Tied to the Ranch for the Winter.............

I took my camera over to the corral and snapped some pictures of our weaned calves. You can see the mommas in the background behind the fence.  We actually just rebuild this corral fence last year, so this years weaning process has been a test for the fence.  And it past!!

These are the cute little critters I blogged about last spring.  Growing up so fast.  I personally don't think they are cute anymore.  We will keep these critters in a pen and feed them some good hay until about February, then we will sell them. 

Ok, so maybe they are still kind of cute.  But with the weaning of the calves, comes the end of the "get away together" time for my Farmer and me.  No long vacations for us. (like we really do that, but a girl can dream) There are only 2 windows of opportunity during the year when we are not tied to the ranch and can get away together for more than 12  hours; in the spring when the cows are back on grass and we haven't started irrigating, and in the fall when the irrigation has stopped and we have not begun feeding the cattle.  (Oh ya, if it rains TONS during the summer, we can get away.)  We are the only ones here on the ranch now, so one of us has to be here to feed.  I really enjoy going places with my Farmer, especially when we get to spend the night away, go see a movie, go out to dinner, do some shopping, and just in general relax together.  Oh wait,  that last part didn't really go together, shopping with my Farmer and relaxing.  As memory serves me, it's really not that relaxing shopping with him (unless it's equipment shopping, which then is not relaxing for me cuz that just means big $$$).  Ok, the longer I think about it, it really means he has to be here to feed.  He's just fine by himself, and I will do just fine by myself shopping, seeing a movie, eating out, and coming home the next day.  Yep, second thought, I'm totally OK with that.  To bad he's tied to the ranch........but that's life, the farm life that is.

Sorting Cattle and Layering Wardrobe

We're a little late weaning our calves this year, but we finally got it done.  We brought the cows and calves to the corral, sorted off the calves and worked the cows.  When we wean our calves, we use the nose to nose method.  That means that the cows are on the outside of the pen that the calves are in.  They can not get to each other, (unless they tear the fence down, which can happen, and it has happened) but they can touch noses.  Supposedly this method keeps the stress level down.  We will let the calves settle down for a few days before we vaccinate them, which also plays in with keeping the calf's stress level down which is very important.  If they get too stressed, they are more prone to sickness, which obviously is not a good thing.  But we did go ahead and vaccinate the cows while we had them in the corral. 
Over the years, I have learned the importance of a layering wardrobe when working outdoors this time of year.  I started the morning out with all my winter layers on and my new non-fashion statement boots.  But knowing that the weather could change at any minute, (and it did) before I headed to the corral, I packed extra items with me that could not be layered.  Since I was wearing my non-fashion statement boots, I took my Muck boots, and my Georgia work boots.  I also had 3 hats, my warm fussy one with ear muffs, my beanie hat, and my John Deere baseball hat (this was in all hopes the sun would shine).  And I had 4 pairs of gloves, my warm leather mittens, liners for inside my mittens, warm rubber gloves, and of course my nice fitting leather gloves.  (I have a thing about gloves, but that's a blog all in itself)  I felt I was totally prepared for what ever the weather did.   And believe me, I stripped off layers, changed hats and gloves, and put back on layers, a million times that day.  And my new non-fashion statement boots, (I guess I had better find out the real name of them, so I can call them correctly) were wonderful and very warm, but they do have one draw back.  They are very heavy.  I'm glad I had some lighter boots to change into!  I think by the time I wear those boots all winter, my legs will be looking SO GOOD!  That's livin' the life, the farm life that is........................

Them boots are made for .......working

Here is a picture of my Farmer trenching the ditch that the cable will be put in for the pivot.  (and in the back ground is the stuff that has to be moved.)

Here is a picture of me watching my Farmer trench the ditch.   Such a glamorous picture of me.  I was freezing my ass off.  My top part was OK (plenty of layers), just the bottom half was dressed wrong.   The boots I'm wearing are my muck boots,  which are wonderful and I dearly love, but they get cold after a while when it is below freezing.  So the next day I went to town and bought some new warmer boots.  I picked out a really pretty pair, but then my Farmer informed me that I needed practical boots for working in, not boots to make a fashion statement.  OK, Fine!  So I bought the practical pair.  They feel really warm, are all rubber, insulated, and come clear up to my knees.  They will work really well for walking in the deep snow this winter when I go out to start my tractor.  And I have since learned that they are water proof, and maybe the reason behind my Farmers reasoning for my getting them.
We were finishing up with the trench and got into a sloppy mucking water situation.  Well, with him being on the tractor, someone had to get in the slop and do the dirty work.  (This is one reason I learned to work the tractors, but there are times that doing the dirty work is a lot less stressful than running the tractor.)  So since I had on my new non-fashion statement boots, and he just happened to be wearing plain (non water proof) work shoes, I was elected to enter the slop.  And I must say, my new shinny boots worked just fine.  My feet did not get wet and stayed warm.

 Pretty nice huh?!  These were only 2 hours old when I took this picture, see the tags are still on them.  But they served their purpose, I was still toasty warm and I was able to just stick them under the facet and wash them off.  So I guess my Farmer knew what he was talking about when he said I needed practical boots to work in.  I just think I might get lots of funny looks when I run to town to do my shopping this winter.  But ya know, that's livin' the life, the farm life that is....................