Arriving Home

Otoelene was no problem to unload and of course Emma, 

 the official greeter, was there doing her job.

 It didn't take long for the other horses to notice something new happening.

 They were all very curious about the new addition.

However,  Otoelene didn't seem to get too worked up over anything.

J is dreaming of all the things he'll teach her to do.

Introducing...

Otoelene

  J decided to get the palomino filly we looked at the other day.  The fact that her name rhymes with several of my family members middle names is shear coincidence. 

 She has only had a halter on 3 times so we thought it might be interesting getting her home.  We decided to try the livestock trailer instead of the horse trailer since it was more open and we could haul her loose in the front section.

"That's too high, I won't, I won't."
So, OK we moved the trailer a bit too make the step smaller.

  "I won't, I won't."
OK, since this is your first time we'll move the trailer so there is no step.

 "I won't, I won't."

 "You will, you will."

 And she did.

Now see, that wasn't as bad as you thought.

"That's what you think."

The Yak

We have a fall calf that has never been quite right.  She was born small and failed to thrive.  J eventually weaned her and brought her to the barn to feed her special.

 She was 2 months old when J weaned her.  She has had all the feed she can eat.

She is now 5 months old and just slightly larger than a big dog.  J thinks with her long hair that she looks like a yak.  I think we need to advertise her as a miniature Angus and sell her for $2000.

Junk Day Again

For saying we didn't have much junk we sure seem to be cleaning up a lot of it.

 We had these pens built a couple of years ago on a farm we bought just up the road.

 The only problem was the old pens were constructed using a lot of odds and ends.  There was an entire side made of old tin.  We thought we might tackle this pile today.

 First, we loaded up the tin to make yet another trip to the green box.

 We then pulled nails out of the easier pieces so J could saw the wood up to burn in the outdoor wood stove. At least we'll get a little heat out of it.

This farm has several very old/cheap sheds.  This one collapsed a couple of months ago.  I'm not looking forward to cleaning it up.

Just Looking

J thinks he wants to train his own horse so he has been toying with the idea of getting a yearling to break.  We went to a farm today that had 8 weanlings all out of the same stallion.  The stallion is a creamello  quarter horse and is Otoe line bred .  In addition to the weanlings they have several 2 and 3 year olds out of the same stallion and mares.  They are all amazingly straight legged and have calm dispositions. 

 This was a cute colt out of a grey mare.

This was a very well muscled and structurally correct colt.

And we  liked this filly which I think is a registered paint.  We watched her move in the round pen,
We have also been looking at a very nice solid black paint filly that has a wonderful disposition.   Decisions, decisions.

Horse Judging

I took the girls the the Block and Bridle Horse Judging Contest at Tech yesterday. E was sick with a fever but competed anyway. V decided she didn't really care this year so she didn't over analyse the classes.

It was the biggest contest B&B has had for several years. The arena was large enough that they were able to run 2 halter classes at a time. This allowed the kids to spread out more so they could see the horses better.That's E across the ring in the orange sweatshirt. The weather wasn't bitter cold this year and they also had better horses than last year.
Katlyn (middle) competed as a Jr. and V and E were seniors. I never could find anyone else that would go to make a team which is a shame considering how well they did. E didn't place but her scores minus reasons were only 5 points behind V's. V was High individual in Performance, 8th in Reasons, 9th in Halter and 5th overall. I guess it pays to not over think. I hope I can find some else to make a team before the state contest in April. I just don't understand kids not wanting to take advantage of all of the opportunities around them.

Junk Day

No matter how clean we think our farm is junk still seams to happen. The weather was nice today and J had a little extra time so he decided to make a trip to the dump.

First up was a gate J didn't even want to repair again.
Then a couple of other gates needed to be moved.
We finally got an old round bale feeder loaded and I saw an old culvert that could go.
That pretty much topped off the green box.

Happy Valentine's Day

V's plate of cookies for her boyfriend. (we got the scrapes)

As Promised

When setting up the portable cattle panels yesterday, J originally secured them to a post with the ever present baling twine.

Well, apparently that wasn't strong enough for the first try and the heifers were able to break the twine and push down the panel.
Next came the cotton rope with the same results, although it did last long enough to get the first group loaded.
J wasn't taking any chances with the second load and brought a chain to do the job.
We had to bring a chain because the chain he usually has in the truck was already securing a different gate. He doesn't like to underestimate the ability of cattle to get through a closed gate.

Coming Home

J hauled 2 loads of bred heifers home yesterday. He wanted to get them while the ground was still frozen. At 12 degrees that wasn't much of a problem.

They have been at his dad's house since this summer.

They should start calving sometime in March so J wanted them back at home.
There's a small set of pens but no loading chute so J makes due with his portable cattle panels. (more pictures on that tomorrow, aren't you excited) This set up gets the ok (or something I'm not sure what) sign.
The heifers are a little suspicious of the trailer.
But with a little encouragement and a few choice words, J got them loaded.
Of course, when they get home Emma has to greet them all.
Then she sees them off to their new pasture.

Basketball

E's basketball season is over. The team had a losing season but did manage to end with a win.

E played the whole game and was very instrumental in the win.
She had made 3 free throws and 2 other points then was fouled with 16 seconds left and the score tied at 38-38. She sunk both shots, cool as a cucumber. Then someone fouled the other team and they only made one shot and time ran out. E said no one acknowledges the winning point if it's a free throw, they only notice half court shots at the buzzer. (she also says this was not her choice of socks)

Looks like track season will be next.

Dead Truck

Coming back from the farm up the road we found a stalled truck in front of our driveway. Of course it wouldn't be polite to just drive past so we asked if they needed help.

As it turned out, he was trying to pull out onto the main road when his truck died. We had jumper cables so J tried jump starting the truck with no luck.
Next, J hooked a chain to the truck and towed it up the hill so the driver could roll start the truck. Fortunately, that worked. When we got back to our driveway the other truck was gone. Sometimes it's good to drive a tool box.