A new month

So March was not a good month for us here and I was not sorry to see it go. April on the other hand has started out much better and I have all intentions of it finishing that way!

The cows are still having their calves and it looks to be a good crop this year. We have gotten a few snow storms and one good thunderstorm the other afternoon.

We have added a puppy to our house, a blue heeler, which my two cats are not happy about. But they will learn to live with it.

This last weekend we were able to finally get the ground tilled up in the front yard and some grass seed planted. Also got my flower bed made and ready to go when the flowers come to our local stores. Now just trying to decide what type of flowers to put in there!

Have the garden all planned out, trying a new spot for me, but one that the family has used in the past with good success. Spending some time this week getting the fence fixed back up and till the ground up with the tractor. Then come May 1st the seeds go in the ground! I am determined to get this garden thing figured out here. I would be doing good if I could just keep the rabbits and squirrels out and let the plants get up and going.

I have also started on a new business opportunity and I'm enjoying that very much. I'm able to still stay at home, go to school and work my sewing business while helping to bring in some extra money, which on a ranch is always needed!

I have even managed to find some time to cook lately. It seems this past winter I was hardly in the kitchen at all and I have missed cooking and sharing recipes with everyone. So start looking for some great summer recipes to share with your family around the backyard and the grill.

A quick update

Well the steers are all sold, other then the ones we are keeping to put in the freezer, the heifers are weaned and turned out with the cows and the bulls are in their winter pasture. That means that the "slow" season is upon us and that translates to hunting in this house. As I type this the hubby is out on his opening morning hunt for a deer and we are getting everything ready for our oldest daughters first deer hunt in a week and a half. Me I'm just waiting for duck and goose season later in the fall.
I have been keeping busy canning spaghetti sauce, salsa, pinto beans and pork and beans. Nothing I love more than putting up my own food to use through the winter. The weather is turning more and more to fall, with the nights getting cooler and the oak trees starting to turn. This next week will be a trip around the ranch looking for acorns to gather and the start of the search for the perfect Christmas tree. I know that it is still October, but if we start now we can all agree on one before Christmas is here!
Well I'm off for the day, oldest has a birthday party for a friend in town and I'm working on a baby blanket and bag for a friend who is expecting a baby soon.
I have also not forgotten the "after" pictures for the living room re-arrange. I did get the furniture moved and the fireplace partially done, just need to get my curtains up and then I will post pictures. Until then here are some pictures from when we sorted all the calves off back in September (I know I'm behind!)

Getting everyone set on what goes into each pen.

One of our heifers

Some more calves and some of the cows

The young man in this picture is one of our missionaries, Elder Totten that came out to help. This was all new for him as he is from Minnesota, but he jumped right in.

The steer calf in the middle did not want to be sorted so he decided to go hang out with the big boys.

The young man on the left is the other missionary Elder Huntsaker, but he was much more at home as he is from Utah and his uncle has a ranch and he grew up around cows.

All our girls, not happy about their babies being some where else!

Work almost done for the day and just in time for the weather to move in!

Elder Huntsaker helping to work the gates around the squeeze-shoot

Even Elder Totten got in on the action

Letting the last of the cow out.

Wishing everyone a great weekend and stop by Pinke Post on Monday to see my guest post and recipe for Venison Stew.

Almost back to normal

Well, it looks like in a few weeks all will be back to somewhat normal around our place.

For those that don't know, back in June our hired help up and quit one Friday morning leaving me to fill in not only on the ranch but with our contract business removing trespass livestock off the neighboring coal mine. This has left not much time for me to blog or for that matter cook, keep house and do school work! Well my time as the hubby's full time employee looks to be coming to an end in about 2 weeks! We have finally found someone to help out full time again. Which means I get to go back to being chief cook and bottle washer, mom, teacher and part time help!
Considering we home-school and I'm the teacher, my days will still be filled up, but I know this routine better and I love being able to teach my own girls.
That also means that I'm going to be able to devote more time to my blog again! Can't believe that August is almost over and we are looking to pull our calves in to wean in two more weeks and then sell in about a month! Not sure where all the time has gone this year, but I know for a fact that our summer has passed by at lighting speed.

Finally finding some time

Yes I am still out here, only some days I'm not sure just where "here" is!
Since I became the hubby's only help for our livestock contract business my days and weeks have been turned on their ear. What would be days spent around the house working on school work, laundry, housework, my garden and cooking are now spent in the saddle chasing cows and horse from where they are not to be and still trying to fit in laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping and school work.
Don't get me wrong I am happy that I have been able to be a help to the hubby, but there are days that I just don't want to leave the house anymore. I did manage to get some apple butter, stewed apples and apple pie filling put up a few weeks ago and I have my eye on some tomato sauce in the next few weeks as my tomato plants are getting ready to turn out some nice tomatoes.
This week has been a strange one since the girls are at Grandma's house for two weeks. The house is too quiet at times for my taste. I say that now, but give it a few days after they are back and I'll be wondering what happened to my quiet house!
Calving season is almost a close here finally. Only three or four cows left to calve and then we can brand our short-agers and then just watch them grow until time to ship in the fall. We have been blessed these last few weeks with some fairly regular rain. Most of the rain has been grass rain, the slow steady kind that lets the grass grow tall and green. A few have been what the hubby calls "toad floaters" and they have floated the frogs in the tanks. Which is good since that means that there is water back in our tanks. Water in tanks means that we are not having to haul as much water which takes up so much time that we just can't seem to find anymore.
I have missed writing and posting on my blog and even just having enough time to read the blogs that I follow has been hard to find. I am hoping that will change and I have finally found a new rhythm to follow that will allow for me to get back in the blogging grove.

The darkness

Okay now most of you know that I am not one to complain or let on when things are wrong...but today is just not one of those days.
Our oh so lovely hired help decided to up an quit two weeks ago with no notice, just here are your keys and I'm packed and leaving. When you only have the one help and they leave it puts even more pressure on us as a family. So that leaves me to try and step up to the plate and take on the role of hired help. Spent three days last week in safety training to be able to go with the hubby monitor and remove any trespass livestock on the coal mine just north of our ranch. Besides having the ranch we do contract work with the mine three days a week. So I'm all trained up on how not to get hurt working on a mine site and have been going out with the hubby three days a week. That presents the next problem, what to do with the girls while we are gone... can't just drop them off for a neighbor to watch! My dad had been here for part of the time and was able to watch the girls, but he is gone back home now so we are stuck trying to figure this one out.
Then I'm struggling to take two classes right now to speed up finishing my teaching degree, which at the rate we are going I'm not going to get to use any time soon. Can't take the time to teach if I'm the only help the hubby has on the ranch and off.
Stupid cow got stuck in the mud on Tuesday, got her out. Wednesday she was back in the mud on the other side of the tank, got her out again. Thursday, you guessed it back in the mud and she did not make it after that time. So that means that we are now feeding three calves down at the barn. Finally got the water storage tank in that we ordered 3 weeks ago and were promised would only take 1 week to get in. Got that set up and a line installed to a drinker so that the cows don't have to drink out of the dirt tanks that are drying up because we can't seem to get any rain in a good amount.
I guess I should not complain about that because at least it has rained enough here over the last few months that we have grass growing and the cows have food to eat, but with no water in the tanks there is just only so many places we can put them that has access to water at all. That means hauling water and longer days for the hubby since he is the only one that can drive the water truck. Not sure how much longer our days can get, worked until midnight on Tuesday to get the storage tank set and filled.
The last straw for me was yesterday when I went to go water my tomato plants to find one of them cleaned out of the 20+ tomatoes that had been growing on it by the squirrels. I hate them things, they have eaten my entire garden this year, down to even digging up the seeds before they can sprout! It just seems that everything is pushing down on me and that every time I look up it is to just stare into the darkness. I hate feeling this way and I hate that I'm sitting here complaining about these things when it could be so much worse, but I'm worn and I need to share with someone even if it through this post. I know that everything we are handed there is a way through, but I just can't see the way right now.
Well I am off to go run water for the cows. Then going to try and get some grocery shopping done so that I have food to cook for dinners. Hoping that everything is going good for you and yours. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend.

Gather and Branding with Pictures

Here are some of the pictures from the gathers this year both spring and for branding this last week.

This is from the spring gather when we sorted off the heifers and put the bulls with the herd

Here come the girls

My Char cow and her baby. This will be the last year we have her since she is around 12 years old

Hey what are you looking at?

Making friends

The hubby and Bibble loading a momma and baby

This is from the start of our branding last Saturday.

First customer of the day and the hubby making sure that everyone knows their jobs

Cousin Rick getting another calf for the guys to work

Our oldest runs all the shots and one ground crew while either the hubby or my father in law runs the other

Gotta get things right, so the "boss" does it

The hubby finally gets a chance to rope a few.

Our last calf of the day.

Had a great time branding this year, for once we had plenty of help. There were 4 generations here that day as the hubby's grandmother was able to come out and enjoy the day, my dad and the hubby's dad were both here and Bibble more than pulled her share of the work. Three cousins and one wife were able to come out along with a few friends to lend a hand.
I did not get a chance to get as many close up pictures like I normally do as I was keeping Granny company on the other side of the fence out of the way and then finishing up the lunch for everyone. Ended the day with more calves branded then we thought we had, which is always a good thing. Still have about 30 cows left to drop their calves so we will have to brand again around the end of July, but that time will just be the hubby, Bibble and myself. I am always glad when branding is over as the week leading up to it are longer than normal and busy. Also nice to have an idea how many calves you are going to sell in October since that is the only paycheck you get for the year.
Next week will find me working all the apples that I'm getting on Sunday. Looking to put some away for pies and cobblers and others will go to apple butter and apple sauce. Also going to make some pie crust and get that frozen so when I want to make a pie all is ready for me!

A months worth of updates

Okay I knew that I had been away from my blog for awhile but had no idea that the last post was from May 3rd. It has been a crazy month for us here. The end of spring/start of summer always is, but for some reason this year more so than the ones before.
It started back at the end of April when our hired help decided he wanted the weekend off. Normally that would not be a problem as the hubby, me and the girls can handle anything that comes up. But that weekend happened to be the one that we were gathering the cows, moving pastures and pulling out the heifers and putting the bulls in with the herd. Left high and dry we were lucky enough that neighbors of ours was available to help on Sunday after they finished moving their cows.
To say that I was hot under the collar would be the understatement of the century! He did show back up in the wee hours of Monday morning and went about his work that morning like nothing had happened, even asked me how my weekend went! Needless to say I would have fired his butt at that moment but one of the outside jobs we have to help the ranch out requires two people and I have enough on my plate that there is no way I can take on anything else, besides there would be no one to watch the girls. So we are stuck with the idiot until we can find a new cowboy to hire. Unfortunately the picking for that line of work are slim to none in our area of the world, so if anyone knows someone who is looking for full time cowboy work please let me know!
May brought the start of the branding season in our area and the hubby and our oldest were off to Flagstaff, Arizona to help my father-in-law brand on the ranch that he manages. Bibble was so excited to go this year as it was the first year to help out over there. She did us proud, giving the shots, keeping track of the count and helping to get some cows back that decided they did not like the inside of the pen. She was even invited back for next year by the owner! She was just excited that she got paid for the weekend and is putting her money away to start saving for college.
Once the hubby got back the first thing he did was to go and check on the cows. He had been gone for only 4 days and during that time was told by the "hired" help everything was fine, all the cows were in the pasture and the fence was great. Well that was all wrong. The cows were out, the fence was down and had been down for a few days because the tracks were in the mud and it had not rained at all since he had been gone. So after spending 2 days tracking down our cows and calves and fixing the fence everyone was home again. The worst part about our cows getting out into the neighbors pastures is they do not call to let you know they are there, they are just hoping that you don't notice and all of a sudden your cow has a calf with their brand on it! Yes that has happened more than once around here.
So the last part of May found us going around and improving the fences around the ranch. Not an easy or cheap thing to do.
Mean while we are still looking for new help, but no luck so still stuck with the idiot.
Then yesterday occurred. Started out okay. Got an early start in the morning and the day was not hot, that was about the last thing that went right yesterday. Now let me start by saying I am not the most experienced ranch hand, but even I know that you do not pick up a momma cow that you know has a baby without finding the baby too. Also is a momma cow does get picked up without the baby and she keeps trying to go back to where you found her at, let her go she is going back for her baby and you can pick them both back up on the next sweep through. Now after working on a cattle ranch for almost 3 years you would think this would be understood and common sense. You guessed it, not by our "hired" help. To top it off he would keep cutting off the calves and sending them running off in all different directions. What should have taken just 5 hours to complete was still not done and finished by the time the sun set last night. The hubby and Bibble spent most of the afternoon and evening going back through the herd double checking numbers and matching up mommas and babies, while the help went to town. Again not a happy person on this end.
So today is being spent looking for the 32 head that are not in the pasture that there suppose to be in and looking for them in summer pastures at the south end of the ranch. I feel bad because I have not been able to help as I'm in two science classes for my schooling right now and I've been helping my dad get a house bought here in town. And getting all the food ready for the weekend. In fact right now I have bread in the bread machine, blueberry lemon bars cooling and getting the final grocery list ready and going to make a run to town.
Okay so there is the short story version of the last month here. I am just hoping that tomorrow goes better and we are able to get everything branded and turned back out with no issues. I will make sure and take pictures and post them next week along with the other pictures I have of our calves and our colts.

Some real thoughts from two real ranch wives

Was just reading a post by a fellow ranch wife and could not help but share what she had to say about the topic of animal abuse and the truer side of the story. Please click the link and read what Kacee has to say about caring for animals on a family operation. Her words are strong and powerful and speak up for those of us who are doing right by our animals. The Ranch Wife - I Care About Animals post 

As a rancher and wife there is nothing more important to us, out side the care and safety of our two legged children then our horses and cows. With out the cows we would not have meat to feed our own family. Without the horses we would have no way of making a living on the ranch and our other jobs to pay the bills. Without our cows being healthy, happy and producing healthy babies there would be no money to put in the bank each fall to pay all the ranch bills the next year. These bills include heating our house, buying hay to feed to the cows during the worst of the winter months, maintaining and fixing fence and equipment. We do not do this job to have money to go on vactions, spending sprees or useless stuff so that we can keep up with the "Jones". My husband has always said that we will never get rich ranching, and that is the honest truth, but we can live a way of life that is true, good and provides just enough for us as a family and gives the world a good source of safe food.

So I ask where are all those animal rights people? In the 60+ years of our family running this ranch never once has one called or knocked on the door wanting to see how we do things. Why is that? Because a family run ranch, taking care of its animals no matter the conditions or time of day does not make sensational headlines to shove in the face of people. That is why it is so important for the everyday family ranches to put the real word out there and let everyone know just how much we care for and give to our animals. I have brought my share of baby calves into my house to warm up and get a bottle in them when momma is not able to care for them. One even lived in the house for a month before living in my back yard for the summer. My husband has gone out in the middle of the night to find a baby that momma had wondered away from and was being chased by coyotes. That little one stayed in the house that night until momma came back looking for her in the morning.
Can we always save them all...no. There are just sometimes that God decides things and they are out of our control. But until that animal has taken its last breath on its own we will do all that is humanly possible to save that life. It takes a toll on even the most weathered cowboy and rancher to loose the life of an animal put into their care. While they may not show it to the outside world I know that for a fact a rancher hates to loose a cow, a horse, a sheep, a dog or any animal. It makes them think that they failed some how, there had to be one more thing that they could have done, something that would have changed the outcome; knowing full and well that there was nothing more that could have been done. I have seen it on the face of my own husband and father in law and I know that they think about those times, months even years after they occurred. But I will tell you not once have we ever caused harm to one of our animals, nor will that ever occur on our ranch.

We are a ranching family and we are proud of that.

Pictures

Finally found my cord for my camera and was able to down load the pictures that I have been taking of some new calves and our trip to the zoo and the new baby chicks so here are some and the rest will be in my pictures on Tales of a Rancher's Wife page on Facebook.

This little one was our first calf this year, born back at the start of Feb.

Here he is again, taking a rest by the water tank

Momma had to bring hers by the house to show off. She will bring every calf to below the barn every year.

Another little one out in the pasture

There are two calves in the picture, one so little you can only see a tiny bit of his back in the high sage brush.

The girls at the aquarium in Albuquerque

Finally got to see the polar bears swimming this trip

The latest addition to the ranch, my next batch of chickens. Some are for meat(yellow ones) and the rest are new egg layers

We are off this afternoon to get two young new bulls for the place so of course I will get pictures of them and share also. Haven't forgotten about the request for new recipes and casseroles that will freeze well are on the list, in fact that is what I'm working on next.
If you enjoy these pictures check out Fresh from the Farm and her Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday for more pictures of babies, farm life, ranch life and all things country.

Ranchers and the Weather

Growing up and living in the city I never really gave much thought to the weather other than what the temp was going to be so I knew what to wear and if I needed a jacket or umbrella. Living where your livelyhood is dependent on the weather has changed my outlook on the weather.

Now the first thing I watch upon waking up in the morning and the last thing I watch before falling asleep is  the Weather Channel so I know what the day will bring. In the winter that means watching the radar to see if snow is coming, how much and for how long. Depending on how much snow is coming and for how long and how cold it will get determines how much extra forage food we will have to put out for the cows. Too much snow at once with extreme cold and we may have to bring the cows in closer to the house in order to even get food to them. Cold wet snow and cold weather during calving season can spell trouble on a ranch if it catches you by surprise. The one pay check a ranch gets a year is all based on the number of calves you are able to send to market. That means that even the loss of one calf in a snow storm effects our ability to pay for such things as food and clothes for our family and needed supplies for the ranch itself.

Winter isn't the only time of year that we watch the weather and worry about what it will bring. Spring in our neck of the woods means wind. I don't mean a nice little breeze that welcomes warmer weather to the area. I'm talking about winds that howl around 30- 35 mph steady and can gust up to 60-70 mph for days on end. Now I grew up in West Texas and Flagstaff, Az and if you have ever been through those areas in spring you know that I'm no stranger to wind. So what is the big deal with wind and a ranch in spring? Well two years ago at the end of winter and after all the snow melt had filled all the water tanks on the ranch full to over flowing, two months of constant wind dried them out completely. Not a drop of water was left in a tank on our entire spread by the end of April and the wet summer season would not start until July if we were lucky. That left us having to pump and haul water twice a day to drinkers set out all over the ranch. It takes time and money to run a well pump and a water truck all over so that our girls had water to drink. It is still hard to think about all that water, given to us during winter, was just gone in the wind. You don't get it back, it's gone.  That year was extra hard as the summer rains that could have helped out never came. Summer was spent watching for rain clouds that just never came.

Summer here can be feast or famine for water, as it is for many ranches in the southwest. This last summer we were blessed to be floating away for most of it, and I will tell you that we never complained once about the muddy roads or cloudy weather. For a rancher the idea that "Rain is a Good Thing" is not just a title to a song but the saving grace after a year of drought. Sometimes I think waiting and watching for the weather in summer is sometimes the hardest for ranchers, at least I know it is here. That is because while you want the rain after a long dry spell what you don't want is for a dry thunderstorm to come rolling in. Thunder and lightening and dry grass with no rain is not combination you want. But when that rain does come... it is magical. There is something about that first heavy rain after waiting so long for it to come. The smell of the rain on the dirt is stronger and sweeter, the coolness of the rain drops on your skin and the cleanness of the air after the storm has passed is so much sweeter for all dryness that came before it. Yeah, rain is a good thing when it comes, a very good thing.

Fall for us is the one time of year that it is quite on the ranch. The calves for that year are raised and have been sold. The heifers we are keeping are weaned off their momma's and back with the herd and the next crop of calves are months away from being born and safe inside their momma's still. As much of the world looks to fall as the end of seasons, for us it is almost a time of renewal. It signals the start of another cycle of growth and renewal. It is also the one time of year that we are not looking to the weather on a constant daily basis worrying about what it will bring. If we are lucky summer has left us with full tanks of water and winter has yet to make a grab upon the land.

While I grew up just looking at the temp for the next few days now I look at what is our chance for rain or snow, is the wind going to blow and just how cold is going to get overnight. No longer do I look to the weather for my own comfort and knowledge but for the comfort, survival and knowledge of the cows, calves, bulls and horses that put their care and lives in the hands of my family. So the next time you look at the weather report and wonder if it is warm enough to wear shorts outside, take the time to think about the farmers and ranchers watching the weather and wondering....

Speechless

Just the other day a conversation left me quite frankly speechless. Now those of you who know me well, would say that was impossible. Yes I know most of the time I have something to add or a comment to make, well that changed during a conversation with an acquaintance about ranch life, kids and home schooling.

I am always more than happy to answer questions about our ranch, the cattle industry, beef and kids. Such was the case with this conversation with "John Doe" who shall remain un-named so as to not offend anyone. The usual questions came about, how did you get into ranching, what type of cows do you have, do the kids like living that far from town, etc.  Then came the question "Why doesn't your oldest daughter have a job?" At first I thought they were joking, she just turned 13 after all, a little young for a job. When I realized they were not joking I told them all that she does to "work" around the ranch; feeding calves and horses, moving the herd, helping to brand, sort, vaccinate, ship, doctor sick calves, cut wood, break horses and all the other things a ranch kid helps out with around the ranch. John Doe then looked at me and said "No I mean a real job."

Here is where I reached the speechless part!  A "real job"? Really, all that stuff I just told him she worked at and helped out with was not a "real job"?  Boy would all of the cowboys, ranchers, wives, girlfriends, kids and countless others would find themselves speechless and in shock to find out that they were not working at a "real job"! Once I recovered from my speechless shock, I asked just what does a real job require?  How did they define a "real job"?  There response was of course something that you got paid to do and had to leave home to go to work.

It just kept getting better! I was by this time not speechless as a fire had been lit and the words where pouring forth. I then asked John Doe so if you work at home now that is not a "real job"?  What about the people who volunteer their time to help others? Do stay at home mom's not work?  At this point the man was unsure as what direction to take and was looking for a way out of the mess he had made for himself. After he left I was still shocked at someone thinking that ranch or farm kids don't work at real jobs.

I don't know about anyone else but our girls do just as much to help out on the ranch, age allowing, as the adults. Sometimes I think they do more, what with school, music, clubs and the like on top of everything else.
Am I worried that the girls will never get "real jobs"? No if they never go any farther than this ranch to work and raise a family they will have made a wonderful life for themselves and the next generation. The work ethic that kids learn on farms and ranches I think is second to none and maybe if more kids learned it this world would be a better place.

See I told you I am normally not left speechless with nothing to say!

Why We Do What We Do

Days like today and weeks like this past week give me the satisfaction and knowledge that the way of life, the industry and the heritage that we, as a family have chosen is right. I know I have been some what MIA this week from not only this blog but from those of you who are my friends on Facebook. Part of that is due to home schooling the girls and my own schooling for my teaching degree, but a large part of that is due to daily life on a family ranch.

For us on a daily routine, it is the hubby and one young hired hand that do the "heavy lifting" of the job, with the girls and I filling in when needed and we are able. During this time of year, that of fall gathering, sorting and shipping, it calls for all hands on deck. This week was just that. In years past, either the girls were in school or I was working in town and therefor unable to help the hubby unless the work fell on a weekend. 2010 marked a change for us as I was at home and the girls were home schooled, thus allowing us our own time table and schedule. The end result of this large change in our lives created a chance for our oldest daughter to help drive the herd 8 miles from the south end of the ranch to the holding pasture on the north end of the ranch with her dad and our help, Weston. Not only that, our youngest was able to ride by herself outside of the arena for the first time, helping dad to check the cows one morning during the week.

I am not sure that as a mom I am ready for my girls to grow up so fast, but if this week has taught me nothing else it is this: The next generation of ranching is in good hands, be they girls or boys, those of us who are sticking it out and making a go on family ranches this country over are offering to our children a way of life that is beyond compare.

I am proud to be not only a ranching wife, but even more so a ranching mom.  The ability to pass on our knowledge, our love and our passion to the next generation is just part of why we do what we do.

Looking Back

Fall is on it way here and I know that winter is not far behind it. Not sure that I am ready for that yet as winter last year was one of the worst we have seen in a few years and it was another lesson for me about life and death on a ranch. The lessons were not all bad, we had our first Christmas calf and for the most part the herd came through a cold and heavy snow winter only a little worse for the wear. Of course seeing them now, you would never guess that the winter was bad, for they are fat and happy munching the day away in belly deep grass.

The one lesson that was the hardest was when I had to help with my first C-section. It was a cold clear morning at the end of February and we were just at the start of the calving season, so the hubby went out in the truck to cut the ice, put out feed and check on a cow that he had seen the evening before that looked to be close to having her baby. This was an older cow who had never had a problem before having a calf, so we were not too worried about her and in fact the hubby expected to find her that morning nursing a new baby.

My first hint that anything was wrong was when I got the call to get the vet bag, blankets, towels and get down to the pasture. When I got down to where the hubby was waiting for me he let me know that it looked like the cow had been trying to have the calf for a little bit of time and was just too tired to finish. The problem was my hands are the only ones small enough to get the chains on to pull the calf, but on that morning not even my small hands could fit. It was then that I was told to get ready, we needed to get the calf out and that meant a C-section.  Now let me say this, I have had C-sections myself, I really don't want to see what was done to me in the version of a cow! However there was no choice so I did the next best thing, I started to ask the million and one questions that I felt I needed to know, all the while the hubby is busy getting all of his surgical gear ready.

I made it through the actual C-sections to be handed a wet, slimy and squirmy little solid black calf with the instructions "Get it dried off and warmed up". Okay, I figured I can do this part: dry and warm, right.

We are still not sure what happened or why, but the calf did not make it that day. I got it dried off and it was bawling for momma as she was getting finished up from her part of the delivery. Then the next thing I know the little calf went limp in my arms and despite even trying CPR she did not make it. I held her as her heart stopped beating and then cried my eyes out. You see this was the first time that I was able to be right there when one of our calves was born and I lost her. Even all these months later just the thought of it is enough to bring tears to my eyes.  We buried her under a nice tree that day and I still visit it each trip to that pasture.

But what is taken away on one day is given on another, as a few months later I was able to help on another birth and I have gotten the joy to watch that baby grow in my back yard into the strong and pretty girl that she is today.

This picture was taken when Dot was just 1 week old, she was in our backyard since her momma did not have enough milk for her.

Not every lesson is easy to learn but some how it all works out in the end and it all reminds me to lean on my faith.