Culling, The Sadder Side Of Ranching

Sometimes bad things happen.  But when they happen to a 1200 pound animal the options are limited.  

 If a cow can't walk well for one reason or another, she can't take care of herself or her calf.  At that point, we need to decide that if she won't get better, we will have to cull her. 

 This week J sorted out 5 cows that had varying degrees of lamenesses.  Several had bad feet, one had an injured hock and one lost a calf plus had a bad foot.

 It is always a hard decision.  But one that is necessary.

No one ever said cattle ranching was easy. 

2018 Hokie 1/2 Marathon

Our youngest daughter E has now completed the Hokie 1/2 Marathon.  Her goal was to beat her sister's time from 2014.  

I almost missed her going across the finish line, you really have to be quick with the camera. 

 The weather was nice, a little mist and upper 60's.  She finished in very good spirits.

 She was able to get her own refreshments, unlike V in 2014.  You can read about her race HERE.

 And she wanted a picture with her medal and shirt.

V, M and J were all on hand to celebrate her accomplishment.  But I'm not sure she was able to beat V's time.  E said she ran it in 2:20 and going back to check V's time, it looks like...2:20.  Guess we will just call it a draw.
Uh Oh, E has corrected me.  She looked up the official times.  E 2:21, V 2:24.

Coupon Saturday #18, Okra, And Twin

I think I will start in reverse order from my title since this is more of a farm blog.

 Earlier this week, when J was checking the fall calving cows, he found a second set of twins.  The first set was born a couple of weeks ago and the cow is taking good care of both.  This set however, not so lucky.  The cow had totally abandoned this one after it was born so J loaded it up and brought it to the house.  He is doing great so far.

 And no, he is not deformed with a big head and little body, just a bad camera angle that I thought was cute.

 Next, the okra is going gangbusters.  I think J's dad has reached his saturation point with it.  We have been giving some to a neighbor and they said they were canning it.

 Since it is still blooming,

 And we are picking a bag full every 2 to 3 days, I thought I might try canning some.  That would make the giving season last even longer.  I say giving because we are not eating it at all.  J won't touch it and I haven't become a big enough fan to cook much for myself.

 I found a youtube video with an older gentleman showing how he canned okra to fry for later.  Here is the link if you are interested. OldAlabamaGardener He had lots of good reviews so I gave it a try.  I won't know how I did until I give it away and someone else cooks it, but it looks nice.  He also has a video on frying canned okra, a broccoli smoothie, home hemorrhoid remedies and a multitude of other interesting topics.

 And lastly, I did very little couponing this week.  But I couldn't pass up this laundry scent booster for 25 cents.

 It was on sale, and there was a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon that could be stacked on the same product.  I like with things go through without a hitch.

 I also went to Walmart to get my gift card for my complaint about not scanning coupons that met their store policy.  It manager again apologized and said all the cashiers would know the policy.

 I just so happened to have 2 coupons for Zyrtec for $4 off the childrens.  They have some in the infant department that meets the coupon requirements but is only $3.47.

And guess what?  The cashier said, "I don't know if you can use this because it is more than the product."  I didn't tell her I had just left the manager about this same issue, but stood patiently while she called over a supervisor.  The supervisor said she had seen these before and it was ok.  The cashier then said, "well, now I know."

Dr. Pimple Popper, Veterinarian Edition

I know several of you have watched the show, Dr. Pimple Popper.  For those of you that haven't, the name is pretty self explanatory.   Well, J brought me a patient for a veterinary version of the show. 

 This is a 600 pound bull calf that developed a swelling on his right hip that was getting bigger and bigger.  Once the cattle got rotated to a field closer to the barn, J sorted him and his mother out to the barn lot.  It is so nice that he does all the prep work and I just have to show up with the equipment.  First, I clipped the hair.  It is best to have that all out of the way.

 That's a nice size pimple, or abscess as we like to refer to them in the medical world.

 A little prep of the skin with some betadine and then lanced.  I like to make an X for the opening.  It is less likely to seal up too quickly then.

 That is all the pus that came out.  Makes me think of a song we sang when we were little,
"Cans and cans of greasy grimy gopher guts,
mutilated monkey meat,
little dirty birdy feet,
tons and tons of all purpose porpoise pus,
that's what the school feeds us."
(I don't know why our parents didn't put a stop to us singing that in the car.)

Then we are left with a deflated balloon.  I flushed it well with dilute betadine and sprayed the area with fly spray.  Who's ready for the video?

Coupon Saturday #17

There was a surprise $2 off $10 at Dollar General this week.  I only have 2 accounts so only 2 transactions.  I tried to get E to make an account for grandma that I could use but her response was, "you don't need anymore stuff."

 Well, yes I do.  I needed a dustpan and Mr. Clean paided me to take it out of the store. 

 Anytime you get toilet paper for 1/2 off is good.

 And the Mr. Clean coupon also worked on the Dawn brush, so 60 cents profit there. 

And I have an update on my Walmart issue from last week.  I emailed the customer service about my complaint (cashier not scanning coupon for more than the price) and I got a message back saying if I come in they will give me a $10 gift card and make sure all of the employees understand the store coupon policy. Score one for the squeaky wheel. 

Calm Before The Storm

With hurricane Florence on the horizon, my sister and I went to help get our mother out of harm's way.  She was sitting in the direct path of the predicted eye landfall.  

 The ocean didn't have a hint of things to come. 

 But with possible 80 foot waves, I'm not sure the house will be here next week.

 The beach was pretty much deserted. C and I went for a short walk and I found some faces to express our thoughts.

 A hurricane is coming, "Oh noooo!"

 Such a sad day.

 Maybe it won't be as bad as they say and everything will be fine.

 Guess we will have to wait and see. 

 Just a pretty bird picture.

Hope there is a house to come back to. 

If Blue Is The New Black Then Why Is It Purple

I was looking for some black paint to use on a new yard art project (more on that when I finish it).  So, I headed to Lowe's to check out their clearance paint rack. 

I found this can that said, "New Black" on the label and the sample looked black. It was $8 off original price and was a primer/paint in one.  I thought it was going to be a score. 

 Then I painted with it and I am going with blue not black.

 The paint brush handle is black, at best the color could be a blue/gray but definitely not black.  I might just have to just it as a primer and search more for maybe an Old Black.

 Then I thought I would try out this Blu-Kote on Otoelene's hooves.  Another blogger is using it on her horse's cracked hooves with great success.

 Otoelene's feet have been worse, but I don't ever want to go there again.  I would really like for the hoof wall to stop flaking off below the nails.  And what color do you think Blu-Kote is?

 That looks purple to me.

So the experiment begins.

Coupon Saturday #16

I have been talking myself out of couponing for awhile now, but there were some diapers on clearance at Walmart that I couldn't pass up.  I am sure some of you may be wondering why I want diapers.  Well, they make great hoof bandages for abscesses.  

Old picture for illustration only.  No current abscesses, knock on wood.

And I am sure you know I have plenty of those.  

 And the great thing was, everything had a coupon.  I first went Thursday, handed over my coupons and the cashier said, "I can't take those, they are for more than the item."  I tried to explain that it was fine, I had done it before, friends had done it before, it should work.  But she wouldn't budge.  So I walked out with nothing.  I tried again yesterday.  This time I had a copy of Walmart's coupon policy in hand that stated,

• "The coupon value will be applied to the price of an item allowing any overage to be applied to the transaction total."

And also, this time I picked an express line that was long and with a young cashier.  She scanned everything without question.  Then, when she got to the total, she said, "Wow, I need to do this."  The diapers have a regular price of $9, and the kleenex was on clearance down from $4.44.  I think I got my 86 cents worth.

A Little Ponying

Draper has started to test her boundaries while riding.  So far I have managed to get her over her little spells, but it is always a little scary.  Sometimes she stops and stubs up, then starts backing up then rearing a little.  I have had to get off, lunge her, then get back on to continue where we were going.  The rearing is really troubling to me because she does it when I am not putting any pressure on the reins, just asking for forward.  So today I decided that Otoelene could teach her a thing or two. 

 But first, I thought I might start working Otoelene on thinking about jumping.  I figure if Brother is doing it, she should be able to also.  She already trots and canters over ground poles so this was just a refresher today.  Tomorrow I think I will add a cross pole jump. 

 Draper hung out in the barn while I rode Otoelene, then I untied her and took off after a little directing by Otoelene to keep Draper in her place.  It is impossible to take a picture of yourself doing this, so this was the best I could do. 

 We went up and down some steep places and across a small creek. 

 When I got to the cattle I realized that I had dropped my camera somewhere so I had to backtrack.  J had just turned the cattle into this field and the grass is 1 1/2 feet tall and lopped over.   I thought my camera was gone for good but as you can see I did find it.   Draper was calm around the cattle.  Hopefully, Otoelene's manners are rubbing off. 

 We headed back to the barn after a successful outing. 

Love my two blonds.