Category Archive

We had friends and family come out.. cold and windy… some of the kids hadn’t been on a ranch before so they went along to feed the bum calves. They seemed to enjoy it. Some of the horses were in getting a drink so, they got to see some and pet a horse.

Supposed to have some weather moving in.. up to 16 inches of snow and wind up to 50 mph.. regular ol’ blizzard, looks like. We will bring the cows in closer tomorrow and give them a good feed.

My sister and her youngest daughter came out the other day so at some point, weather permitting, we need to get them back to town. Cindy is supposed to work on Sunday afternoon, so hopefully the roads will be good enough she can take them in or I will have to drive and then kill time until Cindy gets off duty.

As usual, when this family gathers, they are playing the spoons card game.. it is wild fast and furious and very loud! Fun to watch and listen to. We jammed this afternoon and last night.

I am thankful for all the Good Lord has sent my way this year. Hope others feel as fortunate.

Chance and I left at O dark thirty this morning and drove back to Hoven, pulling Tates smaller trailer and got some bags of extruded soybean to feed the cows and calves.. it is very high protein and fat and the only grain that doesn’t chance the CLA in beef, which is the good stuff you want. Same as what is in grass/forage fed beef. We really just want the calves to eat it, but until we wean will have to feed the cows also or come up with a way to feed it in creep feeders.. the problem with doing that is you have to put something in it to limit how much they will eat free choice. Doing that could make them sick.

Nice drive back there.. got back home about 2 pm. Unloaded the feed and then too some out and fed them on the ground.. they love it! But I knew they would. I used to feed it some years back.

We picked up a hitch hiker who needed a ride into Eagle Butte.. nice guy but spoke so low it was hard to understand him. Sure a lot of grain standing that hasn’t been harvested yet and bales that haven’t been hauled in or ricked up..

Colder this afternoon with a strong wind.. supposed to stay like that a day or so and then back up into the 50’s by Sunday.

Been warm and not much of even a breeze, the last couple days. Supposed to stay this way into next week, tho’ looks like we do have some wind coming. But it is SD and we almost always have wind. Unless your relying on a windmill for water for the cows!

Cindy and I have made the decision to start a B&B and also allow people to come for longer stays. We have had people come and visit from all over the world and they always seem to enjoy their stay. We need to do some finish work on the bedrooms in the lower level and some spit and polish in places. So if you or any friends are looking for a place to spend the night or want to come visit and see what we do on a ranch or even take part in it with us, let us know. We will be open for guests after the first of the year.

This is something we have thought about doing for a long time. It is exciting and scary at the same time. Hopefully it will be a chance to show those who don’t know, what kind of life we ranchers live and let them see that yes, they do need us living on this land, taking care of the land and creatures who roam around on it. And providing some of the best beef in the world!

Wish us luck. And those of a mind, we sure will take all and any prayers you want to send our way.

Bundled up and saddled up and went north this morning to gather cows to preg. Cold and biting wind. we got them gathered and went to stuffing them down the chute for the vet to preg. Got done about 2:30 and went and ate lunch. Pretty good day, we kind of got a little out of the wind and it warmed up to about 18.. so it wasn’t all that bad. Sure was glad I wore my wooly chaps and ear flaps on my hat!

Cooled off the past couple days and got some snow off and on, but so far it has melted during the day… had a half inch of moisture ninth rain gauge the other day for rain and melted snow… still awfully wet and muddy. This year is one for the record books.

Supposed to stay cold the next couple days then warm up a bit on Thursday. That is good as Chance and I are supposed to go help a neighbor to the north work some calves that day. Supposed to help a couple neighbor the first of next week ship their calves. Doesn’t sound like the market is too great for calves.. same price or lower than last year. I have been reading of bankruptcies and financial problems for ag people.. pretty bleak looking.

On the up side, there is lots of hay available.. cheaper than last year.. we need to get some in.. but it is so wet it is hard to get it out of the fields. Guess we just need to trust the Good Lord that we will get what we need by the time we need it.. heck, He ain’t never let us down so far..

I went over and helped a neighbor pair off his heifer calves and bring them in and wean them.. there were 4 of us horseback.. worked good and was fun.

I took Gabe and Gus and we went North pretty early Saturday morning to help trail some cattle home for neighbors. I need to go back on Tuesday and help them wean or something…

We rebuilt two sides the little lot/pasture to the eat here.. we call it the Hog pasture.. evidently at some point Grampa or Dad ran hogs in it.. I tore the old fence down 40 years ago and got ride of the woven wire fence and reused the barbed wire and added new post and wire where needed. I guess it’s time to do it again. We used to keep our weaned calves in it and just use it for about anything, any more.. looks better and should hold cattle in better now, too. Still need to do some work on 2 sides, replace wire on one and just remove and reset existing posts on the other.. that wire is in pretty good shape.. can’t afford to plumb rebuild all this stuff, tho’ it would be good if we could.

Supposed to have some snow and wind coming in this afternoon.. kind of drizzly this morning.. I have a neighbor shipping on Monday I need to help, so hope it is done by then..

Not sure how much snow we got.. 6 inches to perhaps a foot… rain/snow gauge shows a bit over 6 inches, but it was blowing pretty good all the time it was snowing, so not sure if it is right.. cattle seemed to weather it.. Chance and I got the bale unrolled on the back of the tractor yesterday and I fed the horses a little and the bulls some.. rest of the livestock all have access to lots of grass. Cindy stayed in Wednesday night and last night.. I imagine she will be home this afternoon… a local girl has a wedding this afternoon down in the Hills, but not sure if any of us are going..,Cindy doesn’t like to go by herself and I hate to drive in and then she have to follow me home.. guess I will wait and see what she tells me we are doing!

Looks like we got a like taste of winter coming in tomorrow evening.. supposed to start off raining and then turn to snow tomorrow night or early Thursday morning.. lots of wind and temps in the 20’s/// supposed to be in the 70’s today.. so that will be nice…NOT!

Chance and I moved cows down south last week, but seeing as there could be some nasty weather, he and I and two dogs and horses went and brought them back yesterday and put them in the pasture west of us that has a creek with lots of trees.. there is good grass every where. We have to go help a neighbor move his cows home tomorrow morning, so thought we better get things prepared around here..

We also got a couple loads of hay in yesterday, so if we need to we can feed, tho’ we shouldn’t need to. We also made sure the yearling heifers were close by and can get in behind protection. There was one who needed doctored so we roped her and gave her some feel better juice. I have a fencing project going on that I may work on today, also have leather projects that need done. Gabe came and helped me re-fix the Nitro last weekend.. what we had done before came undone, hopefully we got it so it won’t do that again. I am hoping this is just a little early winter and will turn back warm and stay that way for a long time.. I enjoy winter less and less each year…

Been getting some rains.. froze last night.. frost on the windshields…

Chance and I and two dogs moved the cows back down south.. we’d moved them north to graze some hay ground I couldn’t get anyone to come hay and wanted to get the good out of it.. I will take that back, one guy said he would but for more than I was wiling to pay.. he wanted almost as much per ton as I can buy hay for, and it didn’t cost me anything to graze it… they have been fighting fence and getting into the neighbors, so we decided to just put them where they couldn’t do that any more..

Went and watched Gus and Sam play football this evening.. kind of a run away 36 to nothing. Gus played quite a bit, Sam played some.. hard for them to play him a lot.. he is the runt of the team..

Got some funerals to go to.. one older guy that it was expected, another guy not much older than me.. cancer and it came quick and he went pretty quick… got another neighbor fighting it, but sounds like his kind is pretty treatable.. my brother is fighting some..sure has made him look old…

Funerals, where country folk go to pay their last respect and see their neighbors, seems like..

Got a fence rebuilt with the help of Chance and the boys today, went and got more wire so we can keep rebuilding… also got a metal gate rebuilt that has been laying by the shed for way too long.. hopefully it will be a successful fix and not fall apart.. my welding isn’t always the best! Boys have a football game tomorrow, we need to go watch.