Welcome to the Ranchland News

Good morning to you all!
As you can see, I have finally decided to resume my Ranchland News writing. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to get it done on a weekly basis, but I’ll give it a shot and will try for "regular" updates from the ranch. In an effort to make it as user friendly as possible, I’ve also decided to publish it in blog format, one, so I don’t accidentally leave anyone off the list and two, so it might perhaps reach a wider audience. I’ll also be able to include photos and other tidbits a little more easily. I hope you like the format and if you have suggestions for improvement, please feel free to send them my way. I always look forward to hearing from you.

On with the show...
It has been cold and windy here lately. The good news is that the weather pattern is feeling decidedly spring-like, so although I know we have a good bit of cold weather ahead of us, I can tell that spring is on the way and that’s a good feeling for all of us here on the ranch. As winters go, this one hasn’t been too bad yet. We’ve had our fair share of snow and cold, but it started late and has come in manageable amounts. It’s been far better than the winter before.

All of us have been faring well thus far and life continues its busy pace, although that seems to be the way it’s going to be, I think we left the leisurely life behind quite awhile back although now I can’t remember where or when it was cast aside for the one we have now. With spring’s arrival, we are preparing for the new crop of calves which are due to come at the end of the month from our first two cows. The next set of five or six will come three weeks later and then the last two or three will stretch out into late April. We have breeding dates, but they didn’t match up well with the ultrasound collection last fall, so there is a little uncertainty with a couple of the later cows. But the positive news is that Gosar the Destructor (our bull) did his duty and we will have a 100 percent calf crop this year, our first in the three years we have been here. We’ll have an additional two calves in late summer, so our calves will reach an even dozen this year, with our eye on 15 next year, if we can add one more.

Right now, the cow’s biggest complaint is the amount of ice that’s formed on their foot paths. They seem to follow the same few trails around the house, to the feeding areas and back and forth to water, so those become pretty slick with all the freeze-thaw cycles we’ve had in the past week or so. I learned quickly to avoid the path, but the cows seem oblivious to the fact that if they stepped out of line into the fresh snow that their walk would be less treacherous. So, as a result they slide around a little on the ice. In addition to avoiding the cow trails, I have also learned not to stand on the downhill side of them. Having a 1,500+ pound animal sliding toward you as it flails to gain control of its footing is one of the more interesting things I have experienced lately. So now, I’ve learned to stand uphill from the herd.

I’ve been piling through some of our end of the year accounting and we’ve had a pretty fair year. We sold three calves this year, one who will make his living as a show steer, and two females in December who will be making their way in a Nebraska cow herd.

Our girls before the December 1, Maternal Building Blocks Sale in Brush, CO

Although the results weren’t as good as we had hoped, they gave us a solid starting point and gave us a set of goals to work toward. We also sold two beef animals this winter doubling our natural beef business from last year. Amy has taken the reigns on that side of the enterprise and done very well. In fact, we’ll be picking up our side of beef tomorrow. It’s always nice to pack away a year’s supply of meat, and we have heard from our clients that this year’s crop was very good and they are planning to increase their order next year. Needless to day, we are looking forward to seeing the quality for ourselves.

Anyway, as I said there is lots to do before the end of the month, pens to be cleaned, hay to be moved, cows to be rounded up, supplies to be ordered, etc. That’s all on top of the normal day-to-day routine, so the weekends for the next few weeks will be filled solid. Speaking of solid, that’s the state that our water lines have developed since the day after we arrived home from Christmas vacation. We had a run of -5 temps which started at the first of the year and it was enough to freeze the shallow spring line that feeds the stock tank in the pasture. It’s funny that it stayed clear the entire year last year, despite the bad weather, but this year froze solid in better weather. I have developed a lit of a love-hate relationship with the water system as those of you who have been regular readers have probably guessed. It’s a great thing when it works, but that’s only about 50 percent of the time. Renovating the stock water system is rapidly moving up my list of summer projects and it is now hovering in the top two or three. It’s actual position on the list is directly related to the number of days since my last soaking either from the hose that I have to string between the house and the pasture, or an actual dip in the tank itself.

So, needless to say, the water system is in need of a change. Although how I’ll accomplish that is another matter, since the spring line, which feeds that tank originates about a quarter mile to the south and runs under the house, yard, several fences and a barn. Stay tuned for the details coming later this year.

The cows are looking good and the three heifer calves we retained this year are growing nicely despite the winter weather. Fall calves rarely do as well in our country as spring calves, but these two are flourishing. We also have one late spring heifer that we kept which will bring us to 14 females and the bull. The remainder of the menagerie are also getting along fine. We are down to three horses on the ranch now. Sadly, the Human Hater became sick in December and had to be put down. But he was replaced with another young roping horse that Travis acquired, who we are very fond of. His name is Sam and he will be with us until sometime this spring before being shipped off for some professional training. Mr. Skinner is still the boss among the farm animals, but Sam, who is still learning his place is going to give him a run for his money in the near future. Henna is also doing pretty well, but she’s getting to be an old horse and this winter has been pretty tough on her. She is penned with the two alpacas so she isn’t forced away from the feed by the other horses. She was getting too thin and needed some extra help to make it through. She’s doing better now, but you can tell, especially in the early, cold mornings that she isn’t feeling fantastic and doesn’t have many more winters ahead of her.

The three of us humans are, as I mentioned, looking forward to spring when we can enjoy the outdoors. Not to say that we haven’t been enjoying the snow, but it does come in short doses. We have been doing a bit of sledding and get out as much as possible. Even Wyatt has been down the hill a couple of times, although he doesn’t seem to enjoy it as much as he will when he gets older. Amy and I started him out on a couple of the smaller hills, but after two trips down, he had had enough. Afterward though, the two of us moved on to our so-called "extreme sledding" hill, which lacks a little in length, it makes up in sheer vertical drop. For those of you who have been to our place, the extreme hill is the one behind the shop. It’s only about a 50 or 60 yard run, but it’s steep and fast when the snow conditions are good, which has been most of the winter. There’s still time to get in some decent sledding before the snow’s gone, so any of you that are considering a winter visit, now’s the time. We’ll keep the bonfire lit and the cocoa hot for you, just let us know.

Wyatt is growing up quickly and is really starting to talk using words that are understandable. He’s a big fan of the cows and is quick to point them out anytime they walk past his line of site. Especially since it's often too cold for him to be outside feeding or driving, still among his favorite activities. Instead, when I go outside, he’ll stand at the front window for long periods of time pointing out the cows, horses, dogs, cats and any other animal that happens by on his watch. He’s even working on the sounds the animals make. He’s good with woof, woof, which is applied to any animal he’s not sure of, and he’s working on meow for the cat. Quite frankly, I think the cat would rather that Wyatt forget about him, but I am certain that’s not going to happen. The minute Wyatt sees him, it’s a foot race to the kiddie gate. So far, the cat is 100 percent, but I’m not looking forward to the day that Wyatt gets a jump on him, or manages to cut him off before he can get over the gate....I know it’s coming though.

His next accomplishment looks like it might be potty training. He has his own facility that he’s taking an interest in and his daycare lady is also helping with it, so perhaps we can work him toward that goal pretty quickly. There is an unbelievable amount of literature available about how/when/why to potty train, but the consensus of all of it seems to be that kids will do it when they’re good and ready. From all of the information we have gathered, the only thing I might not have figured out is that you’re supposed to put boys on the toilet facing backward...Why? Well, I’ll let you figure that out. I guess it makes sense, but I can definitely see that leading to problems down the road. I guess only time will tell.

Amy is getting close to finishing her teacher certification classes and is doing very well. She has one last big project to finish up before she graduates in May. After that she will be a fully certified teacher, something that she has worked very hard to accomplish and for which Wyatt and I are very proud of her for completing. In fact, she only has a handful of classes left, so I know she is feeling like the end is near.

As for me, in addition to all the ranch work and calving season preparations. I’m trying to squirrel in as much as I can into my non-work hours, including a few hard lessons that I thought I’d share with you. I got a good one in last weekend. I learned that gasoline tastes really bad and you shouldn’t drink it under any circumstances. As you might imagine there are any number of gas tanks floating around here and I needed to finish draining the old gas out of one so it could be replaced with new and probably much improved gas. Now, you’d think that on a ranch there would be a siphon hose available for the task, but there was not. So I figured a good length of garden hose would be fine for the task. Now, in retrospect, I can tell you, it is not. Aside from the piece that I chose being too short, it was also too big in terms of diameter. So after realizing that I couldn’t get enough suction be being careful, I gave it a good pull and although I managed to get the siphon started, I got a good swallow of gas in the process. It was unpleasant in the extreme. Not to mention the fact that I had to now control the flow while gasping and choking on gas. I’m certain I didn’t swallow more than a tablespoon or so, but it was a bad deal and it managed to ruin most of the remainder of the day. I spent most of the day being afraid to burp, particularly near any open flame or heat source and let me tell you, gasoline...or perhaps the 27 tums, two glasses of milk, or one of the other items I consumed to kill the gasoline taste (none of which worked by the way) makes you very burpy. I seem to be fine now, having not suffered any ill consequences, by as a warning gas tastes bad and you shouldn’t use your mouth to siphon it. Trust me, it may not seem like it’s worth the drive to town to buy a real— made for the purpose—siphon hose, but it is.

I’ve also learned a great deal about air tools and the physics of flight, but perhaps I will save those lessons for another time. Until then, I hope this note finds you well and enjoying your day, wherever you may be.


-John and the Ranchland crew