It's All About the Grass

 Remember these scenes from this past winter?  Did you ask yourself why on Earth would ranchers stay there and put up with this when there are other more hospitable places in which to ranch?  I certainly did especially this year. 

This is a place that the Utes came to only during the summer months.  They followed the herds of bison, elk, and deer that migrated back into the area as the snow receded and the ground turned from white and brown to various shades of green to feed on the plentiful rich grass.They'd spend the summer.When fall came, the animals would migrate out where their feed wasn't covered with lots of snow and their water sources were liquid not solid. The Utes would follow.

Prior to the Civil War this area was known only to the Utes and a few trappers.  It wasn't until after the Civil War that the area became known for its grass.  There was an abundance of cattle in the Southwest and a very hungry population in the Northeast.  The large herds were trailed north where they could graze on the rich free grass, gaining weight before heading east to meet the rail heads.  There the cows would be loaded into cattle cars to be shipped to Chicago and beyond. The harsh winter conditions, along with the plentiful water, moderate summer climate and fertile soil all contribute to the production of some of the best grass in the world; according to CJ Mucklow, our extension agent, not some but the best grass in the world.

All of this rich grass wouldn't be of much use to the world's population without the amazing cow.  Humans don't have the ability to digest grasses; however, the cow can digest the grass and convert it to protein which humans then eat to support every system and many functions within the human body. According to Wikipedia 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans and seas.  Of the 30% which is solid surface, less than half (40%) is arable  (able to sustain  either crops or grasses or pasture).  That 40% breaks down to only 13% able to sustain crops and 27% can sustain grass or pastures. This means that animals which graze, like cattle, give us more than twice the  land area of crop land to grow food for a population which is growing exponentially. According to the National Geographic, it took from 8000 BC until 1800 for the world population to grow to 1 Billion, 130 years (1800 to 1930) for the population to grow to 2 Billion and 94 years (1930 to 2024) for the population to quadruple to 8 Billion people.  They predict that it will take only 26 years (2024 to 2050) for the population to grow by an additional Billion.

The grass in the yard on the 31st of May

The best things about grasses is that they can grow in all kinds of conditions where nothing else will grow but here in Northwest Colorado, we feel we have the best grass for 90 days out of the year.  Cattle gain exceedingly well and quickly with no additional supplment except salt blocks and plenty of good clean drinking water.  Our grass grows well when it finally gets warm.  We are thinking about beginning to cut our dry land grass hay but first we need to cut the grass around the house.  Because we only have native grasses for our yard and don't water it, mowing our yard is a good indicator to help determine if it's time to start haying the upper grass fields.

The grass around the grand kids swing set on July 2 was as deep as the snow was on April 22.

 

Mowing the yard Stanko style.

Guess it's time to cut the dryland.

To Everything There is a Season, . . . usually!

Fall

Spring

Summer

Winter

                 If agriculture were to have a theme song, I think it would be to Everything There is a Season.   (This song, adapted in 1959 from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-14 by Pete Seegar and originally released in 1962, became a hit when released by the Byrds in 1965.) During a normal year, here at the ranch, things progress from one activity to another.  This year, because of an extreme amount of snow and a spring which was six weeks late, instead of one season following another, they all came at the same time.  It’s been a really busy spring and bet you thought I had just forgotten about keeping up the blog, it’s just been too busy and we’ve been going from dawn to dusk.

Usually, the fences gets fixed, the fields harrowed, cattle gathered, branded and turned out, meadow harrowed, irrigation systems and ditches set up, water turned on, weeds sprayed and fences in the higher pastures fixed to accommodate the cattle moving into those pastures, one after the other.  This year, the snow melted in the lower country and the ground dried out so water needed to be ready to go immediately.  The weather was cool so the grasses didn’t grow and the cattle couldn’t be left in the first two pastures for as long as normal which also meant that not only the cattle but the salt and minerals had to be moved from one pasture to the other.  The fences in the higher pastures needed to be repaired immediately.  The fields and meadow needed to be harrowed before they became too hard and dry to do any good for the soil and before the grasses became too tall and the harrow would do damage.  While we had flooding and still have some flooding along the river on the meadow, the rest of the meadow was drying out and needed the water turned on.  The weeds must have been growing under the snow because it seemed that as soon as the soil warmed up not only did the grass grow; but the weeds also.  The moisture has made for a bumper crop of weeds and patches of whitetop literally bloom over night. 

In addition to the usual chores, we had to prepare for an extended flooding season.  We hurried to drag the meadow so in the event of flooding, the soil would be prepared and after the floods receded, all we would need to do is remove the debris.  Because of the extreme snow, the feeding grounds became too soupy mud.  Driving across to check and feed cattle caused ruts and damaged grass in certain places.  The ruts needed to be worked before they became as hard as concrete and the grasses needed to be reseeded before we could turn on the water to irrigate.  The ditch needed to have the banks made higher and parts of the ditch reinforced to keep the extraordinary water pressure from blowing holes in the ditch.  The headgate at the river needed to be monitored to raise and lower it to prevent it from being washed out by the high water.

The usual high water of the runoff is during the first week in June.  We’re having an extended run off and they say it will peak sometime in early July.  We’re lucky with our meadow.  It was engineered in the early 1940’s with improvements made as needed so we have had very little high water and damage to the meadow or the banks.  Our neighbors, who have a meadow which was merely cleared so native grasses could grow have a different story.  They have water washing across low areas all across their meadow for a good quarter of a mile.  Rivers, through time, change channels.  The Yampa River is no different.  It is the perfect time for rivers to carve new channels or return to previous channels during these years where the volume of water is not only extreme but also where the high water remains for a long period of time.  It looks like the river is going to carve a new channel while still keeping the old channel, so the neighbors may have a new island thus taking about 5 to 10 acres of productive hay and pasture ground.

Each of the cows has calved and the fences have been fixed in preparation for moving the cows to a new pasture.  It is now time for branding.  When each calf was born they were given a herd identification number within 12 hours (refer to the March 13 blog to review herd identification tags), the number and the cow’s number are recorded in the red book.   Branding is more than a time to give each calf a permanent identifying mark which tells which ranch they belong to; it is also the time check each calf over carefully, give each their first vaccinations, neuter the males and give them their EID (electronic Identification). Colorado has with strong brand laws and system.  Each ranch develops a brand which must be approved, verified and registered with the state brand board.  Each brand holder pays a brand registration fee every five years. It is these funds along with the inspection fees which pay most of the expenses of running the brand board.  Across the state are districts and brand inspectors.  Each time a cow, calf, or horse is sold, the brand inspector must visually see the animal to make certain that they belong to the person doing the selling.  They write up brand papers showing the transfer of ownership which follow the animals to the new owners.  In addition, horses must have travel cards when they are being transported more than 75 miles from home.  The brand inspectors are the first line of defense against horse and cattle rustling.

Our branding begins with the gathering of the cows and calves from the meadow.  We do this on horseback and move the cattle slowly and calmly.  The entire process should be done in a quiet manner to keep the animals calm.  Many of our cows know the procedure and usually are ready to move to the next pasture.  When we go down to the meadow or anytime we try to move the cattle, the calves are rarely with their mothers.  They are off in groups of calves.  As the gather begins, we circle the herd and slowly move them to the center.  This gives the cows and calves the opportunity to find each other.  If a calf can’t find its mother,  the animal gets anxious which can quickly spread throughout the herd and you have animals running everywhere.  The most difficult part of moving cows and calves is that the cows usually know where they are going and are used to seeing openings so they tend to go first.  Calves tend to hang back with other calves and frequently you have all the cows through the gate while there are a group of calves left behind.  Any other time, a calf would be through the opening in a flash; however, because you want them to go through, they are so anxious that they can’t see the opening and if pushed will bolt back to where they last saw their mother.  It’s a special horse that doesn’t go crazy when a calf bolts under its belly.  This year the gather was perfectly executed and no calves bolted.

After the cows are in the corral, the cows are sorted out and put in a pen to wait for their calves to join them. The calves are then put into one of two pens where they wait their turn.  We have a squeeze chute for our cows and bulls and two calf tables for our calves.  These chutes restrain the animals gently but securely.  This is for the protection of both the animals and the humans and allows the humans to work on the part of the animal that needs to be worked on.  The chute doesn’t hurt the animal and actually calms the animal.  The calf enters the chute where it’s head is caught and then the sides gently embrace the calf tightly to keep it secure.  It is then turned so the calf is lying on its side.  This prevents the calf from struggling and makes it easy to reach all parts of the calf. 

Everyone has a job at branding.  Jobs which require knowledge and expertise are branding, neutering, and giving shots.  There are only three people who use the branding irons; my husband, our son, and a neighboring rancher.  All have been taught and have years of experience in the application of the brand.  Branding is equal to a third degree burn.  It is the same as touching your hand against the heat coils of a hot oven.  The scars caused by the blisters become the brand. When we get sunburns or other burns, they are sprayed liberally with a mixture of aloe and lavender and so are our calves’ burns. This eases the sting of the burn and keeps the area soft and subtle instead of forming hard scabs. 

Calves entering the chute/calf table.

Laying the chute down to make a table.

The calf's head is supported and it receives its brand, EID tag, and innoculations all within a 4 minute time span.

 While on the table, each calf receives one shot which contains vaccine for seven different diseases.  All inoculations are given just under the skin and never into the muscle.  This prevents internal scars which might turn up as gristle in the meat that is served on someone’s plate in the future. There are regulations and instructions on the label  which must, by law be followed.  This is for the health and safety of not only the animal but also of the consumers.  One example is that an animal which has received a penicillin shot may not be sold for food consumption for a minimum of half a year. This gives plenty of time for the medication to completely leave the animals system.

 Each calf, also receives another tag in the ear opposite our herd tag, the EID tag.  It is a round button-like device which pierces the calf’s ear like a stud earring.  This one is imprinted with a unique number.  No other calf in the world will have that same number.  The E in EID stands for electronic and with a computer and wand scanner, the number can be “read”, making it easy to identify each individual animal.  We keep records for each animal: date of birth, mother, date of vaccination, date and any type of treatment and other notes which are pertinent to the health, growth and development of each animal.  When the calf leaves our ranch, they not only have the tag in the ear but are given either a hard copy or an electronic copy of each calf’s records. This electronic ear tag remains with the animal through its entire life span and allows the movements of the animal to be traced back to where it originated from.  This is beneficial for disease control and ultimately in allowing consumers to know where their meat came from.  (When you go to the grocery store, fresh meat and produce coming from outside the United States must be labeled.  If there is no label, it is produced in the US.)

The male calves are neutered. It is interesting that many of the people who are against the neutering of cattle are the very ones who encourage people to neuter or spay their puppies and kittens.   Male calves are neutered for the same reason that people neuter  kittens and puppies, to prevent unwanted breeding.  As these calves grow and develop, neutering  also prevents them from producing a hormone which a) causes them to become hard to handle and b) some say causes a change in the taste of the meat that these animals eventually become. Neutering is done only by my husband or son. We use disposable sterile scalpels and each calf is treated with antiseptic and receives antibiotic to prevent infection.  We do not use anesthesia.  As anyone knows who has ever had surgery and had to sign a release for the use of it, the possible complications from the anesthesia are much more frightening than complications from surgery.  In this case, the calves recover more quickly from the surgery than they would from the effects of anesthesia. We have tried a process called banding but the calves recovery from the discomfort of this process took days rather than hours.  In addition, we worry that this prolonged recovery would make them more vulnerable to coyotes .  When Mike Rowe visited a sheep ranch up the road outside of Craig, Colorado, he did a segment on banding versus quick surgery.  Click on the link to see what he discovered.  Warning:  this segment is very graphic.

Photo taken by Nancy Kramer around Lay, Colorado.  Even lambs prefer people eat beef.

 

Calves, like people, have different reactions to things.  When released from the calf chute, some walk calmly away, some kick up their heels and some run as fast as they can.  They are all put in a large pen for the next hour so that we can keep an eye for possible complications or reactions.  This year, we had some urban participants who were worried about the calves until they saw for themselves that the calves were up and cavorting in less than a half-hour after their treatment when they are turned out into a small pasture where they join their mothers. Here, for the rest of the day, we are able to keep a close watch on the herd to make sure no calf is in difficulty and that every cow has found her calf.

These calves have had enough and want to join their mothers right after being branded, neutered, and inoculated.

 

After the work was all done, we all retire to the house for a picnic lunch and to relax and visit. This is the opportunity for us to catch up with the lives of old friends who have been helping us for years and to learn about the new people that Pat and Jan have brought to our ranch for the weekend.   Branding at our ranch is an educational event.  We have had people from China, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, and all parts of the US attend our branding.  It is also a social event where the neighbors and friends from town and friends of our son and daughter-in-law come from the cities to learn and participate. Some participants began coming when they were college kids and now they bring their children.  This is our main social event for the year.

Later after everyone has gone home, the family; Taylor and Justin (our grand kids), Pat and Jan (our son and daughter-in-law), and Jim and I will walk our herd into the next 200 acre pasture where they will remain for the next two weeks.  We linger to enjoy the sense of accomplishment, the coolness of the evening, and peace and contentment that comes when things are as they should be and the family is together.

After the work, Justin gets to play in the water.

Taylor gathers dandelions.

Fencing Season

Every inch of fence needs to be checked after the winter snows go.

As the snow goes, the fences emerge or rather the lack of fences emerges.  In the high country of Colorado and here at the ranch, fencing “season” begins early and goes through the summer.   Fencing begins as soon as the snow melts, the water dries up, and the ground becomes dry enough that as you tighten the wires on the fence, the posts won’t pull out of the soft ground.  Every inch of fence must be inspected, spliced (the two broken ends are tied together) where needed, tightened and stapled back to the posts whether it is along the road, up steep hills, through brush or in the roadless back country. In snow country, there are lots of breaks, sagging wire, and pulled out staples just due to the weight of the snow.

In Colorado, fence guidelines state that cattle must be fenced out, horses fenced in, and sheep herded.  This means if you don’t want cattle on your property, you must build a legal fence to keep them out.  If you own a horse, are responsible for building and maintaining a fence to keep them off other people’s property or off the road, and because sheep can go through a legal fence, if you can’t build a fence to keep them in (usually with a woven wire that has fencing going both vertically and horizontally) then they should have a sheep herder with them.  A legal fence is three wires with a post set ( the bottom foot and a half or two feet of a post is packed into the ground to give the fence strength and stability) every twenty feet sufficient to turn any horses and cattle with gates equally as good as the fence.  Any fence that can turn any horse or cattle as efficiently as a “legal” fence is deemed legal also; electric, wooden, plastic, etc.

Horses, which  have thinner more sensitive skin than cattle, don’t push fences as hard as cattle so it doesn't take as strong a fence keep horses in.  On our ranch, however, all our fences are built to hold cattle because we rotate cattle among all our fields.  We build our fences with a minimum of four wires with set fence posts every 12 feet with stays (light weight posts which are nailed to all the wires of the fence for the purpose of keeping the fence wires straight and  tight) between the set posts. Where we have a lot of pressure on a fence due to weaning, our fence is five to six wires and the set posts are 10 feet apart with steel posts set between wooden posts and stays between those.  Strong fences are important to good range management and for keeping the cattle secure and safely off the roads. 

While these posts were completely covered by snow, the top wire didn't have as much snow weight as the lower wires.

While all the wire needs to be tightened, the number of wires in the fence which needs to be spliced is determined by how the fence came to need repair.  A fence which only has snow load may or may not be broken but will definitely need to be tightened because the wire will be stretched by the weight of snow and the staples holding the wire to the posts popped out.  The wires which are above snow level or close to the top of the snow will be somewhat tight while the lower wires will be stretched and sagging or broken.

Fences along the road will have all four wires sagging, some wires toward the top may be broken and the posts will be pushed inward, away from the road. Fences which need repair because wildlife, in our case elk, are going over and through it, will have the wires tangled because some animal had caught it with a foot, stretched it and when it snapped back into place it became tangled.  Sometimes just the top or two top wires are broken.

For most of our fences along the road or where ever we can get with the tractor, we can use the tractor to carry our supplies and tools in the front end loader.  We carry extra posts, a tamping bar (a heavy metal bar for pounding dirt tightly around a post to make it stand straight), a shovel for digging the post hole, fence stretchers, fence pliers, staples, a roll of wire and, of course, leather gloves to protect our hands.  If  the fence is in a place where we have to walk in or ride a horse in, then we carry the fence stretchers, staples, and loops of wire, the handle of the shovel becomes the tamping bar, and hopefully we won't have to set new posts. 

This an efficient way to carry the wire and be able to unroll the right amount as needed.

The fence stretchers bring two broken ends together by placing the wire in the clip and using leverage to stretch the wire tight.  The fence pliers were an multipurpose tool invented prior to the leatherman.  They have wire cutters, the pointed edge for pulling out staples, the other side for pounding in staples, and a wire cutter edge between the handles.

The staples are built to hold the wire to the wooden posts.  When you buy them, you must know how long you want the tines to be.  

We make splices by making a loop in the end of the wire, put it in the vice at one end of the fence stretchers and the other end slips through the loop.  When we've made the fence as tight as possible, the wire which has come through the loop is folded back on itself and wrapped around so it doesn't slip.  The fence stretchers are then removed.

 

We expect to fix fence every spring but usually once the fence is fixed, it stays up until the heavy snow takes it down the next winter.  There are a few places in the late fall when the elk begin to migrate where the fence must be put back up and this too is expected.  The most frustrating fencing issue; however, is when people drive through our fences.  We, like many ranchers, find out that someone has driven through our fence when the neighbors call to tell us our cows are out on the road.  It gets expensive in materials and time to repair the damage done to our fences.  Sometimes, people let us know when they’ve gone through our fences right away and either come to help us fix the fence or buy materials and pay us for our time to fix the fence and we certainly appreciate that.  Because we live on a curvy road, we have many people going through the fence down by the gate to the meadow.  In the last 18 months, there is one fence post that Jim has had to reset seven times, the last three times have been once a week for the first three weeks in May.  Of the seven people who have taken out the fence and that post, one died at the scene, two were hospitalized with serious injuries, one with minor cuts and bruises, and two ended up in jail.  I’m thinking of painting the post red and putting up a sign that says, “Hitting this post could be hazardous to your health or freedom.”

The truck entered down by the 4 wheeler, straddled the fence for 200 feet, went into the field and came out at the at the upper end.

Luckily, our neighbors, Larry and Maryann Sasak, came by with their post pounder.  It saved us from having to set all those posts by hand.

 

The pounder is put onto the back of the tractor and as the PTO turns, it drives the heavy metal down onto the post and pushes it into the ground.

The fence is back up except for the stays.

 It looks like fencing season will be a long one this year, it is still too wet to get to much of the fence in the high country. 

Spring at Last, Spring at Last!!

Green begins to replace the white of the snow or the brown of the mud around the ranch house.

 According to folklore, Friday the thirteenth should have been a bad day; however, here on the ranch it was a great day because it was the first day of spring.  All the signs of spring were here for the entire day; no rain, no snow, no high wind, just a warm, sunny day with gentle breezes.  All the animals and humans felt it.

The day began with the birds announcing, “Today is going to bring spring!”  They began their song during the predawn hours, sitting in the tops of the pine trees outside the bedroom windows chatting away and reassuring each other that spring was definitely going to begin on that day.  After the sun came up and the day warmed, through the morning, afternoon, and into the evening, they continued remarking loudly about the wonderful weather.

The frogs were next announcing the coming of spring.  The water level on the meadow had dropped and the movement of water had slowed enough to allow pools to form.  As the temperature rose to almost 70 degrees, the water warmed, and by late afternoon and evening, the frogs were exclaiming how much they liked the new weather. These frogs are very small at this time of the year but interesting to see.  They are about the size of a quarter floating in the pools of water on the meadow.  When they open their mouths to sing, they form a sort of bubble about the same size as they are.  As the summer progresses, the frogs do grow in size to about the size of a small peach.  The frog population, however, decreases.  They are a favorite food of our sandhill cranes who visit the meadow everyday during the daylight hours and by mid-August, they will have moved their chicks from their nest in the sagebrush breaks to the meadow permanently until it’s time to migrate.

For us, spring means it’s time to move fast.  There is so much to do before the ground dries out.  In the winter, a 24 hour day is just fine to get the things done that we need to do, but starting in spring it would be nice if the day had about six more hours in it.  We begin celebrating spring by removing the plastic that we covered the windows which adds another layer of insulation to keep the cold out of our hundred year old house. Not only will this allow us to open the windows to let air circulate through and cool the house down when the outside temperatures reach 70, it also appeases the house cats that have been watching and waiting on the window sill for the past month or so for the snow to go away.  Both cats go outside, Mischief, to explore the area under all the trees and, Trouble, to chase a magpie away.

Trouble checks out the magpies.

Mischief expects the window to be opened first thing every morning from now on.

For us, the humans on the ranch, it is time to get ready for the many things that need to be done in the spring.  While it’s too wet yet to fix fence or drag the fields, it is time to get the equipment ready.  The meadow drags must be checked and rewoven if necessary and the fence mending tools (stretchers, staple pouch, post pounder, shovel, tamping bar and fencing pliers) must be gathered and supplies (wire, posts and staples) purchased.  The fencing tractor, old truck, and ATV must be made ready so that they can carry the fencing equipment.

This winter's Christmas light display.

Finally, it's dry enough to get the tractor in to get the last of the lights off the eaves.

 The last of the Christmas lights need to be brought off the eaves on the roof.  Usually this is done by the 8^th of January; however, with the heavy snow and extreme cold of this year, we had to wait until the snow around the house had gone and the ground had dried enough to bring the tractor in close enough to the house to get the job done. So on Friday the Thirteenth, the last of the Christmas lights are taken down and put away into the shed which holds only the outdoor Christmas lights.

This is not just a sculpture but a useful tool.

Removing muddy boots with a boot jack.

The heavy winter clothing and boots can be put away but should we keep the boot jack handy?  I decide to keep it close because it’s certainly going to rain and snow again before summer and the boot jack keeps my hands clean when it’s muddy.  This tool looks like a brass sculpture of a long horn steer’s head.  The heel of one boot is put between the horns and while stepping on the tongue looking part with the other foot, you pull your foot out of the first boot.  You change feet and remove the other boot: all this without having to use your hands to pull off your muddy boots or finding someone who is willing to get their hands muddy for you.  

Here, in this part of the state and at this altitude, spring comes later than most places and for those higher up, they’re still waiting for spring.  It’s magical because when the green begins, it comes fast.  It’s almost like the green is waiting under the snow and mud; waiting for only a couple of warm, sunny days to cause it to appear.  The green will get richer and deeper as the season continues.  The snow line recedes by 500 feet almost every day.  The aspens on Emerald Mountain still stand in at least two feet of snow and yet there is a green tinge to the tops of the trees which is visible from here at the house.    Now, the most difficult part of spring, is to resist setting out the spring plantings.  In a normal year, we can count on only a couple of months (from about the middle of June to the middle of August) without a killing frost.  Gardeners here have to be very resourceful to grow plants and crops which require a growing season longer than 59 days.  They use green houses, plant starter kits in their homes, and my favorite, container garden using their kids’ wagons and skateboards to move their plants from the garage and back every day.  Color has returned to the high country which means that the produce section at the grocery store won’t be as crowded; people won’t be lingering over the red peppers and lettuce to get the “color fix”, they’ll be outside enjoying the real thing.

The green will get richer in just a few warm days.

Weather, Almanacs, and Bucket Calves.

It's calving, lambing, kidding, fawning season here in the Upper Yampa Valley.  This is the time that the ranchers look forward to because it is the pay off, not necessarily financially, but with the joy of new life.  All the mammals, both domestic and wild, are producing young.  There are calves, lambs, baby goats, fawns, elk calves.  Your spirits are lifted just watching the young discover, cavort and just be new to the world.  Usually at this time of year, the snow is gone from the meadow, the run off water is confined to certain water courses, and the high parts of the meadow and hill sides are dry.  The grass greens with just a couple of sunny days and all the animals are content.

We carefully planned our calving to come during favorable conditions. We have adjusted our calving time to take into account the spring weather but his year it is different. In the 30 + years we have ranched, this spring  is a month behind normal.  The snow remains, the rain or snow keeps falling and the sun doesn't shine.  I checked the Old Farmer's Almanac to see if it had predicted this terrible, long winter.  It actually said predicted a milder winter with slightly above normal temperatures. An almanac is a book published annually with weather predictions, zodiac information, planting information, cooking information and general information.  It's interesting and fun to read.  Benjamin Franklin was a publisher of an early almanac in the colonies. His  Poor Richard's Almanac was published for almost 25 years.  Two modern almanacs are the Old Farmer's Almanac published in New Hampshire and the Farmer's Almanac published in Maine.  The almanacs keep records and use patterns and statistics to determine probabilities to predict weather.  Both almanacs have been existence and kept records for over a century and have gone modern with websites and blogs.  The Old Farmer's Almanac for Children is a great site to bookmark.

  It seems terrible to be complaining about so much moisture when our friends across the state and country are in need of moisture so desperately.  My friends in town usually are out of flood danger by the first week in April.  They are concerned because the creek which runs behind their house is out of its banks and within three feet from their back door and the real run off hasn't even begun yet.  We have opened all the gates along the five mile ditch we use for irrigation and have the head gate which takes water in from the river closed tight.  This is to keep the amount of water in the ditch at a level where the water won't go over the top and wash out the ditch.  The ditch is full from the rain and snow melt along the sides of the ditches and the small tributaries which enter directly into the ditches. High water isn't due until the first week in June.

The ground in saturated and there is no place for all this water to go.  For my friend in Hayden, where the snow left about a three weeks ago, all this continued moisture has made it difficult for her lambing and kidding.  The sheep and goats are used to giving birth on dry ground and it has stressed them to be birthing in mud.  This stress in the mothers has led to stress in the babies which has left  babies do not have the strength to recover from the birthing process.

For us, the wetness has caused some unusual circumstances to arise. In one instance,  a red cow and a black cow had their calves within 30 feet of each other.  One of the calves fell into deep water and drowned , so both cows were trying to claim the one living calf.  In that case, we had to bring in the herd, sort out the two cows and the calf and watch.  The calf followed both mothers around.  It seemed to be more attached to the black cow, the black cow had a better bad and was more assertive that it was her calf. Even though we were pretty certain that the red cow was the mother of the calf, the black cow had a better bag, so we sent the calf back to the meadow with the black cow.  We've had to assist two cows in giving birth which means bringing the cows from the meadow to the corrals, putting them into the chute, reaching inside to adjust the calf so that it is in the proper position ( front hooves first with head between like a person diving into a pool) and then if necessary attaching chains to the front feet to gently pull the calf in time with the mother cows contractions.  In one instance, the calf survived and in the other instance, the calf did not make it.

The cats, Trouble and Mischief, wait for winter to end.

Since I wrote  that first part of the blog, a week has passed.  In that time, we have had one day of blizzard with another foot of snow, plus a few inches of new snow overnight except for the last two nights.  The stars have been out. It's amazing what a change it can make.  While there is still snow around the house, 6 inches below the swing set and 3 feet where the snow has slid from the roof, the ground is beginning to dry out where the snow has been plowed away, the grass is beginning to green, and the entire meadow is free from snow with some dry ground.  Things are looking up.  It's a wonder what a little sunshine and dry days will do for a place.  The house cats, instead of being curled up together are sitting in the window sills in the sun wanting to go out, birds are starting to welcome the morning, calves are beginning to have their races on the meadow and there are actually buds beginning to form on the ends of the branches of the lilac bushes.  The weatherman is now a friend rather than an enemy because he's predicting an entire week of dry weather instead of "snow in the high country".  Hopefully, this will hold so that our friends who live 5 miles to the north will reach this stage.  They are still calving in a couple of feet of snow with a foot of water underneath.

Calves show they're happy when being fed by wagging their tails.

As a result of this unusual weather, we have ended up with 5 different bucket calves.  The original was the twin who is promised to the grandchildren on the front range.  The second one was one of the calves we had to help the mother give birth to.  The weather was so bad that we had to bring the calf to the house to warm up and dry off and by the time we were able to return him to his mother, she didn't recognize him as hers and refused to take him; he is going to a friend's house to help teach her grandchildren that caring for animals is rewarding, fun and a serious responsibility.  The third was the one who went to Craig in the previous blog.  The fourth was another twin whose mother refused her.  Sometimes, cattle mothers know when something is wrong with their calves and they refuse them.  In this case, even though we brought her to the house and fed her, she never did thrive and seemed to be blind or would stand against the wall pushing her head into it as hard as she could.  We called the vet and he took her to see if he could bring her around and planned on her being a project for his sons.  She didn't get better so had to humanly put out of her misery.  She was  then used for his 4-H vet group.  They did a necropsy ( what they call an animal autopsy) to see what was causing her to not thrive or survive.  It turned out that she was bleeding in the brain which was causing pain, her strange behavior, and the inability to use her survival instincts.

 The fifth calf was one I had to rescue because his mother decided to have him on a high spot surrounded by deep water.  Because calves are unsteady when they first get up, he fell into the cold deep water.  His mother stood on dry ground and keep nudging him as he tried to get back up, knocking him down again.  I had to drive out in the deep water with the tractor, convince her to not attack me, and because he was a big calf, about 100 pounds, roll him into the bucket of the front end loader on the tractor and speed up to the house to save him.  By the time I got him to the house, he was hypothermic, had breathed in water, and I couldn't carry him to the barn.  A quick call to the neighbors brought three of them over to help me dry with towels, blow dry with the hair dryer, and carry him to the stall in the barn where I had set up heat lamps and straw.  Vigorous toweling got his blood circulating, warm colostrum warmed him up from the inside, and heat lamps, after he was totally dry, heated him up from the outside.

A photo of three of the bucket calves appeared in the local paper with an article about how the extended winter was affecting ranchers.  A ranching friend remembered the photo of the red calf and  when he had a red cow lose her calf, he came over and got him to replace her calf.  He took the hide from the dead calf, tied it onto the red calf and put him in with her.  Cows recognize their calves by smell and since this calf smelled like her calf, she just had the attitude, "Where have you been?"  The rancher did have to retrain the calf.  The calf was 10 days old and had come to recognize the blue bucket as the source of food.  He had to retrain the calf to recognize that the cow's udder was his new source of food.  He had to put the cow in a chute and follow the same process we had  used to train the calf that milk came from a bucket.  It only took the calf a couple of swallows of milk from the cow's udder to decide this was were food now comes from.  I think the milk from the cow must taste better than the powdered milk from the bucket.  Cow and calf are now bonded and life is good.

Jim teaching the calves how to get to the outside pen he has built for them.

The calves discovering grass in  their new outside pen.  They can come and go into the barn as they please.

 
We are quickly coming to an end of calving season, with only two cows left to calve.  Now it's time to think about fencing season!