's Diary: Extra attention including tube feeding couldn’t save premature calf

By Heather Smith Thomas April 20, 2018

February 22 A week ago it snowed and was windy and cold. Jim finished packing his truck and drove to California where he has a couple of months worth of work fixing fences and remodelling some buildings for a friend. We moved the yearling bulls from the orchard to the little back pen, and created […] Read more

From snow and ice to almost muddy conditions, work continued on building a new fence that separates pasture from hayfield.

Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock, Rancher’s Diary

Winter brings a mixed bag of weather

Rancher's Diary: Ice, snow and even rainy conditions make chores challenging

By Heather Smith Thomas March 9, 2018

January 28 We’ve had cold nights this past week. I’m glad we’re no longer calving in January. I finished revisions and updates for the new edition of my book Storey’s Guide to Training Horses. The thick ice on our lane and Andrea’s driveway is slippery and treacherous, making it tricky to get up and down […] Read more

Our neighbour Sy Miller with his jackhammer post pounder, setting posts for our new horse pen.

Cattleman’s Corner, Rancher’s Diary

Rancher’s Diary: Wildlife put pressure on cattle feed

On the home front, health issues to deal with

By Heather Smith Thomas March 29, 2017

January 25 With such cold weather in December and January we’ve gone through a lot of firewood. If it ever warms up, we can let the fire go out at night to save wood. Tuesday was Emily’s ninth birthday. We all had dinner at Andrea’s house. The elk are still coming into our field, pawing […] Read more

Columnist Heather Thomas and her husband Lynn of Salmon, Idaho were joined by their family in March to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

Cattleman’s Corner, Rancher’s Diary

Spring coming as water begins to run

It's a good time of year to do some fencing and clean up around the corrals

By Heather Smith Thomas April 8, 2016

February 23 Last Tuesday Michael, Nick and Robbie started replacing the old, falling-down fence along our lane. Michael used the backhoe to dig out chokecherry trees and old fence posts. Lynn went to town for a doctor appointment to have his hip checked; the doctor wants him to have an MRI to try to figure […] Read more

Andrea riding Shiloh while moving cows to better pasture during some gorgeous weather this fall.

Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Rancher’s Diary: Ranch work winding down for fall

Still plenty of grass as cows are back on pasture after weaning

By Heather Smith Thomas November 13, 2015

OCTOBER 10 Michael and Nick have been working on custom fence-building jobs and Robbie helped them for a few days. The day after we preg-checked the cows and took the heifers’ mothers to the 320-acre mountain pasture, we put the heifer calves in the orchard, and the two bull calves in the horse pasture. They […] Read more

GFM Network News

Canadian trade data delayed by U.S. government shutdown

Sigurdson applauds Alberta farmers

U.S. grains: Soy, corn dip on farmer selling; U.S.-China trade talks in focus

Tag Archives Rancher’s Diary

Good weather persists, but rain needed

Grass tetany claims a young cow

Cold weather or not, fencing continued

Winter brings a mixed bag of weather

Rancher’s Diary: Wildlife put pressure on cattle feed

Spring coming as water begins to run

Rancher’s Diary: Ranch work winding down for fall

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