You get WHAT from a COW??????

This past week my Farmer and I participated in a program called Ranchers feeding Youth.  This was the second one we've helped with.  I totally love this!  It is put on by our counties Idaho Farm Bureau Federation and the ranchers in the area , and is headed up by a very lovely lady at the University of Idaho Extension office.  Our population these days are so removed from the farm/ranch that it is really important for us involved in agriculture to bring the farm/ranch to the people.  And this program is doing that.  Our lovely UofI Lady has put a lot of work into this and we are hopeful to eventually have it in all of our area schools. After we have the kids rotate through 3 different stations, we then bar-b-que them hamburgers for lunch.  The three stations include food safety, animal by-products, and animal production.  My Farmer has been helping with the animal production station.  In it they show a short video of a heifer calving, and then it's just an open discussion period.  I'm sure they get some interesting questions from the kids after the video.  I help with the animal by-product station.  This subject is dear to me because it was one of the things I touched on when I was doing Ag in the classroom some years ago.  I did post a short story awhile back Is a day without Agriculture possible?, that touched on this subject.  It is really mind blowing when you learn what different things in our lives are actually made with an animal by-product.   One thing that I like to point out is glue.  Stop and look around.....what do you see that is made with glue?  This is a by-product of animals.  What about gelatin?  Also a by-product.  And what about medicine and medical supplies.  Collogen, pancreatin, heparin, coritsol, and medical sutures are all made with by-products from a cow.  And the list goes on and on.  So even if you do not eat beef, you most likely are using it in one way or another, in your everyday life.  Candles, cosmetics, insulation, plastics, leather, antifreeze, yogurt, pasta, and cake mixes are all made with beef by-products.  Without beef as a renewable resource, not only would the butcher's job be affected, but also the businesses that produce pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and textiles.  Yes, it even affects the baker and the candlestick maker.
So next time you see a cow out grazing in the pasture, remember...if she did not exist, not only would that beef steak or hamburger not be on the dinner menu, a lot of other things that we have come to rely on to make our lives easier, would also not exist.

A Valentine Rose Remembered...........

I'm a little slow, but I want to post about Valentine's Day.  I'm curious as to how many people actually do something special on "sweethearts" day.  We did something special this year.  My Farmer took me to look at bulls.  Yep, bulls, as in male bovine.  How romantic is that!   I bet not to many of you gals got to do that with your sweetheart!  I am sooooo lucky. (HA)  My Farmer so knows how to treat a girl, right?  But remember, this is why I know I'm married to a farmer (read - You Know......) My Farmer has never really been big on flowers, or for that matter, Valentine's Day.  When I had a real job (you know, had to get up, get dress, leave the house),  I was always jealous of the other girls that would get flowers on Valentines day.  My sister always did, but not me.  Then one day, boom, my Farmer brought me flowers to my office!  Wow! Shock! I was so excited, and I still remember that day.  The best Valentine's gift though, so far, (always have hope) was 2 years ago.  I had told him how much it really meant to me that day (yep, it only happened once) he brought me flowers to my office.  The week before Valentines day, he happened to go over and spend a couple days with our son,  (so I don't know if it was my son's doing or he was just bored), but my Farmer went shopping for me a valentines present.  No, I did not have any fresh cut flowers sitting on my table, or a heart shaped box of chocolates, but he did give me a card that morning, which I was totally thrilled with.  BUT, when I went to get in my tractor that evening to feed, there was a vase with an artificial rose in it.  Awwww.  It was the most awesome moment, I almost cried.  He said he remember me telling him how much it meant the year he brought flowers to my office, and since the tractor is now my work place in the winter, he put it in there.  I KNOW!  So cool!!  That's why going to check out bulls on Valentine's Day this year was ok with me.  The way I look at it is, what he did a few years back is still counting.  After all, if he did something wonderful every year, I wouldn't remember them as well, now would I.  After all these years, I'm starting to think my Farmer is like a bottle of wine, getting better with age.  (ha ha, don't tell him I said that)  (I'm not totally sold on this concept, but, like I said, ya gotta have hope.)  : )
So that rose hanging in my tractor, is not just there to make my tractor look nice, it's there to remind me that my Farmer thought of me.  And really, isn't that all we really want when it comes to gift giving, just to know that we were thought about and that we are loved?
Well, that was our Valentine's Day here on the farm, where we are livin' the life.  What did you do for Valentines' Day?

No Snow, No Bull......

Well, we finally got some snow around here.  Just in the last two weeks, we got around 2 feet or so (depending on where you're standing) of snow.   All the businesses and the ski hills around are very glad; me and my Farmer, not so much.   I believe the cows were also enjoying the no snow months.  They were able to wonder the whole pasture and graze a little, which normally does not happen around here in the winter.  And how you ask, do I know the cows were enjoying it?  Well, because day 2 of the snow storms, (we received about 10-15 inches in those 2 days) the cows decided to misbehave.  Yep, that's right.  They decided they wanted in a different pasture.  The one where the heifers were.  (Refresher course: Heifers are females that have not had calves yet. Cows are females that have had calves)   It would be OK for the cows to be in the same pasture as the heifers, except for our bulls were also in the pasture with the cows.  This is the problem.  Our heifers are still open (not been with a bull yet), and we do not want the bulls with the heifers just yet.  Reasons: #1 They are too young to get bred yet.  # 2 These bulls are not the bulls we want to breed them with.   So yes, they were able to push the fence down and co-mingle.  So now we had to get them separated.  again.  and the faster the better, before the bulls introduced themselves to the heifers.  (I'm assuming they had not met before I got there, but you know what they say about assuming....) Step #. 1 Get them in the corral.  As I was rushing around opening and closing gates, I was reminded how much nicer it was (just 2 days earlier) to not deal with snow.  Some gates were only pushing a couple of inches of snow to close, others had to be shoveled out to open, and then others were frozen to the ground and forget using them!  Step #2. Get them separated.  Our cows are very use to our corral.  In fact, they think they know how it works.  Once they are inside, they know which gate takes them back out to the pasture.  Next problem.  The gate they are use to exiting from is frozen to the ground with 2 feet of snow behind it so that escape route is out! My Farmer thinks this is no big deal, cuz they can just go out the other gate.  NOT!  So around and around the corral my Farmer and I (so did you start to sing a song from grade school too, or was that just me?) ran trying to get the cows to go out the other gate.  You talk about a work out!  Especially when you are wearing your "not a fashion statement" boots, in 2 feet fresh snow, with frozen cow shit under the snow.   But eventually we did win, cows finally went out the other gate, heifers got put back in their pen and the bulls stayed in the corral locked away from everything.  (Yep, they totally got the short end of the deal.)  As I said, the no snow was nice while it lasted.  But just like that, we are back to reality, we live in snow country, we get snow, so we'll deal with it.  Come this summer, when it is time to irrigate, we will be thankful that it snowed.  As for now, we're still livin' the life, the farm life that is...........and counting down the days till spring.