Kids These Days...

My goat with her little ones.

Yesterday I went with my dad to check our goats who would be kidding, having babies, any day now.  When we reached the pens, one goat was standing inside and made Dad wonder if she had had her kids.  Sure enough, my milk goat had had her kids.  She had 3 black and white kids, one female, and two males.  I think it is odd that they are black and white because neither one of their parents have any black.  But they are adorable!



This one is the girl.
The two last photos are the boys.
The boy without ears is fine, he has a little of his mom's breed which has no ears.

It was such a surprise to see the little ones.  We knew they were close, but still.  We are just so glad that she waited a day to have them.  The 23rd, the day before they came, was freezing and we had even gotten some snow.  But on the other hand, the 24th was in the 50's and a breeze slightly came now and then.  Perfect weather for having the kids.

 

They are so cute and this is a ranch blog, so I couldn't help but put up a post.  Enjoy the pictures!  : )

Protection

Today we thanked God for keeping us out of a wreck.

We had to go to a dentist, to our dismay, and left unhappy.  But really, who leaves the dentist happy?!  After we had eaten our dinner of hamburgers and fries, we headed home.  We had reached Forgan and stopped for a drink.
  When Mom started pulling out of the parking lot, our suburban, the Ol' Gray Mare, hit the brakes on her own.  Every time Mom pushed the gas, the car would jerk like it was trying to stop, but keep moving.  It did that every few inches and only worsened.  Dad got out and watched Mom drive up the road a little.  Finally, he walked across the main road to a mechanic.  The mechanic came over and looked under the hood.  Driving it a little, the car made an awful scratching, crunching sound by the left front tire.
  The mechanic knew then that it was the wheel bearing!  Dad carefully drove across the road and parked in front of the mechanic's shop.  The mechanic drove to Beaver for parts and we talked about what could have happened. 
  The whole tire could have popped off and caused a wreck, maybe even badly hurt a person.  We looked to each other; and thanked God for protection.  What are the odds of finding the problem in town right by the mechanic?  I am so thankful that God was watching out (and that Mom happened to want a pop), but really the thanks should and will go to God.
  We waited as the Ol' Gray Mare was 'getting her new shoe'.  Outside, the weather changed from quite pretty to really windy, cold, and dirty. 
  It took about an hour and a half before the suburban was ready to roll.  We headed home again and made it safely.  Even stopping to watch part of a track meet.
  I gathered 5 eggs from our 5 hens and stayed inside after that.  It was really windy and gross.  But the day ended well, and no one was hurt.  : )       

Branding

Even though spring is still 'hibernating', we went to a 'spring' branding this week.  The weather here in the Oklahoma Panhandle definately has a mind of its own and has proven that yet again.  On Thursday the 18th, we left our house at 7:00 AM and headed to the first branding of this year, even if the wind was blowing hard causing the temperature to be in the 30's.  All us cowboys and cowgirls dressed up for the cold weather, leaving behind fashion or style, we just wanted to stay warm; that's all that really mattered besides being able to move.  

After arriving at the set of pens, we unloaded the horses and climbed into the branding pens.  Once the calves were sorted from the mamas, the men started the propane for the fire.  Everyone made jokes like, "Put the fire on this side of the fence so we can gather around it." or "Didn't you check the weather channel before choosing this day to brand?"  Honestly, it was very cold and the wind did anything but help the matter.

We were told our jobs and handed the shots, ear notchers, implants, and other such things we needed for our jobs.  One man was assigned to brand.  (For those of you who have not attended a branding: we give calves shots for the same reason you get shots.  For their health.  Ear notches are used to cut a piece of ear out; ranchers have different cuts for their cattle.  Say one just cuts the tip of the right ear while another rancher might have a cut on the tip of the right and left ear, these are just examples. The brand is like a name tag, it shows who the calf belongs to.)

The ropers mounted their horses and began the roping.  First calf caught was drug across the pen to the flankers, who then yanked the calf to its side and the header sat on the calf with his leg on the calf's neck, the back man was on the ground pulling one hind leg out while pushing the other one way with his leg.  They would take the rope off and the roper would rope again.  And so on.  

The flankers held the calf until it had been ear notched, given its shots, cut and made into a steer and implanted if it was a bull, boy, and branded.  Then when both flankers were ready, they let the calf up and it raced back to the other calves.

We all felt the cold wind blowing air through our faces and some feet and hands became numb, but not badly.  Clouds scurried across the blue sky, some hiding the sun and us from its warmth.  Sometimes a person would look up and say, "I think the wind is trying to die down... oh, wait, never mind."  The sun would shine and it would be so warm compared to before, but it wouldn't stay very long.

When we finished a bunch of calves, we took them back to their pastures and herded another bunch.  I am not talking about a bunch as in a lot, but as a handful or group.  We worked through the morning hours and took a break for dinner.  It was all very good like every branding dinner.

After a few cowboy songs as we finished up dinner, we headed back to work.  Our boots were cold from sitting outside while we ate.  Dad, Big J., a friend from our church, and I pushed some cattle down a road to their pasture and got back to the pens in time to go to another set.  We branded 11 calves in one spot before moving again.  There we branded a few more.  And on to our last place.  There Big J., Little J., and I got to gather the whole herd mostly by ourselves.  Until a kid friend and a few grown men helped at the end.

While sorting, I moved my way in and made my young horse, Paradise help sort.  This was her first time doing so, but I think she did alright.  We cut off some calves and pushed some cows.  Either way, we finished the job without a problem.   

I had been giving shots all day and really wanted to flank.  So--a calf was drug up beside me and no one came.  I pulled it over and sat on its neck, holding its leg in one arm and the shot in the other.  Dad took the shot and I held the calf down until everything was done to it.  I also flanked once with my dad and once with the man who was in charge of the branding.



We flanked the last calf, gave the last shots, and branded the last calf.  Next came my favorite sound, the propane turning off.  We were offered drinks and the men turned out the calves, letting them run back to their bellowing moms.  We then headed home.  It was very fun, even if it was cold and blowing, all of the movement warmed us up a little.  Some flankers even broke a sweat.  (Pictures posted are not taken in this year; they are from years past.)



Flankers just about to have this calf flanked.



A calf fighting to go down.



Roper caught both hind legs.



No fight in this guy.



Flankers lined up.



A cute picture that Little J. took of a dog at one branding.



I really like brandings--they are such a great time when every one gets together to work.  I hope this post lets you see a little more of the ranch life that I am living.  : )













A Day Out on Horses

It's been kind of hard lately to think of something to write on this blog, but just today we went out riding.  Starting before dinner, we just got back to the house (with one break for dinner, noon meal). 
Our heifers had gotten on to our neighbor's land a few days ago and we went to look for them on the 8th.  We found a few but also lacked a few.  We searched again on the 10th and today.  Thankfully, today we found the last missing ones. 
The pasture in which our heifers where is really big and has a lot of tamaracks, trees and a few hills.  All of that equals a harder time of finding our missing girls, not to mention there were other cows in the pasture. 
Today we were doing pretty good; we had found our heifers and were heading them toward our pasture when we had to enter a grove of tamaracks.  Mom, Little J., and I got lost in the forest like area.  Dad had to leave Big J. with the heifers and help us out.
That's when we came upon the river.  Now all of the horses had crossed a river before, but today they refused no matter what.  Dad got tense because Big J. was on Dad's horse who was acting up (she was worried about being alone) and he wanted to just cross the river and check on Big J.  Dad was on Big J.'s horse and could not cross the river, so he rode the horse Mom was on.  After crossing on that horse, Dad tried pulling my horse a cross.
We had known my horse would jump things and today she proved that once again.  Two cow trails entered the river which made a hump of ground where they met.  All that the horses had to do was walk down that trail and a cross the river.  Paradise on the other hand decided to jump that hump of ground.  And she did so more than once.  I rode her as Dad pulled at her and as she jumped.  It was a wild ride!  Then, as Dad put it, "I got smart" and he told me to get off so that I wouldn't get hurt.  After some pulling, encouraging, and water splashing, my horse crossed.  Next was Little J. and Mom.  Dad  got his horse a cross and loped off to check on Big J.  Of cause he was alright  and we sorted our heifers from the other cows.
When they were sorted we pushed them to a pasture along ways a way.  We rode about 5 to 6 miles this after noon.  That's not counting the ride we did this morning. 
It was a beautiful day to go riding.  Big J. claims he saw a mountain lion or something, we also saw a few cacti with blossoms, and the first horny-toad this year.
So slowly spring is trying to pop out.  Lately it's been cold so we had very few flowers, the trees just barely have leaves, and it's still brownish looking out over the land.  
And yesterday we went to Cowboy Church which was at our church and had the pleasure to hear R.W. Hampton.  It was a great night.
Now we will be getting ready for FMN (family movie night). 
I was just looking at my calendar, it's hard to believe that a week ago from yesterday we had seen snow falling on to our ranch.  : )   

Ranch Update

I'm back--A lot has happened since the last post that I did.  So, here are some of the high-lights. 

In March, we had that blizzard and our electricity went out.  We heard that a high line pole caught fire and they had to replace it.  We didn't get a lot of snow, though.

On the 27th of March, I had my horse, Paradise, for one whole year!  Her and I both have learned a lot, and we're not done learning yet.


Paradise standing with me for a picture.


For Easter, all of Mom's family got together at her mom's house.  Every family brought at least one horse and the cousins rode in the fields near by.  It was a great day for riding!  We spent a lot of the day riding, then we went egg hunting for eggs.  This year, our grandma put candy in the eggs--that was such a surprise to the grandkids!

On Easter Sunday, our church did an Easter program which was based on the book Fall Like Lightning From Heaven by Marget Mendenhall, who is our Pastor's wife.  It was a great production!  After that was finished, Dad, Big J., and I went north of Guymon to pick up some pigeons.  I had one pigeon and I wanted to get some more.  And as it happens every time I get a new animal, Big J. also came home with his own pigeon.  He named his Ralph and I named mine Plum.  I am still trying to find names for my other two fantails.  Hopefully we will be hatching some more soon.

And today we have gotten some snow.  It has been cloudy and misty all week and finally something has fallen from the sky!  SNOW!  But it has stopped and we don't have even an inch yet.  

That about wraps things up.  Till next time.  : )