Friday brought us a little bit of excitement! We preg tested our cows! The weather was so weird. The day started out to be sunny, cool and crisp, when Emry got on the bus I thought to myself how crazy the weatherman was for forecasting rain for the day, until I turned on the news and saw that it was actually snowing in Calgary! Jared helped Dave with the finishing touches on the waterer for the cows before we headed over to Buck's to sort the cows from the calves and then preg test them. By the time we got to Buck's it had indeed started to snow, not a lot, and it wasn't really that cold, just a bit of a nuisance. It only took us 45 minutes to sort the cows and then we waited for the vet to come! Finally, after being 45 minutes late he arrived! Jared ran the shoot and sprayed the cows with a type of Ivomec (a de-licer!), I got to record which were bred and which were open, Arren called out the numbers, Buck and John moved the cows into the shoot, and the vet had the privilege to stick his arm up the cows bum to see if the cow was indeed pregnant, that is after he cleaned the poop out of the way! I am so grateful we use more humane methods to determine if we are pregnant or not! We had a great time and really enjoyed the experience! Since we only have 57 cows and 19 of them were open we will be retesting those considered open in about a month, the bulls were taken out a month later than usual so there is a high chance that the majority of those open will actually be pregnant, it was just too early to tell!
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| What's going through Jared's head?-"At times like this I am thankful I am not a vet!?" |
After the preg testing was done, Buck, Jared and John loaded up two stock trailers at a time and hauled them over to our farm! It took 8 loads of going back and forth, so I guess that would be 4 trips, but in the end was well worth it! I don't know what it is about having animals at a farm, but now it really feels like a farm to me! Maybe because we help out a little more than we ever have with seeding or harvest. The kids and I have gone out with Jared a couple times already to "help" feed the cows. We actually just stand guard at the gate while Jared goes in and out with the bales. Calum loves to ride the tractor and literally pulls Jared by the finger and tells him to go while pointing with his other hand to the tractor. A real farm boy, and not a bit afraid of the cows! He trots around the corals like he is in charge and those cows better watch out! When Jared fed the cows tonight Emry was his little helper, she too is a farm girl through and through! And she loves being her Daddy's little side kick! I am so grateful that we can raise them on the farm, things seem so much more carefree, there isn't the constant complaining that they are bored, there is always something to do, if not inside, then for sure outside! And what a wonderful opportunity for them to take care of the cows and see the results when they are well cared for! When Emry and I were giving Charlie his milk last night she said quite seriously and with a little bit of sadness to her voice that she doesn't want to sell Charlie, she wants to eat him so that he will always be a part of us! She definitely isn't naive about where the meat we eat comes from, especially since her dad has always told her exactly what the meat is that we are eating. When we would have steak for supper, she would for quite awhile correct us saying it wasn't steak, its cow!
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| Martin and Gibson were in seventh heaven when the cows stepped off the trailer! |
Another thing that goes along with having the cows here at home is feeding them! Jared and his dad were able to take the sides off one of the grain trucks so he could haul the bales from the sandy land 3-4 miles south of the home quarter back home where the cows will stay for the winter! The truck can carry 7 bales at a time, so Jared figured it would take 74 trips to get them all home! On Saturday Jared spent the afternoon hauling bales, he was able to bring 4 loads home and a fifth loaded and ready before he had to bring the tractor home to feed the cows. The four loads will last the cows 8 days, so guess what Jared will be doing next saturday :) or should I put :( ?! The handy thing about David's grain truck is with the hydraulic lift Jared can just simply slide the bales off the truck, instead of having to have someone else bring the tractor back with each load to unload the truck! It has been fun, and I am sure once things get going and the rest of the perimeter fence is up and the cows are out in the field, life will slow down a little. Well, except for the fact that Jared will be back to working on our house! The silver lining there however, we are probably going to have Adam, a friend and excellent mudder, painter, and finisher of houses, do the rest of the inside work on our house! My fingers are double crossed that his price is right, Jared hides his stress well, but one more thing added to the list may just make him crack! I guess it is official, we are ranchers! One thing is for sure though, you will still never catch Jared wearing wranglers, a cowboy hat or cowboy boots! He is a cowboy on the inside, a cowboy at heart, just one who dresses much better!
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| Who knew this could actually be done so smoothly! |
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