The Red Book

The cows and two-year heifers have just started calving.  Out comes the Red Book, that is the record keeping book.  My Scott was always giving the Old Scott a hard time about writing everything in a little notebook and now here we are!  We have five already!  Only about 170ish more to go!!!

It's funny - now my Scott is over there walking the pastures checking cows and heifers.  Finally it makes sense all those times we were over there last year and our worker guy was sitting there watching the heifers calve!  It's just a big deal and it sort of takes over your thinking.  If there is a cow or heifer having trouble, you have to get in there and help things along the way or you will lose both the calf and the mom.  So, that looks like pulling the calf, rounding up the mom and doing what needs to be done there (like last year with the prolapsed uterus....a vision still fresh in my mind), or calling the vet.  So, even last night at 9pm, as we are heading home up through the canyon, we just had to do a quick walk through.  All was well and a new little one this morning.  Crabby - that's the name of the one that birthed last night.  She is the one who had the hurt foot and I had to give the shot to.  I really have some other names for her, but we will leave it at that for now.

Today, the plan is to distract the moms with bales of hay and then get in there to tag the new ones.  Apparently, my job will be to keep an eye out for the charging mom!  WTF!?  Oh, sorry, that slipped out.  So, I think my eyes got a little wide when Scott was telling me the plan and then he reassured me that the tractor will be close by so we can run to that and hop up on that if need be.  I guess I have never thought of a tractor as an island of safety, but guess I will have to change that thinking today!  I would rather run than I know what other ranchers do....which is to go out into the pasture with a big wooden bat.  I think I will take my chances with running!  Besides, I would never be able to use a bat on a living creature anyway....unless, of course, it was the crazy mountain man!

We are selling much of the equipment so today's big plan is to clean everything - twice.  It'll be nice, it's going to be about 55 and sunny!  I will take it!