Oh the Joys of Calving Season

Just in case you didn't catch my column in the Gering Citizen Newspaper last week, I thought I'd post it here for you. I don't always repost my columns, so you really should just subscribe to the Gering Citizen! It's a great paper and well worth the measly $30 bucks for a WHOLE YEAR or subscribe to the eEdition for only $25 smack-a-roos!

THAT CALF BETTER NOT...

Friday night, May 6^th, was my niece's graduation from EWC (Eastern Wyoming College). We are all so proud of her! Friday was a hectic day from the “get go” and I needed to be in Torrington by 6:30 pm for the graduation. I was busy feeding and watering the chickens and trying to hurry so I wouldn't be late. I happened to look out in the pasture, to make sure everything was okay with the cows and calves before I headed back into the house to change my clothes and get ready when I noticed a calf flat on his side looking dead as a doornail. (What a weird idiom that is, dead as a doornail!)

So, I trudged out to the pasture to check on the little guy. Just what I didn't need now, especially since I had somewhere to go and was needing to be getting ready. It seems like these things never happen at a convenient time, but then again, I don't know if there ever is a convenient time for situations like this. As I approached the calf, he remained lifeless, not even a twitch of his ear or flick of his tail. To make matter worse, the mother cow standing near him was "JD", not an especially friendly mother cow. She is the winner of the “over-protective mother” award each year. As I approach a little closer, I saw that he was at least breathing. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. That was a good sign.

JD noticed that I was making my way towards her calf and started making her way towards me. I softly tell her I just want to make sure he is okay and she snorts a warning sign to me that I'd better watch my step. No funny business or she is going to make me her lunch. Not wanting to get too close and cause her concern, I wanted to make sure he was not just sleeping so I whistled real loud and clapped my hands to get his attention. That sure got JD's attention and she snorted and pawed the ground in front of me, but the calf still did not respond.

I cautiously inched my way to the calf, all the while talking softly to JD reassuring her that I meant no harm to her calf. She was on one side of the calf and I on the other. I gingerly squatted down to the calf while concernedly keeping one eye on JD. Slowly I reached out my hand to touch the calf while JD inched closer. She lowered her head to smell the calf and I lightly touched him. I thought that if I could touch him, he would wake-up if he was just sleeping. Nothing, he continued to lay there, not opening his eyes, but still breathing. I tried again, this time a little more forcefully, rubbing his belly. JD snorted again and threw her head a little, but the calf just laid there.

Once again I assured JD that I wasn't going to hurt the little guy, I just wanted to make sure he was okay. One more time I reached out and tugged on his ear. He finally opened his eyes, but that was it. I picked up one of his back legs and gave it a tug. No resistance and when I let go, it dropped to the ground like a dead weight. Now JD was getting a little more agitated with me.

Well, it was clear to me that this little guy wasn't feeling so well, so I went to go get Dan so we could get this calf back to the corral and attend to him. There was no way I could take him by myself, not with his vigilant mother. Dan was plowing a field, so I had to ride the four-wheeler out there to get him.

Dan asked me if the calf was just sleeping and I said I didn't think so and explained all I had done to him and he hadn't responded. Dan and I went back out to the pair and Dan examined the calf. He also agreed that we should take him in and examine him. Besides, he hadn't gotten his ear tag yet, because Dan didn't want to do that by himself knowing that the mother was a little over protective. Dan said we'd better get the truck because he was afraid the mother would try to take him, if he took the calf.

Dan's pickup was hooked to a trailer so we couldn't take his, so we had to take my truck. At first we were just going to nab the calf and put him in the pickup bed. I would drive while Dan would ride in the truck bed with the calf but then Dan changed his mind and wanted to put the calf in the back of the crew cab. I wasn't too keen on that idea, especially since we were using MY truck. I finally consented to the idea, because I was afraid of the mother cow and a little fearful for my husband's life. I also said, "That calf better not poop in my truck!"

Dan promised me the calf would not make a mess, besides, we didn't have that far to go. After we discussed operation "nab the calf", we headed towards the pair. I was to drive between the mother and the calf while Dan jumped out of the truck, nabbed the calf and jumped back in with the calf. Sounded like a plan, but these things never go as planned. I have learned this from numerous "operations" such as this and each one never being executed as planned. I could just picture JD getting all worked up and smashing into my nice truck which I wanted to keep looking nice. My concern was also growing that I was going to be late for my niece's graduation.

We approached the pair and miracle of miracles, JD had wondered off just far enough that I was able to drive right between the two. Dan jumped out of the truck and scooped up the calf with lighting speed and had the calf safe in the cab in record time before JD even knew what we were doing. As we sped towards the corral, JD stood there in wonderment looking for her calf. Wow, that was unbelievable! Our operations never run as smoothly as that! As we were racing towards the corral, the calf suddenly became alert and alive! He must have been thinking, "Whoa, what just happened to me? Hey, you're not my mother. Get me out of this here." Dan had to hold onto the calf with all his might until we got to the corral.

As I put the truck in park, a distinct smell made it's way to my nostrils. I knew that ill-smelling smell which made my nose wrinkle up! I said, "Did that calf just poop in my truck?" Dan replied, "Uh, just a little."

I was not in the least bit amused at the situation. But on the bright side of things, it would appear as if the calf was just sleeping (very soundly) and nothing was wrong with him. We safely got him tagged and let him back in the pasture where he immediately reunited with his mother. Meanwhile, I drove the truck back to the house and grabbed a bucket full of soapy water and a scrub brush. As I cleaned the mess up, I was thankful that it was a false alarm with the calf and that he was perfectly fine. I also wondered how many other people had to clean calf poop out of their truck before they could go to a graduation?

Just in case you've never seen it...

ooey, gooey, smelly calf poop!

Although it's not much, it's still a massive amount of ick!

Well done Shaina! We are so proud of you!

Now on to nursing school!!

EWC Graduation Class of 2011

Lori (my sister), Shaina and Mark (my brother-in-law)

Adam (Shaina's boyfriend), Shaina and Morgan (my other niece)

Who Knew Cows Were Master Gardeners?!

The other day Dan the Man was checking the cattle down on the creek
and stumbled upon a weird phenomenon.

I know this doesn't seem like a rare occurrence, this squash plant,
but let me go on to explain.

The Squash plant is growing almost 1/2 mile away from the house, and I, nor did anyone else in our family plant it where it is growing.

Not only that, but there are about 6 squash plants down there
growing in the middle of a non-irrigated pasture.

And I have never seen any squash that look like these.
The pictures don't show the true color of the squash.
They are a bright orange, just like a pumpkin.

Then I remembered that last year, when I was cleaning out my garden in the fall, I had thrown several zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and pumpkins over the fence to where the cattle were grazing. I knew that the cows would enjoy the pumpkins. Did you know that cows love to eat pumpkins?

After the cows were done grazing in that pasture behind the garden, we moved them down on the creek.

Apparently, the cows planted the seeds by way of the cow patty planting method. The seeds germinated and produced squash that are a cross between the zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and pumpkins.

Dan the Man picked them and the laying hens are enjoying them now.



Wow, who knew cows are master gardeners too?

Remember Sweetheart?

A while back we had a contest to name this little girl...

Click here to see the posts concerning the contest if you missed it and have nothing better to do.

Spring is Coming

and

Last Chance to Enter the "Name the Calf" Contest

and finally...

And the Winner Is...


Well, the other day Dan the Man and I were out checking the cows that are down on the creek since we hadn't checked them in a while and of course I had my camera so I took a couple of shots of Sweetheart so you could see how much she has grown.



Sweetheart, now 16 months old.

Dan the Man will have to beat the boys away with a stick!
She sure is a looker!

Actually, Sweetheart has been paired-up with Mr. Chalk Butte and
if he has done his job, Sweetheart will be expecting her first calf in the Spring.

She hasn't learned that it's impolite to talk with her mouth full.

The End.

Calendar Girls (and a few boys)

I love taking pictures of our cows.

I don't know why exactly.

Maybe because they are so easy to photograph, most of the time.

You don't have to tell them stupid jokes to get them to smile.

Here's a few that I personally like.


Remember to click on the photo to see a full screen view of it (they are so much better if you do!) and hit your browsers back button to return to the blog.

Meet Miss January

Brrr... I remember that morning, it was freezing!

Mr. February

Miss March

Miss April

Miss May

Miss June

Miss July

Miss August

Miss September

Miss October and her Lady in Waiting

Miss November

Mr. December

Zephyr's Blustery, Windy Day

One early day in May on the Open A Bar 2 Ranch, the wind blew and blew and blew. Nobody at the ranch likes the wind.

Dan the Man doesn't like the wind. He needs to be planting and fertilizing his crops. But when the wind is blowing so hard, the seeds and fertilizer will blow away before they even get on the fields.

The Country Chicken Girl doesn't like the wind. The wind blows her hair all over and there isn't enough hairspray in the world (says her friend Lisa) to keep her hair from blowing into a messy tangle that looks just like a bird's nest.

The Country Chicken Girl also worries about her chickens when the wind is blowing 60 mph. She is afraid that her chickens might blow away. The wind is blowing so hard that it is moving her portable chicken coops.

The cows don't like the wind either. They wish they had a house to go into on windy days. If they did they would have Dan the Man fix them a gigantic bowl full of popcorn and have the Country Chicken Girl stream some movies for them on NetFlix. The cows would like to see the movie Chicken Run or the one about the little pig called Babe. But since they don't have a house and can't watch movies and eat popcorn, they just lay down with their backs to the wind.

In the morning Dan the Man and the Country Chicken Girl had to haul hay from the stacks south of the house to the pasture where the cows were.






Dan the Man drove the tractor and the Country Chicken Girl drove the truck and trailer. Dan the Man takes one bale of hay at a time and places them on the trailer until the trailer is full. As Dan the Man is loading the hay he sees a little black "lump" laying beside the hay stack. As he gets closer to the little black "lump" he notices that it is not a lump at all but a baby calf.







Dan the Man comes to the truck to tell the Country Chicken Girl that one of the calves is laying next to the hay stack. He says that the little calf must have walked all the way down here to the stack to get out of the wind. The little calf who was only two days old was a long ways away from his mama!

The Country Chicken Girl felt sorry for the little calf, whom she decided to name Zephyr, so she sat down beside Zephyr to keep him company until Dan the Man was done loading the trailer with the hay. It was nice and warm on the side of the haystack that was blocking the wind. Zephyr was nice and warm out of the wind and his black coat was also soaking up the bright sunny sunshine making him as snug as a bug in a rug.



When Dan the Man finished loading the hay he told the Country Chicken Girl that as soon as they got done unloading the hay at the pasture he would have to come back on the four wheeler and get Zephyr and take him back to his mama. So the Country Chicken Girl left little Zephyr and drove the truck back to the pasture so Dan the Man could unload the hay with the tractor.

After Dan the Man was done unloading the hay he got the four wheeler and rode back out to the hay stack where little Zephyr was. Zephyr was still laying next to the stack out of the wind and nice and warm.






Dan the Man found Zephyr and said, "Sorry little guy, but I have to take you back to the herd. Your mama is going to be worried about you and you can't stay this far away from the herd. You're going to have to find a place to lay out of the wind where the rest of the cows are. If you stay here, you won't be able to nurse on your mama and drink her yummy milk."

So Dan the Man lifted up little Zephyr, put him on the four wheeler and gave him a ride back to the herd.

Zephyr wanted to steer the four wheeler so Dan the Man let him for a little ways!

Dan the Man always drives with his tongue in his cheek.
The Country Chicken Girl thinks it is funny and teases Dan the Man about it all the time. Dan the Man doesn't even know he does it, but the Country Chicken Girl has several pictures to prove it!

Zephyr wasn't sure if he liked the four wheeler ride with Dan the Man.

All the cows were waiting and watching Zephyr drive the four wheeler!

Dan the Man took Zephyr to the pasture where the cows were. Everyone was excited to see him and some of the other calves were a little jealous that Zephyr had gotten to ride on the four wheeler with Dan the Man. The other calves wanted to know all about Zephyr's adventure but Zephyr just wanted to get some of his mama's milk.

Zephyr's mama wanted to know where he had been.
She had been worried sick!

The End