ranching

A Brumby

15 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Two weekends ago, a herd of horses came trotting down the road. Most of them are saddle horses belonging to a neighbor. They got the jump on him and found his gate open! And like good saddle horses, they went through it. Those 7 were simply interested in taking a tour of our place and ended up in an empty pasture at a neighboring ranch, about 4 miles away. But among those were two brumbies- also known as Mustangs, or BLM (Bureau of Land Management) horses. One of them is nowhere to be found, the other, well he’s found his way into our mare herd, and that’s not exactly where he belongs. No one is entirely sure where they came from. There are several places around here that run BLM horses, so we’re making phone calls.

I knew he was in our pasture, but hadn’t seen him yet. Yesterday, the hired man found him, so I went to the pasture to verify that yes, it was indeed the brumby.

Here’s the intruder:

He’s definitely colored pretty. A bay roan is always lovely to look at.

Now some of you are wondering, “Why can’t he just stay in your herd?” Or, “Why don’t you want a wild horse in your herd”? I know you are. So here’s the answer:

Our kids, and nieces, have horses out there, and we’d rather not have to try to explain to them, again, how one of their horses is crippled or dead because a wild horse got in there and agitated the herd. Further, we actively cull our own herd to make sure there aren’t any horses around that are non-disposed to be near people naturally. There are enough natural deaths, and other injuries our horses can come up with on their own without having something new and “wild” in there with them to upset the general balance of the herd. Zach’s daughter has some of the worst luck with horses. Two years ago she lost 2 of them to natural causes and a foal to a hyena mare. If you’d like an explanation of a “hyena” mare just ask in the comments section and you shall receive. I aim to please, after all.

When we were out looking at the horse herd, they weren’t peacefully grazing away- they were worried about keeping this horse out of their personal space, and as such the brumby and our horses were having a “discussion” as to where he fits in. He is, after all just a horse, and only wants to be part of a “herd”. He didn’t seem too bothered by us being around, so we’ll try to get him in and corralled and get him back where he belongs. In the meantime, I can take advantage of the opportunity to photograph such a rugged looking subject!

I slacked this week in the blogging department because, well, I had ranching to do, but lucky for y’all it’s a snow day here! So I’m going to get everything done that I need to get done inside, and that means that I’ll have plenty of time to say what I need to say and show what I’ve got stored up.

Happy Friday and Happy Trails!

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Filed Under: horses, ranching

The Good, The Fun and The Ugly

12 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Note: this blog post includes death, so if you’re faint of heart and don’t want to read about it- stop here.

Real life on the ranch, can be so bittersweet. Things don’t always go as planned. It’s the ups and downs of ranching or farming or any sort of animal agriculture.

Yesterday started out as any normal spring day- we needed to get our cows moved to a “fresh” pasture. I had planned, initially, to ride a colt out to do this- then I was told that I might need to go to town, so I grabbed old faithful (Gump) instead, thinking I’d need to be able to hurry the process along, or leave the job early.

Here’s some of the boys saying “Hi”, yesterday.

From L-R: Gump, his little brothers Festus, and Dino, Banjo and Dozer.

We made it to the pasture and got our cows started moving. Then we came across this:

Poor Mama. She had just delivered a very big, very red, and very dead calf. She was proud of it nonetheless and had it licked dry and was loving it to get up. Poor girl- she just had no idea it wasn’t gonna get up. By the time we finished our job for the afternoon, she’d laid down beside it and was waiting for it to wake up. Yes, this breaks my heart, but it happens. We left her there, because there was no point trying to move her yesterday. Wednesday maybe, but yesterday, No.

Then I moved a playful group of first calf heifers and some late calving cows:

As we rode along I managed to startle this little guy:

He was certain that either I or Gump were his mama. He tagged along, closer than I’d have preferred, to my horse for a little while:

Sadly for him, no mama came to claim him and when we went across a creek, he just gave up trying to cross, climbed up a hill and went to sleep. No worries, though folks. Mother nature has a way of working these things out. His mama will find him. I promise. There is no stronger bond on the planet than that of a mother and her baby.

After we lost our cute tag-along, we crossed our final creek to make our last push for the other pasture. When we got to it, the cows all bailed in- to mud up to their knees. Several of the little guys didn’t think they could make it. I had ridden up the creek and over to a little peninsula to keep anything from going the wrong direction. As I sat there, I watched our hired man help these little calves across. Several of them had mamas that stood on the other side encouraging their little ones to just come- they could do it. But one mama cow, she left her baby there and the hired man was not in the proper equipment to wade into calf deep mud. So since I was donning my very stylish, always practical muck boots, I volunteered to help a very, hefty heifer across the creek. He held Gump for me. Initially I just thought I’d pick the little girl up. But seriously, she was 85 lbs of pure muscle and I’m an out of shape girl, so I promptly fell back down. I decided I’d aim her for a section of creek where it wasn’t quite as muddy. She was certain she couldn’t make it, as at one time, she just sat down to catch her breath- which I must say was nice, because I was out of breath too by then. After a few more urgings and helping her through the mud, she made it to the other side, just in time to meet her mama who’d come back over the hill after her, once she realized she’d not made it across.

Burt ponied my horse across the creek, and I stood in the stirrup just in time for Gump to swat at one of the few flies that’s around right now, and he managed to cover me in mud from his tail!

It ended up being a good thing I didn’t ride a soft colt through the mud and the muck and the day- we covered probably 15 miles and while my horse was still relatively fresh at the end of the day I wasn’t.

Oh well, such is the life of a cowgirl.

I will have the contest results done tomorrow. I promise. In the meantime, I’ve got fence to fix and colts to ride.

Happy Trails!

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Filed Under: horses, ranching

The View From Here

8 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

I snapped these last week as I was riding through the pasture on my handsome horse, Gump. We were checking for new calves and generally enjoying ourselves.

Pardon the quality- I took them with my cell phone.

I don’t know about the rest of you but we have a busy weekend planned- I’ll be back on Monday with lots of photos of a fun event! What do you have planned for your weekend?

Happy Trails!

P.S. Don’t forget that today is the last day to enter the contest! You can only enter until noon, and the person with the most entries gets something extra special!

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Filed Under: contests, ranching

Fixing a Water Gap

6 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

I have mentioned before that with all the snow we’ve had, we were going to have a lot of fence to fix. That wasn’t an understatement really. We got started with some of it yesterday. As we were checking for new calves yesterday we did a double-take where we thought they were getting out and sure enough, the fence is down. Water gaps are notorious for washing out because by very nature, water runs through there, snow melts, the ground freezes and thaws-freezes and thaws, and fence posts, well they just have trouble staying put.

The following photos are what we found, and how we fixed it. It’s a temporary fix for now, seeing as how it’s too muddy and wet to really fix it, but since there’s water in the bottom of the creek, we won’t have to worry too much about cows getting down in there and heading South!

I took all of these with my cell phone, so please pardon the quality.

Here is the culprit:

Here’s Parker Creek:

Looking up at the washed out post:

What we did was put in a t-post next to the wood post. The fence was then wired (#9-wire is our friend) to the new t-post.

After we put in the first post, we decided we’d add a post on each side to further hold the wood post in place.

We ran barb-wire from the new t-post to the t-post next to the wood post.

And it got tightened by putting the wire pliers or plammers between each strand of wire and twisting.

Until it dries out this should keep the cows where they belong. When it gets dry we’ll probably do some more work on this gap.

Happy Trails!

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Filed Under: ranching

Coveralls, A Camisole and Calving

1 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to share this story with y’all. It’s a perfect example of ranch life and a perfect example of how every day is different. It’s also sad, but so is this life we live. Mother Nature, while she can have a sense of humor, can be cruel and unusual and often just plain rotten.

It was like any other winter day had been- cold, about 10 degrees, and snow was wafting around. I can’t say it was “snowing” per say, because if it were snowing, we’d not be able to see our hand in front of our faces! But there were snowflakes falling from the sky.

It was late afternoon and I had just sat down to eat a big bowl of nachos when the phone rang. I was asked to run to Granny’s and grab the chains and calf puller. So I dropped what I was doing, put on my coveralls (over my pj pants, of course), shoved my feet into some muck boots and headed out the door pulling a jacket and skull cap on in my haste.

I ran to Granny’s, she handed me the chains, and cruised to the barn to grab the calf puller. As I pulled into the saddle horse trap, I could see Jewel- my bottle baby from two summers ago, off by herself. She’d be a first calf heifer- which is a two year old heifer, calving for the first time. Heifers are often in need of help when they calve the first time, because they don’t know what’s happening. If you’ve ever witnessed a dog or cat give birth for the first time, they often act surprised and don’t know what to do.

Bud called me on the phone and asked that I please wait outside the gate, as he wanted to get done feeding hay so the cows would leave us be while we pulled Jewel’s calf.

About 5 minutes later he was done, so I headed in.

She was having a calf alright. But he was coming out backwards. That’s never good a sign. So Bud starts shucking layers down to his t-shirt and cap; meantime, I get on the phone with his dad, asking him how he needed to move the calf to help it get born. Up until now, Wayne Leo, another one of the four DX brothers, had done the majority of the calving, and if he needed help Zach was around. Well, Zach and Wayne Leo are working in town now, so that leaves Bud and myself to do this. As I’m getting instructions from Big Wayne to relay to Bud, he says “I’m gonna need your help”. My first thought was, “awesome. I’ve always wanted to do something like this!” And then I thought, “oh not so much-in this weather though!” So off goes my coat, and my sweatshirt, leaving me in Carhartt bib coveralls, and a camisole. Yes, that’s it folks. The plus side is it’s warm inside a cow! I’m not going to paint a more specific picture for you folks. Some of you don’t want those details, I’m sure.

I dive in and push the little guy forward while Bud tries to get one of his fingers between a toe. Since the calf was being born backward, feet first, there’s a proper way to get it it arranged to be pulled. We managed to get it arranged, and Bud gets the toe, is able to maneuver the foot and we pull it out. But it’s too late. It’s still-born.

Both of us think we’re done, so we head to the house to clean up; I phone Zach and ask him about her, and he says that since she didn’t get up, to head back out with some cake and hay and watch her for a bit. I get back out there and what do you know, she’s having another calf. Luckily for me, Bud headed back out about 5 minutes after I did to check on her and we pulled a second calf. This one was coming out right, but was still-born also. Next time, we’ll automatically check for twins. Sometimes you learn lessons the hard way.

You always feel bad when this happens- especially to a heifer. It’s so much work for them, and then to have it end poorly makes no one happy. Furthermore, since she won’t be having a calf by her side this year, she’ll have to go to town, so we don’t waste grass feeding something that is unproductive. That or we’ll eat her. Some of you just gasped, I know. But that is what we do- and it is the way of things.

So there you have it folks. Calving in 10 degrees in Carhartts, and a camisole. Only something a cowgirl could pull off! And this is not an April Fools’ post, though I know today is just that.

Happy Trails, Happy Friday and if you’re calving, well, Happy Calving!

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Filed Under: ranching, winter weather

Cowgirl’n

30 Mar posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

It’s the time of year every rancher loves- calving! Okay, Okay. Maybe not every rancher. Because frankly, if you’ve watched Animal Planet’s, Last American Cowboy, you’ll see so much drama, that you might wonder who could look forward to that? Trust me, you do, because as I’ve said before, there’s only one pay-day a year for a rancher. And when the calves start coming you get all excited. Okay. So I get all excited. I love to see the babies. I love to see their mama’s nuzzle them, and I love to see their faces covered in milk. I promise to try and capture some of this for your viewing pleasure- though you’re forewarned, I will not be publishing every photo I take. I have to save something “new” for my upcoming book. Speaking of that…wait…I shouldn’t digress this far from my point.

Where was I?

Oh, calving. We have a few calves rolling in here now, though the majority of the herd won’t start calving until April 15th. We had a few rascally bulls escape early, and as such as we’ve got about 27 new calves on the ground, so far. The fun part of being a cowgirl is just getting started! Tuesday I rode through the pasture with our hired man to check the cows. We found 3 new babies! Today, I rode through the cows by myself and found 6 new calves. It hasn’t been exactly the ideal riding weather either, I must admit. Yesterday it was gray and windy. It made it to about 30 degrees but with the sun hidden away, and snow all over the ground, and a lovely south wind it was anything but pleasant. Today it wasn’t much better. In fact, I was about halfway through the herd when it began to snow. Big, floating, flakes fell from the sky for about 30 minutes of my ride. Honestly I didn’t mind. It’s just something that you have to do, and for some reason, when there’s a job to do there’s less “fair-weather” and more “get’er done” with this cowgirl.

Gump didn’t seem to mind either.

And as luck would have it- because I’m so unlucky when it comes to capturing a couple creatures that continually evade me- I saw two coyotes playing in the snow on my way to the pasture, and I saw a golden eagle. I was about 400 yards away from him, and I could see him sitting on the ground. He noticed me watching and he got up and flew- round and round he went. Close enough that if i’d have had my 300mm lens you could have seen him up, close and personal. Sometimes, I believe the bird, he loves to toy with me. Four times this year I’ve had the chance to shoot that massive creature, two of which the camera has been on my person and I’ve missed the shot. Two of which it’s not been. Until you’ve seen one fly like that you really cannot begin to understand how magnificent it is in person. One word- Beautiful. I knew he was near, because earlier that day I’d heard him crying but couldn’t see him due to the clouds and foggy sky. But then I spotted him flying around, and sure enough when we finally made it over there, he was still in that place. It’s times like today when I am so thankful to be doing what I do and living where I live.

Some of you probably asked yourself, “Why was Jenn not carrying her camera?”

Well for one, it was supposed to snow/rain on me today. But for two, I’ve got a cell phone, a notebook, notes, a pen, gloves and generally a lot of stuff on my person. I do promise to try to take some when the weather clears up and someone else is with me to do the cipherin’.

As it is, I snapped a few photos of my “view”- the best seat in the house, if you ask me!

And yes, you Texas folks, it’s almost April and there’s snow on the ground, and in my horse’s mane. This might help you appreciate the 90 that’s forecasted for your weekend.

And yes, we rode right across, and through, that snow bank in front of us (it was one of many). Gump surely earned his oats today!

Happy Trails and Happy Cowgirl’n!

P.S. I promise to share a story about calving, Carhartts, camisoles and snow later this week!

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Filed Under: cowgirls, ranching, spring

Spring is in the Air

4 Mar posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Despite the fact that we awoke to 9 degrees this morning, yesterday afternoon was cause for celebration. You see, one of our two nanny goats, that we keep around for no reason other than entertainment and weed control, had her kids. There is nothing, NOTHING, I tell you as cute as baby goats. They are by far one of the cutest babies on God’s planet. And without exception, animals always cease to amaze me.

I got a text from Bud, that there was one baby goat, then another that said make that two, so I immediately dropped what I was doing, grabbed my camera (of course) and headed to the corrals to find them. One hundred and forty-seven photos later (freak much?) I had chronicled the first few moments of their life and managed to catch a coming yearling heifer honing her mother skills as well. You see, #192 was just certain she needed to help mother these babies, by drying them off. Her tongue of course is just nearly as big as they are, and since they were so wobbly, she would push them around and knock them down, all the while licking and loving on them. She had the best intentions and it was so sweet to witness it.

The easiest way for you to see the photos, all 57 that I chose to show y’all, was in a slideshow. So as usual, click on the first one and scroll through to see the story unfold. I love ranch life, babies, spring and all that goes along with it. I am so fortunate to get to do what I do and live where I live.

[flickrset id="72157626066780361" thumbnail="square" overlay="true" size="medium"]

As an aside, there should be another set of goat kids still to come this spring. I just hope that nanny waits until I get back from Texas. And one of my 3 mares should foal any moment. And her, I hope she does it before I leave!

Have you ever witnessed the miracle of birth (and I’m not talking human here – though that is a miracle)? And if so, what was your feeling in witnessing that miracle?

Happy Weekend and Happy Trails!

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Filed Under: pets, ranching

Unwrapping Round Bales- A Vlog

3 Feb posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Hey y’all! Just thought I’d show you how I unwrap a bale. I mentioned it here the other day in case you missed it.

I probably understated the amount of time it takes me to pull it off- but seriously, the boys have said doing it this way is much faster than cutting it off.

One other thing you don’t see above, is that when I get to the final over-lap, I stop and go the opposite direction the bale is wrapped, and try to pull from bottom to top, that way the bottom comes off first, and the top stays on longest so I don’t get hay all over myself.

Now, just picture me doing that 10-35 times in a day, and you’ve got a pretty good idea how I’m spending some of my time!

Happy Trails!

P.S. BONUS! Here’s a couple photos I snapped with my cool phone whilst I was on the way to unwrap bales:

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Filed Under: horses, ranching, winter weather

Calling the Cows to Cake

3 Feb posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Here’s a short video I made yesterday of us calling our cows to the cake truck. I love how they all mill around and sniff at me. And I like that the horses will put their heads in the pickup window (sadly that didn’t make it on to the film). There’s nothing in this world as rewarding as caring for your animals on a cold winter’s day. They’re always glad to see you. It was about -7 when we headed out to do this at 1:30pm.

Happy Trails!

As a bonus- here’s some photos that I took with my phone yesterday. I couldn’t use the big camera as it and that kind of cold just don’t get along.

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Filed Under: ranching, winter weather

A Day in My Life- Vlog

28 Jan posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Life on the ranch always changes. It changes with the seasons. It changes insomuch as how we decide to do things. And how we decide to do things changes as we learn more, and have the need to do something different. In the world of ranching and agriculture, you can’t be rigid. You’ve got to do what’s best for your animals and the land at all times. We’ve seen what’s called “bale grazing” used and we thought this week would be a good chance to see if it doesn’t make for happier cows. I am the first to tell you that so far it’s been awesome.

Sunday, 23 January 2011

I took this video Sunday Morning when Zach and I did chores around the house. This video is about 7 minutes long, but you get to see how much snow there is, and kinda how things look in winter around here, and what’s required to do chores.

I also took a few photos of the cows this morning while I was unwrapping bales:

If this cow looks familiar, it’s because she is Oreo’s daughter. Oreo belongs to Zach’s beautiful daughter, Kelsey. I think she thought I had cake with me or something!