We've been saying for months that we should start a blog. There are a lot of people who share our lifestyle, live, work and breath the outdoors and ranching, and this group will appreciate our stories. If other couples could have gone back and written similar stories down they would be priceless today. My husband Ryan and I share a work ethic unlike many young couples today. We also tend to have great "discussions" on how cattle should be moved across a pasture, why you don't brand on showside just in case it's a good one and many other differences between a commercial and registered cattle operation. Oh and don't forgot why it's so important not to halter break a bottle fed bull...that you still have 3 years later. We have lots of other hobbies and between work and chasing our kids through their activities there is always something going on. We have a lot of things that we are thankful for and know that we have truly been blessed by what we have been able to do. Thanks a lot in part to many special people in our lives that we can call at any moment and are willing to help.
In the future I will recap several stories that we have, including getting the truck stuck in the snow and putting the parking break on...but today how about counting cattle. This is truly an art and it takes a lot of practice to become good at it. Not to mention accurate. Last night we could say that I was talented!!!! After counting the same line of steers 10 times, I never got the same count, in fact I started coming up with numbers higher than the actual amount of steers we turned out. Why can't they all just stand still and quit moving around?? Good thing Ryan is a pro at counting or we would have been there till dark.
So I have to go ahead with this story. Three years ago I decided we needed bottle calves and that our family would enjoy them...you know buy 6, 2 live, make a hugh profit right!!! Haha. We never intended to actually keep them, but Bubba and Bella turned into nice calves. In fact we thought Bubba was going to be turned into the family beef. After halter breaking Bubba we learned of his true potential. He is awesome I'm talking looked like a miniature Angus bull ready for the show ring. He's not so tall, still growing, but that's just due to him being bottle fed. And Bella on the other hand turned into a very nosy and observant heifer. Needless to say, we still have both of them. Bubba has kept growing, he successfully bred 5 heifers, four of them have calved this spring...and all four are heifers that look just like him. He might be worth a lot to anyone in the replacement heifer industry!! Bella has a calf and she's nosy too, always checking the new calves. Only problem we have is that Bubba is a very big pet and for those that understand that is not good. He especially doesn't like men and seems to have issues with Ryan. Love you honey, but the bull doesn't like you!!! He's been known to butt the truck too. So we've made the decision to start another bull, we've named him Charlie. Still in the growing stage, he's pretty ugly, but we know that he'll make a great replacement for Bubba some day.
As for the other cows in the pasture we have an odd mix of a legendary Registered Brangus Cow, to an ugly commercial cow that throws great bulls, to Bella the bottle fed, to Annie the twin who's smaller than Bella, to several other commercial heifers...and we can't leave out Biscuit and Gravy the Angus/Hereford heifers. Biscuit looks like a Hereford and Gravy is a smokey with a bald face. We're proud of each and every one and each has their own plan for breeding in the future. Also in the pen are a few possible show steer prospects and an ABC heifer who are eating and loving life...until I find time to halter break them.
The newest addition to our family and a gorgeous green John Deere Gator. How did we live without machines like this. No more carrying buckets of feed or odd items to and from the barn and house!!! Tana loves to sit in the seat, thankfully there are seat belts...she goes with me to check on the cows.
Check back again, every day is an adventure around our place and there will be lots of great stories to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment