Montana Farm Bureau Convention

This week I've been in Billings at the Montana Farm Bureau Convention. This was my first convention and I really enjoyed myself. The purpose of the convention is to get all of the counties together. The first day we did a few classes, but after that pretty much the rest of the time was dedicated to policy development. On the county level I had put through four pieces of policy. They were:

We support legislation that designates acquiring a job under false pretenses as an illegal activity.
We believe it is the responsibility of the state, federal, or local government to clearly mark all boundaries and fence lines surrounding public lands.
We support legislation requiring that any boundary or fence line not specifically marked as public land shall be presumed to be private land and illegal to enter without the consent of the owner(s).
We support legislation that requires any allegation of animal cruelty to be reported within 10 days of the incident.

As many land owners know, especially those in areas with good hunting, your land is very easily trespassed upon. A lot of people around here own section after section and they can't possibly keep an eye on everything. I was hoping to use the second and third resolutions as a way to punish trespassers more harshly as well as create responsibility for the federal government when it comes to clearly labeling public lands. Unfortunately, neither of those passed on the State level.

The other two resolutions were in regards to groups such as PETA and the Humane Society of the United States. Both of these animal rights groups and many others have began the practice of sending members to obtain jobs on farms and ranches in order to "catch" animal cruelty. They may video tape or take pictures of the farmers and ranchers working. Then they are known to photo shop the pictures or make new videos that can be easily misconstrued as  animal cruelty. In reality, these groups are not actually worried about the welfare of animals. They truly want to hurt agriculture, especially in the areas of dairy, meat, and eggs.

 Only the last piece of legislationg was passed on the State level. Mostly they disagreed with the wording of the policies, so I think I will put them through again next year with different wording. At the county meeting a few months ago I was actually voted on the Policy Development Committee as well as the Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee. At the convention I met some new people, learned a lot, and was given some great ideas on policy for next year.

Every year at convention, a few of our young farmers and ranchers compete in a discussion meet, which is basically an informal debate. They are given a topic, usually a problem facing agriculture, and they talk about the problem. The winner wins a trip to the National Convention to compete in a discussion meet with fellow state winners. I decided to be a spectator at the state discussion meet this year but I'm definitely going to compete next year.

Preg Checking

Preg checking is, you guessed it, checking the cows to see if they are pregnant or not. You also look for late cows or early cows. An early cow could calve too early in the winter and lose her calf in snow. A late cow will have a smaller calf at shipping and the next year she will probably breed later again. Preg checking is something most, if not all, ranchers in Southeastern Montana do. Let's face it, we don't need anymore dead weight around here, especially with our drought-like conditions and all of the grazing lost to fire. Oh yea, we haven't talked about the fires yet, have we? Alright, that can wait for another day. Anyway, because we have a spring calving schedule, we preg check the cows and heifers in the late fall or early winter. This is the best time for the vet to get a good idea of due dates and for everyone not to freeze their butt off too much!

The first time I had the pleasure of preg checking this year was with my boyfriend's family. My boyfriend and I have been dating for about six months now and he comes from a ranching family too. Anyway, the first time we EVER worked cows together was actually about two weeks before we preg checked. We were helping his family pre-condition the calves that were to be sold. So let me tell you, my boyfriend has never even considered raising his voice to me- he's not that kind of guy. But.... let me tell you something else. His family apparently gets just a little crazy around cows. And yes, I know first hand about getting crazy around cows. I come from crazy family numero uno. We yell, we fight, we get over it. The thing is my brother can yell at me and I'm like "Oh duh, there's a cow right there trying to escape" or something. However, when my boyfriend yells at me I think in my head, "Is he talking to me? Why is he yelling at me? What am I doing wrong? HOW DARE HE YELL AT ME!!?!" So... as you can imagine, the first time any cattle-related yelling involved my boyfriend and I, one of us was just a teeny bit upset. *cough cough* In his defense a calf was trying to jump over the alley, and he was worried for my safety. Still, I was upset. And I may or may not have told him that I was never working cows with him again because he's mean and terrible. Okay I definitely told him that. Then I pouted for the rest of the day.

So when he told me his parents wanted help AGAIN my first reaction wasn't no, it was heck no. Then I reconsidered because I didn't really want to spend the day without him and he promised he would be nice and not terrible. So we did round 2, and there was the same amount of yelling, although less directed at me. Everything turned out alright, and we lived happily ever after. Or something like that ;) All in all, his parents' cows tested well. I think they had around 10 open from about 350 head. Those are good numbers on a normal year, and really great numbers for the dry year we've had.

A few weeks ago I preg checked with my parents. We used a tub, which is possibly the best invention, like, ever. A tub is basically a half-moon entrance into an alley with a swinging door. You open the door, push a few cows in, close to the door behind them and push them up into the alley and into the chute. BAM! Super efficient. It's a lot less stressful for the cows and it just goes so much smoother than a regular alley and chute. All in all the herd of my parent's that we check were good. We had a few lates and then maybe 5 opens out of 175 head. None of my cows have been checked yet, because they were in another pasture and we are doing them separately sometime this month. I hope they all check alright, but I'm a little worried that my coming 3 year-old might be open since she aborted after jumping the fence last year. I guess we will see huh? Well anyway, it's past my bedtime and I have about a kazillion things to do tomorrow.

The Branding 2012

Just like most ranchers in the area, my family has a branding in the spring to brand and vaccinate calves. We had our branding on May 16th. So yes, a very, very long time ago. And the last time I posted was at least a week before that. It's official. I'm a slacker. Lately I moved to town to get a job, working on the ranch wasn't really paying any bills. I'm working full-time (still) in town, going to school online full-time for Business and still working on my real estate license. It seems like I should be done with that last one by now, huh? 

Anywho, I thought I'd post some pictures of the branding... like I promised many moons ago. Anything we do at a branding is for the health and safety of our calves. We would never do anything to harm them or decrease their quality of life. After all, they are our income. So, we vaccinated them with the usual 7-way which vaccinates for Clostridium chauvoei, septicum, novyi, sordelli and prefrigens Types C & D. A mouthful eh? Basically it, you know, keeps a calf healthy. I wish I could elaborate but I'm not a pharmacists or a veterinarian. We also vaccinated with Bovi-Shield Gold IBR-BVD which (yes I know what this one does!) vaccinates against Infections Bovine Rhinotracheitis or IBR. IBR can cause diarrhea, influenza, and other respiratory problems. I know, I'm so smart. And I can google the crap out of things. But mostly I'm smart... We also poured all of our calves with Ivomec. That's the brand name, but we actually used the generic kind because we're cheap. Ha. Anyway, Ivomec is basically a pour on bug repellent. It keeps insects off the cows which can cause serious health problems, not to mention be annoying as heck. We branded the calves. We used 3 different brands, mine, my parent's, and my oldest younger brother. We also used growth hormones this year. We implanted the steer calves with the hormone in the ear to help them grow faster. We have never done this before and wanted to experiment with it. Unfortunately its been an extremely dry year and our calves don't actually weigh any more than they did last year because the grass didn't have as good of food value as usual. The bull calves all mysteriously become steer calves. Alright, we cut them. It's a pretty simple process that the average person would not want to see, like ever. So yea, I'll leave it at that. It is sanitary and the safest way to castrate bull calves. Banding can cause infection and once the infection reaches their guts there's pretty much nothing you can do. Also, most people will tag as well, but we tag our calves as they are born so we can match up the calf to the mama and track our herd a little better. Well, to the pictures. 

The next 6 pictures are a pretty good example of how to wrestle a calf as demonstrated by the professionals, my sister and I.   If I had known I was going to be photographed I might have made fewer funny faces!

This is what the Ivomec looks like. 

A good shot of my dad branding. 

If you can see, my cousin Matt's girlfriend, Tyler, is vaccinating.
She has a vaccination gun in her right hand . 

Me (left) and my sister (right) wrestling while my cousin Tyler is cutting. 

My brother Joe working on his loop while roping. 

My cousin, Matt and brother ,Jared enjoying some
Rocky Mountain Oysters. Yes, calf balls.

My First Branding

I would like to recount to you the tale of my first branding. Not many people can probably remember their first branding. Because, let's face it, if you haven't been branding for so long that you can't remember your first one, then you probably won't ever go to a branding. I, however, do not fall into this category. I remember my first branding as clear as day. Probably because that was the day my hopes and dreams of my parents' wild west ranching experience just being a phase were lost. Completely lost. They were serious about all this ranching stuff, and were dragging me along with them.

So in late spring of my eight grade year, we went to a neighbors branding. These folks are from Minnesota as well so they sort of took my family under their wing for a while. At most brandings you show up early and gather cows, but at this time my horse and I weren't on speaking terms so I decided the safest thing would be to not ride. Anyway, I didn't want to embarrass myself at my first branding by rounding up the wrong way!! I laugh just thinking of a time when I didn't know how to gather cows. Sometimes I wish I could pretend I don't know how. Riding in rough country still is not my favorite, so I usually have some sort of engagement or a disagreement with my horse when I'm asked to do so. Anywho, I showed up at the branding with my mom and sister just as the others were bringing the cows into the corral. My dad and brothers were a little more gung ho about gathering so they had gone along and helped. Sometime around this time I got handed a vaccine gun and a wax marker and was told to vaccinate. Oh, great. Now I just knew I was gonna stab someone or hurt a calf. Possibly both. After the guys had sorted off most of the mother cows is when the complete and utter confusion began. There were horses trotting by, guys wrestling, other people vaccinating, my sister ear tagging along with the daughter who lived on the ranch, bull calves being cut, and calves being, believe it or not, branded! So now I was not only worried about the pain my little tiny needle was inflicting on these calves, but also the pain they experienced when they were wrestled, dragged, cut, poked with another needle, ear tagged, and branded. Now I realize as long as everything is done properly, the calf will suffer the least amount of pain, which will probably only last a minute or two. I was doing pretty well vaccinating, but a friend of mine was not doing so well wrestling. He had wrestled the head of a calf and I ducked down to vaccinate the calf in it's front arm pit. Just as I pushed the needle in, the calf kicked, my friend let go of the leg, and I got kicked straight in the nose. Now I lean way out when vaccinating a calf he wrestles, just for good measure. Oh, and the smell. At a branding there is always a slight aroma of cow poop with the smoky smell of searing flesh. This smell made me almost nauseas at my first branding, but now it smells like summertime and a sense of community.

Since that first branding, I've learned to actually mix my own vaccine (it's harder than it looks), ear tag, and even wrestle. I can't believe there was a time when I had no idea what a branding was, but I'm glad I do now. I can't imagine a year of my life without at least one branding, and I hope I never have to know what that's like. I always look forward to branding season and I'm looking forward to my family's branding on Friday. I will take pictures and post about each job and the reasoning for everything sometime this weekend.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

When I lived in Minnesota, rain came as regularly as the phases of the moon. I remember it would rain almost every evening in the summertime. Sitting out on the deck and listening to the thunder was something that we loved to do as a family. I never even knew a place existed that it didn't rain at least once a week in the spring, summer, and fall. Then we moved to Montana in the middle of a drought. The dry climate was so hard on me that I had nosebleeds almost every single day at first. It was such a shock to me that people could live in a place with no rain. Thankfully, every year since I've moved to Montana the rain has been increasing gradually as the drought has declined. Last year the spring rain was so dramatic that all across Montana dams were overpowered, roads washed out, and acres and acres of farm land were flooded. This year it has been a bit of a dry spring, with very little rain to speak of in my corner of the state. Then, when it did rain it seemed to stop just 10 or 15 miles south of us. So we've been praying for rain, and asking the rain gods to smile upon us, and, yes, even doing rain dances. My rain dance was answered and it has been raining, and raining, and raining. Since Friday evening, it has literally been nothing but nonstop rain here. I'm not even joking. Sometimes the rain comes down in sheets, but mostly it's been a slow drizzle. Now, here I am, in the first time since I've moved to Montana, wishing the rain would let up. Ya know, just stop for one beautiful summer day. Then it can go again for as long as it wants, within reason. It's a little bit sacrilegious around here to want rain to stop. People just don't do it. And, don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the rain. I'm thankful that our alfalfa crop already looks like it has grown taller and greener since Friday. I'm thankful that southeastern Montana is not in a drought anymore. But c'mon.

Rain, rain, go away. Come back another day.
How's next week sometime? Kay, thanks.

Bedtime Thoughts

You know when you're laying in bed and your mind is just racing? Good. Me too. Tomorrow I'm headed to town to do an ABCs of Farm Safety demonstration for 2nd and 5th graders. This is a program done through the Farm Bureau Federation. You know how I was saying I was just going to jump in and see how it goes? Well, I wasn't kidding. Now what could possibly cause me to be restless about that, you may ask. Well... a few things. Firstly, I have dreams of one day owning a dairy cow and naming her Pam. Oh never mind. That has to do with my love of dairy products, not the ABCs of Farm Safety. Okay, do over.

Firstly, I dread public speaking. It's making me a little nauseous thinking about it right now. Why is it so hard? I'm a naturally shy person and this is something I've battled my entire life. Oh, how I wish I could be like those outgoing people who can talk to anyone and speak in front of a thousand people and not get nervous!! But, I'm not. In high school I decided that I was no longer going to be shy. I joined Speech and Drama. Yes, I was a Speech and Drama nerd. I say that affectionately. Was I any good? Heck no. Three years I did duo acting, serious and humorous, depending on the year. On year I did expository speech. I was terrible at all of it. But I still did it, to push my boundaries and hopefully cure my stage fright. Then I did this crazy thing and I tried out for the cheerleading squad. Formerly being a basketball and volleyball player, this was no easy step. So, I made the squad and cheered for three years. By the time I was a senior I didn't bat an eye at being out in front of everyone. I guess dancing and cheering were just different than public speaking. Yes, that was all in explanation of the first reason. So, now I think I'm less shy than I used to be. Public speaking doesn't freak me out quite as much as it used to. And, let's face it. They're 2nd and 5th graders! They're going to be happy just to get out of class! Besides, I love kids. I'm really looking forward to it.

The second reason is that the woman I'm doing the presentation with is also helping me coordinate the Young Farmers and Ranchers event that I'm putting on in May. So this means that I'd like to have some information to show her. The only thing is the other young lady we are working with has been very busy with other things. She works in Wyoming and has a 5 year-old son, so it's not really her fault that she doesn't have time. At the same time, if I would have known this was going to be the deal, I could have taken on more responsibility to make it easier for all of us. But, unfortunately, I can't really do what I need to do until she does what she needs to do. I like to be prepared. I like to be in control. So, this is causing me major stress.

Anyway, those are my bedtime thoughts. Now I'm going to actually go to bed. Big day tomorrow. I think I'll have a nice little dream about Pam and all the delicious milk she is going to make for me.

DJ the Ferocious Cattle Dog

I've talked a little about DJ in the past. He's my four month old half Australian Shepherd, quarter Blue Heeler, quarter Hanging Tree cattle dog. I'm proud to say that DJ has officially had his first taste, literally, of being a cattle dog. I have been introducing DJ to working cattle since he was just a little guy. The other day I saw some of it actually pay off.  My two brothers, DJ, and myself were out sorting cows- moving the cows with calves on them to a different pasture and what not. There were two cows towards the back not wanting to get moving. I went behind them to get them going, with DJ at my side. I thought maybe if I showed him I wanted them moved, he'd understand. Well I made the noise we use that tells our cattle dogs to grip and guess what! He grabbed right onto the rear cow at the back of her leg. She wasn't expecting it, so she turned around to go after DJ. He wasn't letting that happen and he actually bit her on the nose! I have never, in my life, seen a dog do that in person. He didn't cause any damage. Just hurt the cow's pride, I think. Later we were moving the bulls from one pen to another. They were taking they're sweet time and I asked DJ to help them get a move on. He actually used his grip on the hock of a bull. I can't explain how excited I was. Seeing him progress so well made me feel a little bit like a proud mama. Sigh. My little man is growing up. I always had this goal in mind, that I wanted him to be a working cattle dog by the time he was 6 months old. He just turned 4 months and I think he's well on his way! He's been getting so much praise and loves lately. What a smart little guy. I say little, but I just know he's going to be huge already! The biggest problem about this is that he's convinced he's a lap dog. I blame that on my brothers since they always let him sit on their lap or on the couch next to him. Now if he sees you sitting on the couch he will come barreling at you and just about take you out to sit on the couch with you.

Well, enough of my gushing. Just thought I'd let you in on how his training is going. Next I'm hoping to get him to bring the cows around, sort, and all that. I know that will take a lot of work for both DJ and me, but I feel confident that we can do it.

DJ at a few weeks old. Look at that face!

The happy family: Wiley, Duke, and DJ.

Farm Bureau Federation

I just recently joined the Montana Farm Bureau Federation. Yesterday I had my first meeting with two other members to begin planning a social for Young Farmers and Ranchers. In order to stir up a good turn out, we are planning on having a dance with a live band and a late dinner with a speaker. I don't know a lot about the Farm Bureau Federation yet, but I think the best way to learn is just jump in. I'm hoping to be very involved in MFBF, especially YF&R on the local, state, and national level. I will keep you updated on my involvement in the Farm Bureau Federation!

Where You Have Livestock...

This weekend wasn't the greatest on the ranch. We lost a calf, had to put a calf down, and had to put a mother cow down as well.

The calf that died was born disfigured. The little thing only had one nostril and it's lip was detached on the right side of it's face. He was born one evening and didn't survive to see morning. I felt so bad for it. Honestly, I couldn't believe it was alive when it was born. Just one of those strange things, ya know?

The calf we had to put down has been something weighing on our minds for a long time. He was the cutest dang Charolais calf you'd ever see in your life. Unfortunately, after he was born he contracted navel ill, which then turned into joint ill. What causes navel and joint ill is bacteria enters the belly button of a newborn calf. Once the bacteria reaches the joints of the calf it causes joint problems, trouble walking, and pain. It will eventually get so bad that the calf's joints will basically wither away until he can't walk at all. We first noticed he probably had joint ill when he was about a week old. Everyone basically knew that if the bacteria was already to his joints, he would probably have to be put out of his misery. We did try to save him though. He was administered a sulfur bulos twice a week and a high-dose shot of LA 200 every 3 days for 2 weeks, as instructed by our veterinarian. We thought we had caught the joint ill in time, because the calf responded well to the treatment at first. But after a while he would be barely walking again. Finally, after weeks of trying to save him, he had to be put down. I think the worst part was that his mother is one of the most attentive cows we have in our herd. She rarely left her calf's side. I know that we had all grown fond of the little guy, so putting him down wasn't easy for anyone. After that we made sure that every single calf born on the place had it's belly button coated with iodine, that being the way to avoid navel and joint ill. We learned a pretty hard lesson with that.

The cow that had to be put down was actually one of the heifers we bought this year. She calved sometime early last week. After a couple days she started to act funny. She was down a lot, so my brothers and I went out to get her up and see if we could do anything. When we walked out to see what was going on, she could barely stand up. We brought her into the barn and put her in the head catch. Sometimes when cows do this they could have a twin inside them or maybe even a blood cloth. My brother stuck his hand inside her to see if that was the problem, but it wasn't. We gave her a dose of LA 200 to see if it would put a little hitch in her giddyup. It didn't. She just kept going down, and we could not get her to stay up. This is one of the worst things to see, especially in a heifer. Basically, if the cow doesn't even have the will to stand up, she is going to be dead within a few days. We humanely ended her life, the third animal to die on the ranch within a few days.

It's weeks like this that I wish I had a normal life where I didn't have to deal with death on a regular basis. But as the saying goes, "Where you have livestock, you have dead stock."

Women in Agriculture

There's a saying I hear a lot around here. It goes, "Behind every successful rancher is a wife who works in town." I think we can all admit that being a rancher's wife has got to be one of the most demanding jobs there is. Not only do they usually work in town, but they come home and do ranch work, feed their family, clean up after their family, and do whatever else needs to be done. I respect these women- my mother is one of these women. However, I do not necessarily want to be one of these women. My parents have always instilled independence in me. From a young age my mom made sure that I knew that in order to be fully independent I would have to get a college degree and have a way to support myself. I'm getting my college degree in Business Administration so that I can make the best business choices possible in agriculture. I'm slowly building my herd, and ultimately, my credibility in what is a male-dominated field. What I'm saying is, I don't want to be a rancher's wife. I want to be a rancher. I want to be able to tell people that I have my own spread and my own herd and I earned it all on my own. And don't get me wrong, my parents raised me right. I know how to cook and clean, but I also know how to run a swather and had my first horse at the age of 3. Of course, one day I would love to settle down and do the family thing. But for now, it's not my main focus. I just don't see myself getting married unless I know I can fully support myself and, if needed, my family. Heck, maybe the new saying will be, "Behind every successful rancher is a husband who works in town." Not likely, but you never know. Anyway, I know more and more women who plan on taking over their family ranch or starting their own. They are getting their degree in business, science, genetics, or anything agriculture-related. I honestly feel proud to be part of this group of women. We know what we want, and we are making it happen.

Blake Shelton and Justin Moore Concert

I'm a huge country music fan. It's pretty much all I listen to. When I found out Blake Shelton and Justin Moore were coming to Billings, MT, I knew I had to go! The concert was originally scheduled for January. Sadly, not long before the concert Blake Shelton's father passed away. The concert was rescheduled for March 23rd, which is right in the thick of calving season. I figured my parents could go at it alone for a day while my younger brothers and I went to the concert.

MetraPark, the location of the concert, was completely packed. I've been to several concerts and sporting events, including PBR, in the Metra and I've never seen so many people in it before. Dia Frampton was the opening act. If you watch the television show The Voice, you'll know who I'm talking about. Dia was a contestant who was coached by Blake. She made it to the final two. Dia is not a country singer, but she has a beautiful voice. Her live performance was very impressive, even though her style of music isn't exactly my favorite. There was a small intermission before Justin Moore came on. This is when I decided it would be smart to stand in the beer line. It wasn't that smart. I barely sat down with my drink when Justin came on stage. I'll tell ya, the guy has stage presence. I don't know what it was, but Billings was really loving him. After he sang Small Town USA, the audience gave Justin a standing ovation. He told us how much it meant to him and his family, which I thought was so touching. Justin Moore was a great entertainer. His live singing was remarkable. I mean, he can really belt! After another intermission, Blake Shelton finally came on stage. Actually, I should say he played a recording of Miranda Lambert's song Baggage Claim. When it came on, the entire crowd was getting very excited to see Blake. Finally, he came on. His show was very impressive. He did a lot of crowd interaction, which was great. He sang some old favorites, like Old Red, and new songs just on the radio, including Drink on It. He had a great live singing voice and seemed very down-to-earth when he was interacting with the audience. He told us a lot of personal stories. Overall it was the best concert I've been to. If either Blake Shelton or Justin Moore is ever in your area, I highly recommend that you go to the concert. You will not regret it!

Group picture! Oh, wait.. 

Ok, let's do that again! Oh, wait..

Third time's a charm! Oh my gosh. Never mind.

People were waving their phones like lighters. 

Justin Moore

Blake Shelton

This picture turned out nice.

He was talking to the audience.

My Least Favorite Things in the World

As of today and yesterday I have compiled a list of my least favorite things in the world. It goes:
Cows.
Fences.
Gates.
Horses.
Calves.
Tractors.
Four Wheelers.
Dogs.
Cows. Oh, did I already say that?

That's all I can think of right now. I guess you could say I've had a couple of bad days. Honestly, there are only so many things that can go wrong on the ranch and I believe I've witnessed all of them in the last two days. Unfortunately, I really can't really complain because I could always be like a normal person my age and get a normal job. Or have no job at all... What am I saying? That's just crazy talk! Well anyway, tomorrow I'm making the trek to town to see my sister, so I can only assume that I will not have to deal with any of those terrible things on my list. Hallelujah! In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time."

Feeding at Night

My family, being relatively new to the beef cattle business, has had to take everything day-by-day. My parents had a cattle background, from their dairy farm, but the two types of cattle raising are completely different. As a family, we've learned most things through trial and error. Of course, we have always had a great group of neighbors to give us advice and, often times, hands-on instruction. But I'd like to think that being first- and second-generation ranchers, we have had an opportunity to find a new way to do things. It always helps to look at something from a new perspective. One major thing that has changed since most of the neighboring families started ranching: the internet was invented. At least once a week I find myself on Google looking up something farm and ranch related. One of the techniques that Google has provided my family with is feeding cattle at night during calving season. There's something about feeding at night that delays calving until morning. For the most part, that is. For example, this calving season, we have only had one calf born at night. This particular calf was a stillborn, so that leads me to believe something was probably wrong that caused the cow to start calving. Even so, I know a lot of the ranchers around here who feed their cattle early in the morning during calving season. It's the way they've always done it and the way they always will. I think it's easy to get caught up in traditions like that without thinking about how it effects other segments of the business. I know a lot of the methods used by my neighbors are tried and true, but I still can't help but think that sometimes it might benefit them to break tradition.

Here's a link to one of the articles I've found on the effects of night feeding: http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-news/Night-time-versus-day-time-feeding-influences-time-of-calving-135874173.html

Quick Update

I went to Billings, MT yesterday and attended a Blake Shelton and Justin Moore concert. It was awesome! I'm going to do a longer post about it when I'm done recovering from the awesomeness. I even took pictures, so be prepared to see them soon.

The One-Eyed Dog

Our Australian Shepherd, Duke, recently got into a little trouble. One day a few weeks ago, he came limping back to the house. His left eye looked a little glazed over and his lip was torn. I don't know what happened for sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion he got cornered in the heifer pen and got stomped on a little bit. I thought the eye might get better, so I left it alone. His lip looked fine until I tried to super glue it back together. This is a trick I've used to avoid stitches for a minor cut on an animal. Unfortunately, at that point I realized the lip was torn all the way through and Duke would need stitches. It was too late to take him to the vet, so the next day I brought him in. Now, Duke has a small cataract in his right eye. So even though it only shows in one eye, he has glaucoma in both. The vet said that the trauma he received made the glaucoma in his left eye react, so he was now blind in that eye. She also said his lens was pushing to the front of his eye and causing him pain. That's when I found out that he had to have his eye removed. I almost cried. I realize I was probably overreacting but I felt so bad for him. This dog is the sweetest. He loves people so much. Today he even saved me from a heifer who tried to run me down! So anyway, the vet stitched his lip up and I scheduled an appointment to get his eye removed. I brought him in that morning and he had to be put under to have the surgery done. They thought he might have to stay the night, but by about 3:30 p.m. the vet clinic called and said I could come get him. He was not only loopier than a pet coon, but he had to wear a cone on his head to stop him from pawing his eye. He came out of the clinic rubbing his head on everything he could get to that might pull the cone off. No such luck. I brought him home and he's been on pain medicine and antibiotics. Everyday he would work his hardest to get the cone off until eventually it was too torn up to do any good, so I just took it off. He was pretty excited that day. Today we went in and Duke got all of his stitches removed. The vet said he's doing great. He's pretty well adjusted to life as a one-eyed dog, but he occasionally freaks out if something is in his face that he can't see. 

Duke and DJ. Duke's right foot is actually through the cone. Silly dog. 

All I can say is, I hope he learned his lesson. 

P.S. How do you like DJ's new collar?!

Babysitter Cows and Baby Calves

I'm not sure if every herd is like this, but we have certain cows who like to babysit the calves. The mamas of those calves graze further off and return to the calves to feed them. Then, we have cows who prefer to distance themselves and their calves from the herd. I guess its all in their parenting style, huh?

Two Babysitter Cows and a Few Calves

A Loner Cow and Her Calf. How cute are the little black baldies!?

A Mama, a Calf, and Two Soon-to-be Moms

A Mama Eating Hay and the Baby Relaxing

Bizarre Montana Laws

I have heard a lot about state, local, and city laws that are outdated or don't really make any sense. It turns out Montana has a lot of them, so I thought I'd share. I warn you that some are just crazy, while others might be considered offensive. This is just for fun, so I hope I don't offend anyone.

State of Montana
Prostitution is considered an offense against the family.
One may not pretend to abuse an animal in the presence of a minor.
It is illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperone.
It is a felony for a wife to open her husband's mail.
It is a misdemeanor to show movies that depict acts of felonious crimes.
It is illegal for married women to go fishing alone on Sundays, and illegal for unmarried women to fish alone at all.
It is illegal for a man and woman to have sex in any other position than missionary.
Seven or more Indians is considered a war party and it is legal to shoot them.

Billings, Montana
No person shall raise pet rats.
Persons in possession of a "pea shooter" risk it being confiscated by the police.
It is illegal to bring a bomb or rocket to city council proceedings.
Bands who play in clubs where alcohol is served may not leave stage while performing.
It is illegal to use speed-dial in the city phone system.

So, there it is. A little bit of humor, I hope. I tried to verify them all, but I had a hard time finding what I consider factual sources. Anyway, my favorite is how it's apparently illegal for me to go fishing alone. Silly men. Anything you can do, we can do better, and alone. If you know of any wacky laws in your state, let me know! I love stuff like this.

Doing the Right Thing

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but my ranch is a commercial operation. We raise steers until they are around 6 months old and then sell them to a feed lot. Pretty soon we are also going to start selling first-cross Baldy bred heifers. I know there are some stigmas out there about commercial ranchers, and knowing some of the people I do, I can see where that comes from. The goal of my family, and especially me, is to give every animal on the ranch a happy, safe, healthy, and humane life. However short or long that life may be. I don't understand how you could work alongside livestock day after day and not develop an attachment to them. I can't help it, at least. If we have a sick or dying animal we always do everything we can to save it. If it can't be saved and it is in pain, we humanely end its life. We don't find any pleasure in this and every loss is an emotional and financial loss. There have been many times that we have lost a calf or a wonderful cow that I've cried. And don't get me wrong, the ranch is a business. We have a bottom dollar, but not at the expense of our livestock. One thing I've noticed is that when you treat your cows with kindness and work with them gently, they will be gentle and kind in return. I honestly take pride in the fact that I can walk out in the open pasture with the cows and they don't run away in fear. They stand there and continue eating. Some even come up to me to say hi. Of course, you will always have a crazy one, or two. That can't be changed. At the same time, I have neighbors who have all crazy cows. These cows aren't naturally crazy, they're afraid of what happens to them when they are worked or being moved or whatever. Some ranchers think that they can abuse their cattle and it doesn't make a difference. It does. A 1500 pound animal that is afraid is a lot more likely to cause problems than one that is content. There is a marked difference between the way our cattle behave compared to the more aggressive cattlemen. Even so, there are always times when you can't help but to be a little aggressive with the cows. I find that these times are usually when a cow could get hurt, like trying to push through a barbed wire fence to get to hay. In fact, one of my cows aborted this year not long after she jumped a hay pen fence. Now if I see a cow in a hay pen I get anxious. Once they get a taste of it, they keep wanting to go back for more, even if they almost kill themselves in the process. Anyway, I just got to thinking about how I honestly love ranching and if hurting the animals in any way would make me a million dollars, I still wouldn't do it.
"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." -General Normal Schwarzkopf

When All Else Fails, Use a Four Wheeler

I have yet another Michelle is the Bravest of Them All story for you. I know what you're thinking, could she possibly get anymore fearless? The answer is; heck yes. Yesterday, as my mom and I were on our afternoon walk, we discovered three renegade cows in one of our hay yards. The gate was wide open so I can only assume it was operator error on my brothers' parts. One of these particular cows belongs to me, so I assume that she probably started it all. She really loves alfalfa, can you blame a girl?! So, in pure determination to show those cows who is boss, I handed my water to my mom. With a steely gaze told her, "I got this." I marched into the hay pen with my ferocious cow dog, DJ at my side. I came around and started to push them out. My cow and another cooperated and started back out right away. The third cow, however is a little... skittish. Yea, that's the word. I'd say crazy, but she's really not. She just doesn't like people or dogs, especially not in close proximity to her. Especially when they are trying to chase her away from a perfectly good meal of alfalfa hay bales. As the other two cows are headed out, this one was looking me straight in the eye. All I could think is, she's more afraid of you than you are of her. That's what they always say anyway. I moved closer and she just stood there, looking at me with a menacing expression. So I moved closer again. This time I told my wickedly ferocious cattle dog to attack her. He just looked at me. Oh yea, I haven't gotten to that part of his training yet. Then I did what all cattlemen (cattlewomen?) do when they can't get a cow to move by sheer intimidation. I yelled at her! I told her to get her big old butt out of that pen before I came back with the four wheeler and chased her down! It worked. She ran like heck. You shoulda seen the look on her face. I was glad that I could finish my walk with some pride of a job well done. As I walked away from the pen though, I noticed that same cow go back to the pen and try to push through the barbed wire. So then I came back with the four wheeler and chased her down. Hey, I warned her.

The Foreman and the Night Shift

Everyone who has ever lived on a ranch has probably had the night shift of cow checking during calving season, unless they are very lucky. I have been doing it every single night, except three, since the end of February. Now, how did I get stuck with this job? Well, it's pretty simple. My mom, my two younger brothers, and myself all live on the ranch full-time. My sister is off at college still and my dad works out of town. My mom is an early to bed, early to rise type. It was obvious she was going to be early morning checker. Of my two brothers, one is in out of high school and the other is still in high school. The oldest of the younger brothers is neither a night owl or an early morning type. He's what I like to call a middle-of-the-dayer. So he gets the middle of the day until evening shift. Now, my baby brother is actually being home schooled right now by yours truly, but that's a whole other story. So the high schooler is out for basically any checking during the week. On the weekends however, he is the go-to man if my mom, brother, or I need a break. So that leaves me. I get stuck with the night shift. Can you say short end of the stick?! Sometimes I complain about this because we all know I'm the foreman of this here ranch! Unless my dad is home, then I allow him to have a little say. Just a little. The foreman part is basically true. My cousin from Minnesota even commented about how I "run this place". I take care of all the bills, handle the finances, do a lot of the cleaning and most of the cooking, always take care of any type of cattle work preparation, and then, of course, do just as much (or more) manual labor as those dang men around here. Pretty sure this whole operation would fall apart without me. I guess that's part of the reason I came home.

But, even the foreman has to make a few sacrifices, such as night calving. When dealing with the night shift, you need to figure out how you can do it best. Everyone is different, so everyone approaches it a different way. I know some people who like to sleep in between checks and set their alarm. I know people who just magically wake up when its time to check... or so they say *suspicious look*. Obviously, neither of these methods have ever, or will ever work for me. I am the type that needs to stay up the entire time. I just know the second my head hits that pillow for a little "nap" I will not be waking back up. So I just stay up and use the time I have alone to, well, be alone. For once. It's marvelous. Sometimes I get to watch TV, or I blog, or read a book. An actual book! Like I said, I'm busy. But, to be completely honest, I usually work on homework. Yea, I'm the crazy person getting a degree to work on a ranch. I'm also getting my real estate license. When will I ever have time to sell a dang house, or ranch, or anything? I have no idea. Maybe I'll just stop sleeping completely. I can sleep when I'm dead, right?

Distressed Cow Sounds

Well, tonight I was doing my cow checking thing as usual. When I walked out to check the heifers I heard a cow bellaring VERY loudly. It kind of scared me because I thought maybe a cow had gotten into the yard and was planning on attacking me, kung fu cow style. Okay, I realize I was being irrational, but I tend to get a little more irrational at one in the morning, in the dark. So I decided to just finish checking the heifers then try and figure out where the distressed cow was. There weren't any calves and the heifers weren't even trying to think about calving. They were all calmly munching hay. So that's good. Then I tried to listen and see where the sound of the cow was coming from. I couldn’t tell exactly, but all of the cows are in large pen behind the house. I decided to check them, in the safety of my vehicle. Ya know, just in case. I drove around the pen and found all of the cows calmly munching hay, just like the heifers. I rolled down my window to listen for the cow and could barely hear her, so I figured I was moving farther away. I then went back into the yard and listened a little more. The cow was being equally dramatic as before, and she sounded close, but I knew it wasn't one of ours at least. The weird part is the neighbors on the west side of the property line don't have cows anymore. All I can guess is that another neighbor had a renegade cow who jumped a few fences. She probably got lost and couldn't find her herd, hence the distressed cow sounds I was hearing. I just went out again a few minutes ago to check again, and she's quieted down a bit. This is a problem I'm leaving until morning. You know, when it's light out.

The Case of the Missing Calf

The other night I was checking cows as usual. Out of no where I heard a calf bellaring. Confused, I set out to find the calf and hopefully help it. I thought I heard the calf coming from the barn, so I head over that direction. And there, outside the barn, between the wall and the stock tank, was the little grafted twin calf, screaming bloody murder. He has been inside the barn with his new mama because she was having a hard time accepting him completely. The barn doesn't have a real door, we just close it with a swinging gate. So it appears that the calf somehow escaped his pen, crawled under the barn gate, then got himself stuck between the stock tank and the barn. So I crawled in next to him, lead him to the gate, and pushed him under the gate. Then I went around to the other door into the barn to investigate. By the time I went around and got into the barn, the little bugger had escaped under the gate again. So I went back out and ushered him back into the barn, again. This time I went through the gate so that he couldn't sneak past me, again. When I turned back to close the gate, my brother's horse was right in my face trying to see what was going on. He frightened me and I think I about had a heart attack. So I closed the gate and headed inside. All of the lights were off in the barn, which is strange because we usually leave them on at night if cows are in there. As I looked around, I realized that the calf's mama was also loose. Now, this cow isn't exactly the gentlest cow. To be frank, she scares the crap out of me. I tried to get the lights to work to no avail. Turns out all of the bulbs were burnt out. So there I was, in the pitch black, holding back an upset calf, and trying to avoid a crazy cow. Unfortunately, the rest of my family was sleeping so I knew I would have to safely get the cow and calf back into their pen alone. While standing over the calf so he wouldn't escape, I basically pushed the mother cow back into the pen. As soon as she got in she turned around and tried to come back out. The only way out would be over me, so I'm happy to say that she changed her mind. So then I pushed the little one into his pen with the cow. Do I know how they managed to open the gate to their pen? No idea. I guess I'll never know. Anyway, all was well again and I managed to do it all by myself. Last night I even got a break from night calving because my brothers said I deserved it for doing so well. So basically the moral of the story is: I rock.

The Case of the Grafted Calf

As you know, we had a set of twins the other day. Yesterday we began the process of grafting the smaller twin calf to a mama cow who had lost her calf. This particular cow is, to say the least, a little wild. I want to tell you that my family and I pride ourselves on having a ridiculously tame herd. You can literally feed at least half of our herd by hand. We achieve this by feeding out our heifer calves that we keep back for cows. From the time the heifer calves come home from pasture in the fall, until they go out to pasture in the summer, they are fed in a pen. Everyday someone goes out and feeds them some grain or cake. Eventually, they start to greet you at the gate to get their grain. They heifer calves grow into full-grown cows who will still come up to you and expect food. This year, we bought some first-year heifers to build our herd a little quicker. Some of these soon-to-be mother cows are very tame, but others, like the one I referred to before, are not. So, the wild cow was about to get a new baby. The first thing we did to graft the calf was put the cow in a head catch in the barn. We milked her and fed the little guy a few times yesterday and again once this morning, just to be sure he was getting enough to drink. Once the cow's milk made its way through the calf, he started smelling like his new mama. At this point, she started allowing him to drink on his own a little bit. Unfortunately, she's still a little wild. Every time we tried to check on her in the barn she would disregard the calf and start running around in a circle in her maternity pen. The only way we know he is getting anything to drink is pretty much because he's still alive. He would have starved to death by now if he wasn't getting milk. I'm glad to say we can call the grafting a success.

The little guy.

The new mama. Terrible picture, I know. I'll take another I promise. 

Twins on Super Tuesday

First, I'd like to say that I've been having problems posting consistently. I'm pretty busy. Honestly, haven't even opened my computer since the last time I posted. So, I'm making a commitment to do better. I think I'm going to post at least one day of the week. Probably on Wednesday, because its the middle of the week and just feels right. I will still randomly post other days. Hopefully this works better! :)

In the six years my family has been ranching in Southeastern Montana, we've only had two sets of calves. One set was born about four years ago. It was a fraternal pair, one heifer and one bull. Unfortunately, when opposite-sex twins are born, the heifer has a 92% likelihood of being sterile. This heifer is called a freemartin heifer. Our second set of twins was born today. It was two bulls and they were actually identical. Pretty cool, huh? They were born to one of our first-year heifers, which I thought was interesting. I've never really heard of it happening. I mean, they have a hard time with one calf!! The first little bull calf born was pulled by a calf puller and the other just kinda fell out. The mama cow (she's a cow now that she's had her first calf) won't be able to produce enough milk to support both calves. Eventually one of them, probably the little one, will be kicked off the cow and will starve to death. Strangely enough, three days ago we had a still born calf. The cow is still producing milk, so we are going to try to graft one of the calves to her. That will be tomorrow's adventure and hopefully it works. I went out and snapped pictures right away after the calves were born. I was proud of myself for thinking about it! I also took some more pictures when I went out to check cows tonight.

They were only minutes old in this picture. 

The mama was probably thinking something along the lines of "There's two of them!?"

I'm a terrible photographer... but here they are from late tonight. 

 In other news, it was Super Tuesday today. I didn't want this to be a political blog, but I think there are some things to be said. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of any of the candidates. I realize that no matter what, no person is perfect, which means that no candidate can be perfect. It looks like Romney took Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Idaho, and probably Ohio. Santorum took North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Gingrich took Georgia. Wyoming and Alaska haven't been completely reported. That being said, I do feel like Americans are ready to head in a different direction. But, I'll leave it at that. I'm not one to stand on a soap box and preach about things that I'm not an expert on.

Caffeine Addict

I'll just come right out and say it, I come from a long line of addicts. Caffeine addicts, that is. We love caffeine. We love coffee. We love mountain dew. Ok, I love mountain dew, the rest of the clan likes it. Anyway, I think I can admit that we have a problem. Caffeine is drank at our house pretty much all day long, rain or shine. I know that my caffeine addiction started at a very early age. What? You say. Doesn't caffeine stunt growth? You say. Well, I can't say for sure but I stand a healthy 5'8" and I'm the shortest of the clan. Yes, even my baby brother is taller than me now. Darn it all! As I was saying, when I was younger I would always try to drink my grandpa's coffee. So one day he decided to fix me a bottle of coffee. I know, this all sounds so wrong. The bottle was about 90 percent milk, I'm sure, with maybe a dash of sugar. But, by golly, I was hooked. My early caffeine addiction was also helped along by the fact that my grandma always let me drink her Diet Pepsi. Lately I've been trying to cut down to one cup of coffee a day and one (or less) can of pop, aka mountain dew, cause that's the only kind worth drinking. (Except root beer with ice cream and coke with whiskey).It's been difficult to cut down because I start to get headaches at around 5 in the evening if I haven't had much caffeine that day. Not fun. Today I only had one cup of coffee and I feel pretty good, so I think my evil plan is working. Muahahaha!! Haha. Ha… Too much? Well, I better get off of cyberspace because I gotta go check some cows. Peace and Blessings.

P.S. Starbucks is overrated :)

Some Words of Wisdom

As you know, I live on a ranch. We raise beef cattle and we farm hay and other feed for the cattle. When I was younger, I didn't want anything to do with this lifestyle. It makes me sad to admit, but I was ready to head to the big city and never look back as soon as I graduated high school. Well, I say big city, but I mean Billings, MT. The only actual city in Montana, which inhabits about 100,000 people. So, my first year of college was amazing. It was so much fun and everything I wanted. Then my second year of college started and I was working full-time, going to school full-time, and trying just to keep my head above water with bills. I had two amazing jobs and was right on track to graduate with a Bachelor's in Business Administration. After a year of it, I had to wonder if it was what I really wanted. I actually missed the soreness after riding a horse for hours. I longed for the smell of fresh-cut alfalfa. I realized, I didn't want to work in the corporate world, I didn't really want to work for anyone. I wanted to be a business owner, an entrepreneur, and a rancher. So today, after being on the ranch full-time for 8 months, I'm still on track to graduate with a Bachelor's in Business Administration as well as an Associate's in Political Science, as well as getting my real estate license. I'm going to be a successful business owner, realtor, rancher, and possibly even local political representative. Anyway, I opened the bible for the first time in a long time today and I came across this passage.
"Aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with you hands, as we have instructed you, that you may conduct yourselves properly toward outsiders and not depend on anyone." 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
When I read this passage, I just thought to myself, I want nothing more than to mind my own business, work with my hands, and support myself every single day.

A Little Cowgirl Poetry for Ya'll

Tonight as I was checking cows, I thought for sure one was having contractions. Nope, she was pooping. So, naturally, I wrote a poem about it.

 Is It Time?

Tail goes up,
Is it time?
Out the butt,
she's oozing slime.
On the ground,
steaming warm.
Whaddya know?
False alarm.

The New Additions

Today when I had a little time, I took a picture of the new baby I told you about the other day. The heifer calf was too busy drinking so I didn't get a good face picture. This cow is such a sweetheart, she let me come in to the pen and pet her and the calf. Here they are!

While I'm at it, here's a freakin adorable picture of DJ, my pup.

Calving Season is Officially in Full-Swing!

Well, the first calf of the year officially hit the ground on February 27th at around 5:00 p.m. My youngest brother, whose sixteen, and myself were the only ones home. Just our luck. We had been doing routine checks, every hour, because we knew a few cows were close. As I was defrosting some ground beef for dinner, ironically, I heard a whole lot of hollering coming from the corrals. I headed out because I kinda figured there was a little one on the way. The fist-year heifer in question was not hard to miss because she had two teeny tiny hooves sticking out of her hind end. First-year heifers are two year-old cows who are pregnant with their first calf. As I said in a previous blog post, they are much more susceptible to having a difficult delivery. Since the hooves were sticking out and we only knew she had begun labor less than an hour ago (since that was the last time we checked), we knew we would probably have to pull the calf. This is a process that is done by attaching a chain to the front hooves of the calf and pulling it out by hand or using a calf puller which puts torque on the chain for more strength. Now, I say the front hooves because hopefully by this time in the birthing process the calf has turned head first towards the birth canal. For the safety of all involved we moved the heifer to the barn so that she could be put in a head catch for pulling, if necessary, or a maternity pen to have the calf. This proved to be a much more difficult thing to do. The nervous first-timer was not all that anxious to leave her herd. After some gentle encouragement, we finally got her into the barn. This took so long that we no longer had the opportunity to let the mama have her calf naturally. If the calf isn't out within a couple hours from the beginning of the birth, the cow will need assistance or the calf could die.

So, we got the heifer in the head catch and began the slightly disgusting procedure of pulling the calf. First we had to pull the hooves out far enough to wrap a chain around them. The little bugger was being a little difficult so we only had one hoof to work with for a while. To be sure not to cause any damage to the one leg, we used a hand puller to get him out far enough to grab his other hoof. Next we had both hooves chained and attached the chain to the calf puller. First, came the knobby little knees followed closely by the cute little calf face. At this point I got a little worried because it's tongue was sticking out and I was irrationally sure it was dead. I mean, after all that hard work... Could you imagine!? So we kept cranking on the calf puller until the calf’s ribcage was out, at which point the calf still had not shown any sign of life. I was literally freaking out. By now my brother just grabbed ahold of the little guy and guided it out the rest of the way. He set it on the ground, and lord have mercy, it bellarred. Oh, and it was a heifer! I would like to point out that when the calf came sliding out, my brother got completely covered in amniotic fluid and after birth. It was not pretty. I also got some in my hair, and no, I haven't taken a shower since then. Anyway, as my brother picked up the calf by the hind legs so its head was down, I gave it a little tap on the ribs to help it get the amniotic fluid from its lungs. Then he sat it down and I stuck my fingers in its nose so it would sneeze and cough. Yes, I did wash my hands. Ha. By this time we moved baby and mama into a maternity pen and gave them a little time to get acquainted. After fifteen minutes or so I went back out to make sure the little gal was standing and drinking. She was standing, clumsily, and I watched in amusement as she tried to find the teet. Once she found it though, I'm glad to say that she drank vigorously. During the first twelve hours or so after a birth, a mother cow will produce a type of milk called colostrum. It's very important that the calf drinks this because it provides important antibodies to keep it healthy in the future. All in all, it was a successful birth. I guess its days like today that make it all worthwhile!

Cattle Dogs

I want to do a little blog on cattle dogs. I live on a working ranch so having working dogs is very important. I'd like to say right up front that I'm no expert. Also, I have all of my opinions for a reason, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm right. First I'll go through some terms that are used to describe the working style of cattle dogs. Cattle dogs are usually described as strong-eyed or loose-eyed. This just describes what type of gaze they keep on the animals they are herding. A strong-eyed dog will keep an almost constant gaze on the herd in order to control them. A strong-eyed dog tends to crouch because it helps them keep better eye contact. This type of dog will be easy to teach cues and works well under the influence of its handler. This type of dog is also usually very active, but not so aggressive as other cattle dogs. This style of working is usually associated a border collie and sometimes a Kelpie. On the other hand, a loose-eyed dog tends to stay off the ground while working, which is referred to as upright. A loose-eyed dog will occasionally keep eye contact with the herd but doesn't need to. They may also use bark and grip to control the herd. Grip means they could nip at the feet, known as heeling, or the head. These dogs are generally more independent and work well in small areas, like corrals and chutes. A loose-eyed dog covers a large number of breeds including Australian Shepherds, Blue Heelers, and others. These dogs can be aggressive, because they use the grip and bark methods. A dog like a Blue Heeler is usually more aggressive than the Australian Shepherd. The most common cattle dogs that are used in the area of Montana that I live in are Australian Shepherds, or Aussies, Border Collies, Blue Heelers, also called Australian Cattle Dogs, and a mixed breed called Hanging Tree. The Hanging Tree mix is a very interesting concept that I want to go over. Hanging Tree dogs have Aussie, Kelpie, Catahoula Leopard, and Border Collie. They were bred for maximum working skill and are growing in popularity for all-around working dogs. On our ranch we have 2 older working dogs and one puppy who was born in December. Our first cattle dog was Duke, a long haired Aussie. He’s the sweetest dog for sure. He is the dog I prefer to work with because he has a good sense of where to be and where to move the cattle. My brother has a dog, Wiley, who is half Heeler and half Hanging Tree. She definitely has the Blue Heeler aggressive streak but it works well because Duke isn't so aggressive. Our puppy was one of five in a litter from Duke and Wiley. His name is DJ and I think he will make a great cattle dog.


1. An  Aussie who looks a lot like Duke. 2. A Border Collie in the most popular black and white coloring. 3. A Blue Heeler- notice the how the tail isn't docked. 4. A hanging tree dog heading a cow.

Working ~and Playing~ for a Living

Today was quite a long day for my family and I. We woke up at about 5:30 this morning in order to head down to Wyoming to pick up some fencing and corral supplies. After quite a bit of coffee, my family left the house at around 6:30 a.m. It was my parents, my younger sister, and my two younger brothers. I'm not a morning person so I was crabby most of the morning, just cuz. After a few hour drive we arrived at the site where the company that my cousin works for sells discount panels, t-posts, and wooden posts. Everything sold at this site was lightly used and salvaged from oil and natural gas wells, so we got a great deal. I mean, like, GREAT! If you should know anything about me, it's that there's nothing I like more than a great deal. Except maybe coffee... Anywho, we loaded up 40 16-foot panels, 20 12-foot panels, and 20 12-foot panels with walk through gates on our gooseneck trailer by hand. We also loaded up about 100 t-posts and 25 wooden posts, this time by a skid steer. Manual labor is overrated anyway, right?? My sister and I also spotted a bent (aka free!) gate about 20 feet long and 3 feet tall that we thought would be perfect for a parking space by the house. No one knows what we are doing with it yet, so I'm hoping to cement it in one day as a surprise. To get the bend out I'll just have to lay it on the ground, bend up, and run it over with the skid steer. Nifty trick huh? When we finish I'll show you how it comes out. My sister and I also found a little sign holder that pushes into the ground. Ever since we moved to our current ranch I always thought we needed a sign. Now I just have to make a little something to insert then put it at the end of the driveway.

After all that commotion my baby cousin had his 1st birthday party. It's pretty conveinent that we we're able to get a little work in or there's no way my dad would have been okay spending a perfectly good Saturday at a party. So we were there for about two hours. Yes, two whole hours! I know it sounds crazy, but everyone, and by everyone I mean my dad and brothers, know that daylight is not for parties. After the party, everyone else headed home with our load while my sister and I did some grocery shopping before leaving town. We took seperate cars because 6 people in an extended cab pickup is about two or three too many. Maybe we're just spoiled. Or maybe it's a horrible experience riding in any vehicle with my loudmouth/ADHD brothers. One of the two ;)