When Things Go Good!

Calving season is fully underway. I know it is dry and the temperatures are abnormally warm and I really should be concerned about the pattern we seem to be slipping into but it is really tough. I could really get used to checking and tagging calves without the need to wear coveralls and mud boots. All of the poor hay we had set aside to unroll for bedding is, so far, going unused. I know this can, and probably will change by the time you read this. If it does, I am sorry.

Sunday was one of those days you know you will pay for somewhere down the road. Sure it was a little windy but it was sunny, dry and warm. The kids and I were supposed to help with a pancake feed for our 4-H club because of this we left before chores were done. Jennifer was going to finish chores around the barnyard, check the cows at our place and go help Dad tag new calves before she had to leave to help with an FFA Alumni fundraiser. Sunday mornings are hectic but this one promised to be even more so.

Jennifer called to tell me chores were done and we had two new calves at our house and she was going to help Dad tag four new calves at his house. Six new calves is a pretty productive day this early in the calving season for us, and it was a nice day to boot. Shortly after arriving we found out we were double booked to help so the kids and I headed home to tag calves.

Isaac and I fired up the feed truck and made our way out into the pasture looking for one big black cow and one big baldy cow. Just a few yards into the gate we found the big black cow and her big bull calf. With all of the quickness and agility of a teenager, Isaac easily caught the calf and in no time we had him tagged and ready for release. One down, half way done, or so we thought.

As we admired our handy work, we noticed another black cow, slightly smaller with a slightly smaller calf just a few yards away. Quickly we loaded made another tag and eased our way over to the next calf. It was a nice heifer calf and again we easily caught it and worked it while the mother watched us with a skeptical eye. There was really no way this cow could have been mistaken for a baldy so there must be another calf here. We gathered things up and got back into the pickup.

We did not drive another twenty five yards before we found a brockle faced cow with a big brockle faced calf. Maybe this was the big baldy, but it didn’t seem to fit either. We loaded up once again and carefully made our way to the cow and calf. Again capturing the calf was not difficult and the mama seemed ok with us tagging and checking her baby. It was a bull calf. The sun was shining, all seemed right with the world.

We collected all of our equipment again and returned to the pickup just about a hundred yards from the gate. We were still in search of the elusive big baldy cow. We picked our way through the other cows and older calves sunning themselves. Just twenty yard into our drive we spotted her. There stood the big baldy cow with a pretty little baldy calf, kind of a smaller version. This had to be the second calf Jennifer had told us about.

Isaac and I were more coordinated in our capture effort; after all we were much more practiced up. We easily captured the fourth calf and quickly gave it a brand new tag to match her mama’s. We stepped back and admired our work. Four new calves all less than a hundred yards apart, tagged, banded and vaccinated all in less than fifteen minutes. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Jennifer called to tell us that she and Dad had their four calves tagged and she did not seem to feel any remorse about her miscount on the calves. Dad was only fifteen minutes late to church and we continued on with our preparations for the FFA Alumni fundraiser.

I know I am setting myself up for one of those days it is blowing, raining and cold. Nothing goes right and we can’t find the calves. But for one shining moment it was nice to take a step back and enjoy the moment. Content cows, healthy new calves and sunshine, I could get used to this.

Calving Standard Time

We are neck deep into calving season right now and it is one of my favorite times of the year, going out each morning and looking for new calves is kind of like Christmas and Easter all rolled into one. Looking for the calves is just like hunting for Easter eggs and finding out what they look like is like opening Christmas presents. My only hope is that tagging them doesn’t end up like the Fourth of July with fireworks.

Calving season does have its own little quirks like not jinxing yourself by washing your chore clothes. If you do happen to wash them, you will be guaranteed to have some malady or catastrophe befall you and the next bovine you are working with. Most often those maladies and catastrophes involve yellow sticky calf poop or amniotic fluid. That is why I try to never wash mine during calving season, I prefer to stand my coveralls up in the corner and whistle to them to come to me each morning.

However, the quirkiest of all of the quirks during calving season is a little phenomenon I like to call calving standard time. I would guess that all of my fellow cattlemen know what I am talking about. It is that period of time during calving season that you lose all sense of what hour of the day or even what day of the week it is. Scheduling anything during this time of the year is speculative at best and downright fraudulent most of the time.

Each morning I try to walk out the door as soon as it is light enough to see. What time of the day is this? Well, it is a moving target most days between the days getting longer and the difference between cloudy and clear skies. I must also admit that there are those mornings that it is just a little harder to get going and the start might be delayed by another cup of coffee. Those mornings are few and far between because you usually pay for that delay somewhere down the line.

Once you are off and going the agenda for the day is often a blank piece of paper. Who knows when chores will be done and you will arrive back in the yard. Some days chores are done around 10:00 and you are free to accomplish one of the many things on the ever growing list of jobs that need to get done. I often find myself saying, “I’ll get it done after chores some morning.” I think that is just my code for, “I will get it done after calving season.” Then there are those mornings when you pull back into the barnyard look at the clock on the pickup and ask, “Is that the right time, is it really noon?”

The days you finish morning chores just in time to start evening chores are when you truly know that you have fallen into the Bermuda triangle known as calving standard time. Those are the days when you fall into the easy chair in the evening and realize that you accomplished nothing more than tending to the cow maternity ward that day. Often those days give you a rewarding feeling, moving from one new calf right to the next one. I like those days, but in the back of your mind you know that there are other days that will not be so great.

Most often those not-so-great days involve bad weather. Nothing can put the whammy on time like snow, mud, wind and cold, especially when they hit at the same time. Often those days are spent like a MASH triage, running from one disaster to the next. Those are the days when you fall into the easy chair and wonder why you didn’t pick an easier occupation like crash test dummy. Either way, after a couple of those days, you start to lose track of the day of the week. Do we go to church tomorrow? I think we just went two days ago, but that would have been Tuesday. Right?

Calving standard time has physical side effects too. Often I develop a rumpled, disheveled look complete with longer-than-usual hair and a beard. I have been asked do you grow the beard for protection from the elements. Nope, I grow the beard because I forgot to shave after the second day of calving season and I will shave after chores are done. I like to think of it as the wild rugged look, but my family tells me I look like I am living in a refrigerator box under an overpass.

Just like all of the other seasons, calving standard time will end and become a distant memory. I will once again be able to schedule doctor’s appointments, agree to meeting dates and times and maybe start to whittle down the list of things I am going to do when chores are done. Well, that is until we start the period known as daylight planting time.

What My Wife Does on Spring Break

Yesterday was the first day of spring break for my wife, Jennifer, and our kids. It was not a very nice day. The day started off wet, drizzly and cold then went down-hill from there. We are still calving and the mud and rain have added to the difficulty. Each morning and night we walk out and check the cows for new calves, a process that usually takes 30 minutes at the most.

So back to yesterday, I had a meeting and this left Jennifer alone to do all the chores and check the calves by herself. She put her coveralls, mud boots and heavy coat on and made her way out to insure the safety of all our cows and calves.

The day before cow number 37 had a big bull calf and we always like to make sure the newest calves are doing OK. As Jennifer made her way through the herd, she noticed that 37 was walking around bawling for her calf. I am sure that searching for a missing calf in the rain was about the last thing my wife wanted to do on her first day of spring break. However, in ranching it is not about what we want when it comes to the care of our cattle.

For the next 30 minutes she searched the pasture, getting wetter and colder with each passing moment. Finally she located the calf about 20 feet on the wrong side of the fence. Moving in carefully and making sure not to scare the calf and have it run in the wrong direction Jennifer caught the calf. Then she eased the calf through the fence and then followed it until it made a happy reunion with its mother.

Jennifer then headed back to the house about an hour and a half later, wet, cold and sure that she had just saved a calf. This is nothing extraordinary in the life of a rancher, it is just something we do. Farmers and ranchers are caretakers of the animals they raise. Our animals safety and care come first no matter what our other plans are. The animals come before vacations, house work, and even personal comfort, its just what we do.

Times like this is when I wonder where the supposed animal rights groups are. They claim to have the best interest of animals at heart, but the truth is something else. They have the best interest of their bank accounts in mind. The real animal caretakers are ranchers like my wife, who spend most of their days taking care of them.

Calving Season

Calving season started today with two brand new baby calves. Calving season is one of my favorite times of the year. Sure it is stressful worrying about the weather, calves and cows but it is something I wish all of you could experience.

Each morning and evening we go out and drive among the cows looking for new calves. There is nothing prettier than coming up on a momma cow licking her newborn calf. I don't know how to explain it but it is kind of like finding Easter eggs and opening Christmas presents all at one time.

We count each cow in the herd and when we come up one or two short, a search of the pasture is started. Usually the missing cow is found somewhere in the pasture out of the wind. Often the calf is wobbly and hopefully eating its first meal. It is amazing just how fast a newborn calf gets up a starts moving, often within minutes.

We then gently catch the calf and give it two eartags that identify its mother. We also give them two shots to protect them against illness in their first 48 hours of life until they get natural immunity from their mother's milk.

We then let them go and often the mother and baby wonder off. Many times the cow is mowing softly to her calf while it wobbles along behind her. This does not even begin to describe the experience, it is one that I wish each of you could experience. Just part of the cycle of life on ranches all across the United States and part of the process that brings beef to your table.