Little House on the Horizon: Inventory -

Many of us keep inventories, of our lives, pantry, freezer, cattle herd and I’m sure there are other things. A few weekends ago while organizing our shop, I looked at the feed truck and thought ‘what an amazing story to share’, the inventory of a feed truck! It’s a 2001 White Dodge 2500 in immaculate condition, thanks to my husband, Ryan, with a front-end replacement for anything you might need to accidentally run into, and flip-out mirrors because we like them so much on our 2008 model. In the spring of last year we decided to take the plunge and really make this our feed truck.

Previously we put hay out with a 1984 Chevy with a wooden flat bed and a spike and were feeding with a 1985 Ford with a feeder and our fencing supplies. It worked, but it was time to do something different. We decided on a Krogmann squeeze bed, after much research, and have used it for more than just moving hay. Later in the year we purchased a T & S Trip Hopper, painted black with no stickers. There are several other additions including: a high lift jack, sorting stick, axe, working lights for feed bunks, toolboxes with chains and tools, siren, pickin’ strings and two dog snaps. It sounds a bit much, but the truck is complete and will be used for many more years!

One of my 2012 resolutions was to become more organized and I think we are all well on our way. I plan to share on my blog in the near future about how I’m turning a trunk into my home office. In a little over 900 square feet, space is important. A little about us…Ryan and I met in 2006 and after our first few dates included fence repair and roping some of the craziest cattle I had ever seen, we decided we ‘could’ be the perfect pair. I’ve quit pretending…no one is perfect, but it is just plain scary on the things we can accomplish together!

In 2007 we purchased a piece of property, moved our then, small herd of calves and horses, and had two barns built, literally the weekend we got married. Not that we were in a rush to get home, but we couldn’t resist seeing the barns finally finished. From there we began construction in 2008 to finish a portion of the barn into our bunkhouse. Now my daddy is a carpenter and Ryan is a talented electrician and so much more, so we are pretty proud of the way it turned out. Thanksgiving of that year we moved in and in January, Tana made us a family of four, and a little sister to Tate.

Today we have a mixed herd of registered and commercial cattle with an ultimate goal to go registered but on market prices. That is a challenge in itself, but we strive to produce a quality calf, using the cows we have, what we purchase and the heifers we keep back. While Ryan and I both work full-time, the ranch is a chore, and often times it’s all done in the dark. A few weeks ago I wrote about a set of weaned heifers that only saw me in the dark for the first three weeks – they learned to find the feed by flashlight!

Last night I began figuring how many hours a week we are truly at home, between bedtime and on the weekends; it comes out to about 35 hours of available work around the ranch, not including the kids’ activities and an occasional visit to the grocery store. Did I mention date night with the most wonderful husband...wait...do late night trips to check calving heifers count? That means I sit behind a desk more than I cut strings off of hay bales and run cows through a chute. We truly enjoy the sunshine on the weekends to look over each cow and watch the kids play on the hay stacks. Ranch life is what we love and enjoy and we only plan to grow in the future with more land and more cows.

On top of all of that I love blogging about ranching and rural life, and it’s not always easy. I am a fifth-generation rancher and come from a family of amazing cooks, I love trying new recipes. Making jewelry and photography are just a few of my hobbies, with a future pillow project added to the list. I have recently announced my first book to be published ‘Where’s My Cowboy Hat’. It is in the production stages now and will be available for sale online and through me soon, so check back often. But overall when asked what my favorite thing to do is: being in a pen with the family and the cows!

Here are a few pictures of our lives!