Canceled party

Tonight Tammy planned to host a wine tasting / buying party put on by a direct selling company.  She had 15 women who planned on attending.   However the recent snow put a halt to that.  The snow totals around the valley appear to range from four inches to a foot of snow.  I think we had 5 to 6 inches of snow at the ranch.

15 people means a lot of cars and I had to move snow even further back in the yard in order to fit all the cars.  I shoveled snow for 3 hours last night and then most of today.  This amount of snow usually takes me three days to completely shovel everything.  I shoveled until 5:30 pm when Tammy canceled the party.  Only three people confirmed they would attend with some people not attending due to being stuck  in their driveway or down with the flu.  Three people was not enough to make it worthwhile to hold a party.

After canceling the party Tammy got finally got replies for some people who said they did intend to come to the party and would have had enough people to hold a party.  Darn!  Tammy plans on having another party in the Spring when the weather will be better.

I'll finish shoveling the snow tomorrow.

Change to snow

Tammy came home last night.  This morning the weather changed.  No longer do we have 'dry and slightly warmer temperature' weather.  It started to snow around 7 am and snowed all day.  Non-stop.  The weather forecast has snow for the next week and the National Weather Service has predicted through mid-February: below normal temps and above normal precipitation.   The nice weather was too good to  last.

I shoveled part of the driveway in the evening.  It looks to have snowed more than 6 inches.

My "weather forecasting" cattle this morning after 8 am.  Their forecast: snow.

Frosty cattle

Monday morning some of the calves had frost on them.

#55 is Beulah's daughter.   Biggest cow.  Biggest calf.

Slipping

Last night, as I carried a hay bale to the cattle's feeder, I slipped on the frozen ground and manure and "sat down suddenly".  As you can see there is kind of a ring around the feeder.  I slipped crossing that hump.  That was the first time I have slipped carrying a hay bale.  And the odd thing was that yesterday I had opened the gate so the cattle could go sit under the trees and lessen the amount of manure buildup in the corral - big cows produce big manure piles.  So last night I didn't have cattle to avoid when carrying the hay bale to the feeder.  And I fell.

I protected most of the hay bale from touching the manure but my coat and pants were soaked on the spot I sat from the very short time I was on the ground.

Tonight Daisy helped me feed the cattle and I didn't slip.


The calves are adjusting to the loss of mama's milk.  After a few days of bawling they are mostly quiet now.  The calves did make a little more noise yesterday and crowd the fence when their mamas went further away from the calves to lay under the trees.

More frostiness

A few more frosty photos...

Dusting of snow

We had a half inch or so of snow Wednesday morning.  I shoveled/swept half of the yard.  I hope the temperatures in the coming week get rid of the rest.

Notice the remnants of the inversion cloud/fog against the mountains.

Looking into Glacier Park.

Sunset...

Frosty morning

Monday morning it was frosty.

Wolf moon

A few mornings ago we had a full moon. January's full moon is called a wolf moon.  Here is the moon when I fed the cattle in the morning.

Wolf moon between the trees.

Calf tipping

I got it all wrong.  The calf wasn't tipped.  I was!    Last night, after giving hay to the cows, I went to give hay to the calves.  I held part of the hay in my hands, and in my mouth held a small flashlight.  I saw the calves had pushed the water trough I use for hay farther from the barn door.  As I walked to the trough I fell.  Laying on the ground between the barn door and the trough was a calf.

I fell over the calf to the hard ground.  The calf then got up with a start and I rolled away in case it kicked as it moved away.  It didn't.

The bad news was the ground was hard and icy and I dropped the hay.  The good news is that I didn't fall into muck or manure and didn't break anything.

Weaning calves, Day 2 and frost

Day 2 of the calf weaning was noisier.  When I woke up this morning I could hear a few calves bawling for their mother. That's the way it has been all day.  Several calves are not happy being away from their mother's milk and are letting the world know.  Several other calves are handling it a little better, though not happy about the situation. "Grandpa Whiskers" is taking it in stride.   The mothers are handling it a little better, though a few times they answer their calves.

Yesterday was a beautiful day: sunny, calm wind, temperature in the upper 30s.  Today an inversion set in and it has been very foggy all day with a chill in the air.  I think the temperature was in the upper 20s most of the day.

The frost stayed on the trees all day.

Weaning calves

Today I started the weaning process for my calves.  Since their mothers are (or should be!) pregnant it is time for the calves to be completely on their own. Probably past time for the bigger calves as the calves were born a few months apart and vary in size.  They are big grass and hay eaters so this shouldn't be a big change for them. 

I started the process to separate them yesterday with no success.  I closed the gate to the pasture.  I am keeping all the cattle in the corral for now.  I planned to wait until the cattle drank water from the water trough in the south corral.  Then I would separate the mothers back into the north part of the corral.  It is easier to sort cattle who want to go through a gate than cattle who don't want to move.

I waited until they were done eating but they decided to hang by the gate to the north pasture.  I split logs for a long while and waited and watched, but they didn't move.

So I spent time visiting with Bob and Jan and didn't get back to feeding the cattle more hay until almost 6 pm, after their normal eating time.   Momma and the calves tend to eat at the feeder next to the barn and I figured I would herd the calves into the south corral.  Two calves decided to eat with the adults at their feeder.

I tried to herd the two calves to the barn feeder but we went around in circles.  One of the two calves was "Whiskers" (or "Grandpa").  He is an independent calf and I found one that doesn't care to be herded as he would kick. Since we were around the adult cattle I was leery they would kick me in frustration at being disturbed.  So I got a short stick in which to poke the calves to move.  Around and around we went in the muck, manure and ice.  The calves would duck in among the adults to grab a mouthful of hay before I reached them again.

I quit before I either got kicked or fell into the muck and manure.

At their 8 am feeding this morning I didn't feel like herding hungry cattle.  In the early afternoon I found all the cattle in the south corral. Wow! Great!   It was feeding time but I was able to get to the gate before any cattle passed through. I closed the gate part way.  One adult cow then walked through the gate then turned sideways and took a big crap.  I got her a little further away from the gate then Beulah - of course - was at the gate.  She stood in the entrance filling it with several calves right behind her.

I finally got her through the gate without the calves.  One more cow walked through the gate before the calves made a move.  I chased the calves away and the remaining adults ran too.

*argh*

I put a bale of hay for the three cows into the feeder so they would leave the gate area.

I got remaining cows through the gate in ones and two with repeats of chasing calves away from the gate a few times.

The adults eating.

 
Then I put hay into an additional water trough so the calves could eat hay and not ruin it. I put out another salt block for the calves.

 

I put another water trough in the north corral for the adult cattle.  Until the livestock well is done I have the original water trough in the south corral instead of through the fence where both north and south corral cattle can reach it.


So far the cattle are accepting being apart.  Initially the cows finished eating first and a few were concerned their baby was across the fence.  The calves were still eating and didn't care.  I've heard a few moos but no great caterwauling.   It helps they can see one another across the fence.   Just a little while ago I fed them their late night hay.  All were standing on each side of the fence mooing softly to one another.  The adults were out of hay but the calves still had some.

The weaning will take about six weeks and I hope I have better success than with Momma and Baby as Baby would suck from Momma after more than six weeks apart.


While the temporary fence and four corral panels dividing the coral kept Momma and Baby apart last year, I was leery the fence would keep these cattle apart.  I got three more of my corral panels and a few gates and wired them to the dividing fence to make it more formidable.  I don't want to have to separate the calves again.

The green panels and grey gate were added.

I put the second gate along the fence here.  I was afraid the branch hanging down would give a calf the idea he or she could jump the fence at this point.

The extra corral panels were in the hay shed.  The path I had used to move hay bales is now iced over from melting which made moving the panels tricky.

Icy yard

The weather has been icy. While I have shoveled and kept the snow off the driveway and yard, we have had several instances of rain and freezing rain over the past few weeks. Then toss in a wet snowfall last Friday.

Today I finished shoveling the last snowfall. Underneath the ice is still there. I spread some cat litter between the house and garage to help with traction. The rest of the yard... I slip and slide and walk carefully.  I haven't fallen... yet.

Good thing Daisy has four legs as even she slips.  Tonight she tried to run fast to get from the tool shed to the house and several legs slipped sideways as she tried to run.

Here you can see the tire tracks from when I drove last Friday when it was snowing.

Here you can see from the empty pallets that today I finally went through all the branches I had cut up last Winter to use for firewood.

Here is how the stack of branches looked last Summer.   This is how much I have burnt in the wood stove so far this Winter.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from us here at the ranch.
 
And from the cattle though they are more interested in hay at the moment.