Draper's First Ride

It wasn't much because she is still sort of small and there is no need to pressure or hurry her along.  But she is just so calm and accepting of everything.  So, I decided to just hop on her bareback and walk around a little to get her use to the idea.  Sorry for the focus problem, I was filming myself and didn't notice until I played it back, ack!

Then, because the weather was nice, little wind and in the 40's, and Otoelene had new shoes, I decided to ride her around the farm. 

 Where the ground has been frozen then thawed on top, the footing was pretty slippery, but we just walked for the most part.

 Otoelene always seems to enjoy visiting the cows,  especially if I let her move them around some.

 We were casting long shadows so it was time to head back. 

Good thing I went yesterday, because this is how it looks this morning.

Flu Vac Equivalent

We are getting our calves ready to send to the feedlot in a couple of weeks.  It's like sending your kids to kindergarten, they have to be up to date on all of their shots.  With cattle, respiratory infections are the usual problem.  So we used a 5 way respiratory vaccine and a pasturella vaccine along with the usual colostrum 7 way.  They will get booster shots once they get to the feedlot. 

 We had some excellent help.  V was great on the head gate. 

 And M took the dirty job, keeping them pushed up into the chute.

But he was all smiles back there the whole time. 

 J handled the vaccines after I drew them up.  The extra help made quick work of 85 head.

 Then it was time to turn them out and let them have their breakfast. J carries one 50 pound sack at a time. 

But I guess M had to show off a little and carry 3.  Did I say it was nice to have such good help?

Sticky Wicket

When I went to feed the dogs yesterday, I didn't notice a problem until I had poured the food out and they were all eating.  It's not unusual for the puppies to eat laying down, so I didn't think much of it until I saw Jett with her leg up in the air. 

 I did think that was a bit unusual.

 On closer inspection, she had some how managed to attract a piece of barb wire.  It was tangled in the hair around her leg and tail.  Fortunately, it wasn't tight or cutting her anywhere.  And she held still for me to untangle everything. 

 The puppies have really been growing and it is getting hard to tell them from Bumble and Bea at a distance. 

I just love my big dogs. 

Ten Year Anniversary

Can you believe that I have been doing this blog for 10 years.?!  I have been trying to decide about a special post for the occasion, top 10 posts, 10 horses, 10 somethings, but nothing really struck my fancy.  Then I would start going back through old posts and get lost in the time warp.  There has been so much, too much to condense in one post.  Ten years worth!  It's all there in the side bar. 

 V and E were 10 years younger.

And we didn't even know M back then.  But that is what it is really about, family.  That is why I started my blog, more as a diary and way to share what is going on here at the 4R's.  So nothing special today, just post number 1983 in a ten year run of blogging.  Hope I can find another 10 years worth of stuff to post about. 

Week In Review

I took plenty of pictures, just a little slack on posting them.

 We have had some beautiful sun rises. 

 We got the cull cows up to sell, but the day of the sale was cold and snowy.  J was afraid of getting stuck or worse yet, tearing something up.  So, they are hanging around for another week. 

 Draper is still a dream.  I have been driving her around with the western saddle.  No drama, just calmness. 

 The puppies are growing and happy. 

 They are very lovable. 

 Goats are being goats. 

 Then we got the weaned calves up to sort out the ones going to the feedlot from the smaller ones and replacement heifers. 

 J did some studying on the situation. 

Now he can cut back on feeding the heifers some and bump up the feed for the feedlot ones.

Guest Photographer

V came to visit Monday afternoon.  I think she was a little bored at home with the long weekend.  She said she didn't take hardly any pictures last year and was trying to do better this year.  Here are some she took on our walk to feed the dogs.

I love the sky she captured in this picture.

We ended up not feeding the dogs after we finally found them.  The dry Pedigree kibble had nothing on dead dear guts. 

There is always something to photograph here at the 4R's.  

Just Kit Sunday #129

Kit found some outdoor Christmas decorations to model in front of today.

I guess I still have some work to do, putting away a little more.

Final Act

Oh what pray tell could be so interesting to the goats?

 Could it be....

 a Christmas tree?

 Well yes, I do believe it is.

 You can still see parts of it there between the goats. 

 And not to be left out, Draper and Otoelene came to check things out. 

Then Brother cleared everyone else out. 

Not much left now.

Back To Work

Speaking of Draper, yesterday the weather finally broke and the temperature made it up into the 50's.  A vast improvement over the zero degrees from a couple of days ago.  That made it tolerable for me to do something with the horses other than carry water and pat them. 

 I decided to catch Draper and see what she remembered.  It's been almost a month since I worked with her last.

 And it seems like she remembers everything.  She did great at free lounging.

 She really listens and watches body language.  It is so nice to have a horse that you don't have to retrain every time you work with them. 

 Next up was the saddle, still no issue.

 I wasn't planning on doing anything new but she was doing so well I thought I would try the western saddle on for size.  She took to it too without any drama. 

I even put my foot up in the stirrup and jumped up and down putting some weight on it. (kind of hard to get a picture doing this by myself) I did this on both sides and she just stood there like a champ.  I guess I will need to set my round pen back up so we can start riding soon. 

Snail Mail

So, it only took 3 weeks to arrive 2 day Priority Mail.  I checked with the post office multiple times and all they said was, Priority Mail is no guarantee.

Well, at least if finally got here, was suppose to be a Christmas present.  I am going to have a lot of difficulty letting go though, it looks a lot like Draper. 

Tire Troughs

There have been some questions about our tire water troughs.  

It was from a government conservation program to develop springs for livestock. 

We had to buy large used tires and cut the tops off.  I wonder if they would take those at next years tire day.  The spring had to be fenced off.  The tire was set and inflow and outflow pipes places and concrete poured in the bottom.  

With the weather so cold and dry, this spring was running to slow to keep the inflow pipe open.  The pipe froze and now the spring is overflowing onto the ground and freezing.   Luckily, J is only having to haul water to one animal.  We have a beef heifer in the barn lot that this spring goes to so he is having to dip out of the tire in the horse lot and carry it to the barn. 

 The springs are gravity flow and the over flow eventually goes to the creek. In this case, the overflow from this tank also goes to the tank where the spring is frozen.  But once again, too cold and dry for there to be any extra.  (Zero yesterday morning. burr)  I hope that clears up some questions about the water tanks.

Sorting, Moving, Rearranging

E was a big help Tuesday when we got the cattle here up to wean the calves. 

 We had moved 18 pairs here from our rented pasture last week but the had still not integrated into the larger herd.

 So it was a lot of walking to get everyone together then into a new field then to the barn. 

 Putting groups together inevitably leads to some disagreements. 

 Making what had previously been just a temporary movable fence into a permanent fence has been a life saver.   We no longer have to station someone on the other side to try to keep the calves from running through. 

 Once they were all corralled we sorted the cows from the calves.  E looks like she may have been busy with other things however. 

 Then the bred heifers were moved to their field. 

 The cows and calves dewormed/deloused. 

Then moved out to their respective fields.  We are doing the fence line weaning with this group.   So far so good.  Once cull cow got back with the calves but J was selling her today anyway so no harm done.  I have done my own sorting, moving and rearranging in the house.  Christmas is almost put away.  Well, it is upstairs anyway.  Still a ways to go before it all makes it back into the closet.