Gosar 2, Battle Skunk and a dog named Spiderman

It is gray and rainy here this morning, for the first time in a month or so and contrary to what most people might believe the weather and particularly the precipitation has resulted in a vast improvement in my attitude. When you have a cowherd that depends on summer moisture for its year-round feed source, any rain at all is appreciated. Gray, rainy mornings make me smile these days.
Things have quieted down at the ranch for now. The cows are on their summer pasture across the road, almost all our calves have been born and are growing nicely, only Bertie is yet to calve, but she should be done in a month or so. We’ve got a dozen calves this spring and they look really nice right now. It is perhaps our best looking, most uniform bunch to date and I’m happy to report that we finally have a little heifer calf from Kate, who in five previous attempts has only managed to produce bulls. Needless to say, her calf will be staying with us. Kate is perhaps our best looking, most feminine female and we have waited a long time for this girl to arrive. In fact, at 8 years-old, we were starting to worry that we wouldn’t get a female from her, but now her line will continue here at Cherry Creek.
Kate’s heifer also marks one of the very last calves we’ll have from Gosar the Destructor. He left Cherry Creek in April and was replaced in late May by G2, from the Lazy H Ranch Bull Sale. He’s really a great looking bull and has an excellent disposition. Mark was out from Kansas to deliver G2 and breed the cows in mid-May and when we turned the new bull out with the cows, he blended in immediately with the girls and we haven’t seen any jostling at all between them. It was really a relief, as you never really know how herd dynamics will change when you add another animal to the bunch. In this case it really went well.
It has been just over three weeks since we bred the cows artificially and I am very pleased with the results so far. Typical AI success for us has been a little dicey, averaging between 0 percent success in our worst year to 40 percent success last year. After the first round of heats, it looks like we’ve had about 75 percent of our cows take the artificial breeding, which is really exceptional for us and towards the top end of the results that are seen even in the best-managed herds in the country, so we’re pretty proud of the improvement over the past year. Mark is an exceptional breeding tech and we’re lucky to count him as a partner and friend in this business.
There are still things that could result in lower numbers of AI calves come next spring, but for now things are looking good and the ranch is in good shape overall, so I’ve had a chance to focus on some other projects over the past couple of weeks, which has been a welcome break after a long winter of work. However, some of the tasks that have occupied my time were less than desirable. We’ve had an influx of migratory skunks here on the ranch and that has kept me occupied, battling them. Unfortunately, the number of rabid skunks in the county is estimated at somewhere around 30 percent of the population, so it is a bit of a bad deal. Since the snow first started melting we’ve had regular and unpleasant reminders that we live in skunk country. All our animals have up-to-date rabies vaccinations, so that’s not much of a concern, but the skunk funk is something I could do without. Paige tangled with one early in the spring, but only got a minor hosing. We managed to wash her with enough lemon juice, tomato juice and other assorted remedies to get most of the stink erased, but when she gets wet, the ghost of skunk still reappears, even if just faintly. The skunk that got Paige was probably looking for a place to nest. The spring that Wyatt was born, we had one nest in a small hole between an old gym locker and the house on the back patio which led to my first skunk battle, which ended, surprisingly, about as well as any first battle with a skunk possibly could. Since that time I have been crafting an arsenal of anti-skunk techniques in the event we have another infestation. This spring was the year. There is a big, ugly Juniper tree about 75 yards above the house that has been fenced off from the rest of the pasture to preserve the historical hole in the ground that was once the root cellar. That Juniper tree has hosted a strange bevy of nesting visitors over the past five years or so including ducks, calves and probably many other animals that have passed through the ranch. This year, the skunks nested under it. For weeks, skunk stink has been wafting down to the house on the southerly summer breeze. For weeks, I have been trying to decide which of my battle skunk techniques I would employ. See, the trick is not to kill the skunk outright, which is relatively easy, but to get the skunk to depart voluntarily. Sorta similar to the problems faced on the Korean peninsula I imagine. It would be easy to employ the nuclear option, but the end result would probably be worse than the current stand-off. So, for the past several weeks, we’ve had almost nightly psychological warfare skirmishes with the skunk while I have put off dealing with the matter. I had finally settled on attempting to gas the skunk out, which is the most commonly suggested answer among old-time skunk warriors. You toss enough gas-soaked rags in around the hole that the skunk decides to vacate the premises in search of less explosive environs. However, dry grass pastures and potential Molotov cocktails don’t mix. So, I’ve been waiting for a rainy afternoon to gas the skunk. We haven’t had one. So, today was going to be the day. But over the past week, there haven’t been any messages from the skunk. No funk whatsoever. It seems that maybe the skunk has moved on. At least, that’s what I am hoping. I’m willing to face the skunk battle, if I have to. But maybe, by waiting him out, by not engaging in war, I’ve managed to win. Maybe the only way to win is not to play the game….I’ve heard that somewhere. Keep your fingers crossed that battle skunk has been averted.
In addition to battle with new animals, we’ve added another one to our bunch here on the ranch. A small Ewok-looking dog named Milo. Amy and Wyatt have been wanting a new house mongrel for quite some time and I finally relented on the subject, figuring it would be good for Wyatt to have a little pal that didn’t smell like a skunk or point him while he was playing hide-and-seek. So, Amy and Wyatt searched high and low for a small house mongrel for several months before they found Milo, who happens to be a four-month-old male Shih-tzu, who was being re-homed because his owner was moving. I’ll admit, he’s pretty cute, sorta in the way a used Swiffer Duster is cute. But honestly, I never knew that such a small animal could make so many strange and unusual sounds. That four-pound dog is the gruntiest, fartiest, snarliest animal you can imagine. Even when he’s not moving, which isn’t very often, he’s making noise. It’s a strange thing. The good news is that after a bath, if you’re quick you can drag him around the kitchen and get in a quick wet-mopping. We were going to let Wyatt name him, but it quickly became apparent that we were going to end up with a dog named Spiderman, or some such thing, so Amy took over and she and Wyatt settled on Milo, far more appropriate in my opinion, because if there is one thing that dog isn’t, it’s a superhero.
Aside from being busy with summer activities and adventures with Milo, Amy and Wyatt have had a busy start to their summer vacation. Wyatt finished his first year at preschool and is looking forward to one more year before he starts Kindergarten. I can’t believe he’s going to be old enough to start school in another year. Amazing how fast he grows. He’s been busy riding his ATV around the pasture with his Mom, who has procured at small Honda dirt bike so she can ride with him. Amy on her dirt bike and Wyatt on his electric ATV makes a pretty interesting picture. The bike would be right at home in Thailand with a small hog bungeed to the back platform. It’s even yellow, so it’s a little comical to see her riding it around, being pursued by Wyatt through the fields. Every time she starts it up, I swear I here the Wicked Witch theme from the Wizard of Oz on the wind. It might just be my imagination though.
Wyatt has also finished summer day camp too. It was a fun week for him and I think both Amy and Wyatt were sad that it only lasted a week. Perhaps next summer we’ll find one that is a little longer. I think they both enjoy the time, but obviously for different reasons.
Summer is always a great time on the ranch and we’ve got lots of good stuff planned to keep us busy. As soon as it stops raining, we’ll be loading up the camper, there’s some trout calling my name. Where ever you maybe, I hope this update finds you enjoying long summer days and sunny skies, unless you’re a rancher, in which case, I hope it’s raining.

All the best,
John, Amy, Wyatt and the rest of the ranch crew