It's Quite Possible That I Am Strange

This morning was a gorgeous morning here in Geraldine!  The wind finally quit and left us with sunny, warm weather!  You would never believe it is mid-January.  This was the perfect morning to get my calvies vaccinated and the sick alpaca doctored up.

For those of you that aren't ranchers, I'll show you a little about how we do that....

 

First we tell them good morning and ask them to pretty please go over into the catch pen like good boys....

Then once they are in the catch pen, which is behind the chute, we open the chute and ask them if they would please all go in the chute all nice and orderly.... The alpacas watch and laugh at them!

 

Everyone was perfectly well behaved today as did just what we asked....

Then I walk along the foot rail, on the outside of the chute.  I lean over each one and give them a little shot under the skin of their necks with this thing....

After about two minutes, everyone had their shot and they were ready to be let out to go eat breakfast....

See... there ya go.  Piece of cake!

 

I know it's a little weird.  But for some reason there is almost nothing I like better than messing with cows.  I am far from being any kind of an expert at any of this.  I've been lucky enough to occasionally participate in brandings, gathering, vaccinating, calving and such throughout my life.  I know I have so much more to learn. But I love the accomplishment of the work involved.  I love being outside in the fresh air, even though it usually smells like manure.  I love the sound of the cattle bawling.... The only thing better than working cows, is being on a horse while working cows!

Now that is my idea of a great day.... I know, I know.... I'm probably a little strange.

 

Bye for now,

PB

 

Montana Hurricanes

So this morning I lazily rolled out of bed at the insistence of my rugrats, who scamper into my room before daylight each day.  I pulled on my pink velour jogging suit, (that I never jog in) and stumbled to the kitchen in anticipation of a lovely cup of coffee.  My trusty Keurig was doing it's thing so I happened to gaze out the kitchen window while I waited for my cup to fill.  And then the day got interesting....

All night last night the wind blew hard enough to literally shake the house.  It sounded as though something of substance was repeatedly beating on the house, not just gusts of air.  It was so loud I couldn't sleep very well at all and I was amazed the kids had slept okay.  But we've had wicked winds before so I wasn't exactly worried or anything.

My view out the kitchen window showed me the door to the sheep shed had blown open and let my little prairie maggots escape their corral. I had that door wired shut with two strands of baling wire around the door handle! So I called Prairie Granny to come over and watch the rugrats so I could go chase sheep.  I tore down to the corral in my pickup, jumped out and the wind caught my door so hard it now needs some repairs.  The force of the wind seemed to be sucking more air from my lungs than I could put back in!  Just to walk around, I was leaning into the wind like you'd see in an old cartoon. The sheep were running back and forth and around, in between the horses and such.  My big ol' dog wasn't much help either. She was having a little too much fun and not listening to me what-so-ever!  Thankfully, Miss Ivy the birthday goat saved the day.  She came running up to me like, "Mom! Save me!"  So I caught her up and tied her inside the sheep corral.  Sort of hoping they would "follow the leader".  Know what I mean?

I threw some hay in the feeder and went to investigate the broken shed door.  Sure enough those wires had snapped in the wind and the wood holding the latch had splintered and broken off.  I had to "Jerry rig" that door like MacGyver to keep it shut as the wind kept slamming me against the wall of the shed. Finally it looked like it would hold so I went after the sheep.  I'm so thankful they were hungry!  I tip-toed out around them and they tip-toed right into the corral. Thank the Lord!

As looked around the farm yard I found things blown all to kingdom come.  The metal round bale feeder blew over, buckets and tumbleweeds lined the fence lines, the portable net fencing for my chickens was no longer standing.  It had pulled right out of the soggy ground at the base of each post. Bales of hay had been blown off the top of the stack. I couldn't even make that one up! How did that happen?  I had to feed the calves inside the corral next to the barn so the hay wouldn't blow away before they could eat it! Then of course I came home wearing plenty of hay in my underwear....

I decided a Montana hurricane is when the wind is strong enough to blow down part of your hay stack. I looked up the meaning of "gale force winds" and gale force tops out at 64 miles per hour. That would just be a stiff breeze compared to what we had this morning.... I'm glad to report that for now the winds have calmed down to about 15 miles per hour.  I'm looking forward to picking up the pieces in the morning.

Bye for now,
PB

Round Two

Do remember Banner the alpaca?  (You can read about him here.) He was a very sick boy just a week or so after I brought him home last spring.  Sand colic seemed to be the culprit. I really thought I was going to lose him, but by some miracle he came through.

Banner after his last round with colic.

Yesterday afternoon I went out to do my chores and noticed Mr. Banner didn't look quite right.  He was laying on the ice near the feed trough and wasn't interested in getting up to eat the nice leafy hay I put in there for him and his buddies.  He was also shivering and had quite a bit of ice and snow covering him.  The night before last, we had a snowstorm and wind chill temperatures of around -35 below zero.  My first thought was that Banner must've drawn the short straw and had been kicked out of the shelter by the larger males.  I feared he was in bad shape due the extreme cold.  So I dragged him into the feed room of the barn while my big boy helped by shoving on his hind end for all he was worth. After making sure he couldn't get into anything, I gave him fresh hay and water and hoped that being inside, out of the snow and wind would do the trick.

A while later, a friend brought me out some beautiful chickens that had been looking for a new home. While we were up at the barn situating the chickens, we checked on Banner and discovered he was actually not a frozen alpaca, he was a very colicky, impacted alpaca. Again....

So we bedded him in some nice, fluffy straw, freshened his water, breathed a little prayer and hoped for the best.  Alpacas are really tricky about medications and such.  I would've preferred to give him something for pain and make him comfortable, but there wasn't anything available that wouldn't do more harm than good.

I was afraid of the condition he would be in by this morning.  I went out as early as I could, in sub-zero weather to check on our little buddy.  I found him with his cheerful, furry face looking out over the dutch door of the feed room.  He had been able to work through his belly ache and had even eaten some breakfast.  He could not wait to get out of there and I was so relieved and excited to see his improvement!  I turned him back out with his pals and he immediately asked for more grub.
 

We are both waiting for days like this one, last summer!

I'm thinking that good, ol' Banner must have a tummy kinda like mine.  It's pretty quick to turn on me and cause me grief.  This probably won't be the last time he gets a bellyache but at least after round two, it seems we're both tough enough to get through it....

Bye for now,
PB

The Birthday Goat

There is a funny quote going around Pinterest from Duck Dynasty....

 

So today I made sure Prairie Granny and I became "proper women". Today is Prairie Granny's birthday!  So what do you get a woman who has very few "wants".  You get her a goat!  Well, we're going to share the goat.  I get to do the lion's share of the care and milking and Granny get's to enjoy her. 

 

So world, meet "Ivy"!

 

 

She is a three year old, Toggenburg dairy goat. Togg's are mine and Granny's favorite breed.  She is friendly and sweet and great about riding in the back of my car!  She's expecting babies in the spring.  I can't wait for them and the fresh milk too!

 

 



A friend of Ivy's came along to keep her company.  Goats get very lonely without another goat buddy to talk to. The lambs are not sure what to think of their new paddock mates!  But my big boy is very excited that we have a goat again and I'm pretty sure this was a perfect birthday surprise for Granny.

 

We're off to birthday dinner!

 

Bye for now,

 PB 

The Grumpy One

Hello all,

It sure has been a nice day here in North Central Montana.  The daily temperatures are finally well above zero again after some of the coldest weather we've seen in over 15 years.  The sun is shining and my critters actually seem happy again....

Except one.  I have decided that our farm has our own version of "Grumpy Cat".  But instead, he's "Grumpy Alpaca".  His name is Mudflap.  Maybe he's grumpy because someone gave him that ridiculous name.  I have no idea.  But no matter what, he's a grump.  You can feed him, sweet talk him, pet him, or leave the grouch completely alone and he is still grumpy....

See what I mean?  He reminds me of some people I know! 

It's ok Mudflap.... I still love you! 


Bye for now,
PB

That One "Special" Calf

I'd like you to meet "Superman".  He is a very distinctly marked calf, with most of his body being white.  So it's very easy to pick him out of a crowd....

I'm not all sure why this happens....  But it seems that without fail, in every herd of cattle, there is one special calf.  It doesn't matter if your herd has one hundred calves or ten, like mine.  There is one calf that stands out right away.  He's the one who will push through the feed room door and just about knock you over, just to see what's in there.  The one who tells his buddies to squeeze through that hole in the fence to check out "greener pastures."  He doesn't care if he's been munching all morning, he'll stand there and bawl real loud, just to see if you'll dish out more groceries.  Or maybe he'll just absolutely refuse to move to the next pasture.... even when the water is frozen solid, there's a blizzard going on, it's -20 degrees below zero and his life literally depends on moving through that gate.  Nope.... forget it.... ain't gonna happen.

That's what Superman was up to on Friday.  I had to move the calves to another pasture due to their automatic waterer refusing to operate properly at -25 below.  The wind was blowing pretty good, so it was kicking up a little ground blizzard.  I was dressed in my super duper winter gear and was still getting chilled to the bone.  The exposed skin around my eyes was burning and I knew I was at risk of frostbite.

I called to my "babies" and they followed me and the bucket of feed I was shaking, right across the road and through the gate.  All but two anyway.... One of them was "Peter".  He's always been a slowpoke at most things. But eventually, he did decided to amble over and through the gate.  Superman was bringing up the rear.  It looked as though we was going to cooperate for once.  He followed Peter through the gate.... But as soon as he got past the gate post, he screeched to a halt and took off the other direction at a run.  He trotted all the way back where he came from.  So I trudged through the snow drifts and fought the bitter wind again.  Got some more feed in my bucket and called, begged and pleaded for him to follow me.  He just stood there.... I tried chasing him.  But with my bum leg from a badly pulled muscle and the snowdrifts, I wasn't making a very good "cow horse".  So I gave up.  I threw a bale of hay over the fence and slammed that gate shut.  Then I had to rig some water up for him for the night.  By the time I got back inside I thought I'd never thaw out!

The next morning, my "special" calf was at the gate, bawling to please go over across the road with his buddies!  I happily opened the gate....

He quickly found his friends up in the corral with the horses and alpacas all sharing a hearty breakfast.  Then he had the nerve to not even say thank-you!

So I leave you with a moo....

Bye for now,
PB

The Hardest Part of Farming

This is something that is on my heart....

I absolutely love what I do.  I am beyond blessed to be able to live my dream and raise my sons on this little piece of heaven.  Most days are enjoyable to me in almost every way.  Rewarding, challenging, interesting and fun. In the last week there has been a few days that were not fun.  Those are the days we butcher the animals we have produced.  We raise them with a very holy purpose.  To provide my family and others with clean, healthy, ethically and humanely raised meat.  We love our animals and enjoy the process of raising them.  When I say "we" I mean my sons as well as myself.  They are a huge part of this even at such a young age.  They're right there with me every day.  Helping fill water tubs, carrying buckets, gathering the eggs....

The other day I hauled some lambs to town.  That was quite a story, as you all know....(Check it out here if you missed it!)  I didn't have to participate in their processing, but it was very hard to walk away, knowing their fate.

Yesterday we butchered our three hogs.  One for my family, two for other families.  I was an active participant in the processing this time.  Just me and one guy from the butcher shop.  I'm thankful for the respect and kindness Chris showed towards my hogs.  He came to the farm, which greatly lessens the stress for the pigs, since they don't have to be gathered, loaded in a trailer and hauled to town.  We now have an abundance of wonderful, organic pork for our freezers.  But the necessary events to get them into the freezer, are with out a doubt, the hardest part of farming. 

I write this to shed some light I suppose.  Just because you can buy meat in a neat, tidy little package at the store, doesn't mean it was without cost.  Please respect what it takes to put meat on the table and if at all possible, buy meat that was ethically raised.  Get to know your farmer!

Last night we were able to enjoy a meatloaf made from our own grass fed lamb.  It was delicious, lean and healthy.  Absolutely worth the hardest part of farming....

 

Bye for now,
PB

The Difference A Day Makes

Yesterday was such a peaceful day on the farm....  Today was not!  This morning I was up extra early to take two lambs into Fort Benton to be processed. It snowed during the night so everything was extra cold and icy for my trip to town.  Twenty seven miles of solid ice.  Both ways.  With a trailer.  Sounds fun right?  I would've rescheduled but those boys at the meat shop are very busy this time of year.  So I crept into town and pulled up behind the shop.

 I hopped into the trailer and caught the first lamb, the one I'm keeping for our freezer.  After I put a rope on him and handed him off to one of the guys, I went to catch the lamb I had sold to a nice gal from a neighboring town.  I jumped in and told the nice young man to please hold the trailer door.  Which he did.... for a second or two.  Then he got distracted and stepped away from the door.  Just then it swung wide open and that lamb took off like a bullet and was gone in .5 seconds flat.

Have you ever seen how fast sheep can run?  They are fast!  The fastest thing in the world if you are trying to chase one down while running on a sheet of ice.... while it runs amok all over town.

The butcher shop boys jumped in a 4-Wheel Drive an sped away after the lamb.  I had a big ol' trailer on, but tried to follow and keep sight of the lamb.  That lamb was like a ghost, there one second and gone the next.  It ran up Front Street.  It ran behind the Grand Union Hotel.  It ran past the Police Department.  It ran all the way down river and disappeared.  Old men were out standing in their driveways laughing and shaking their heads.  People out shoveling snow where wondering if they really did just get passed by a sheep....

The city cops tried to help.  A sheriffs deputy tried to help.  I lost track of the butcher shop boys and the sheep and gave up.  I figured it left town and would be on the next Greyhound to Florida.... But low and behold!  The butcher boys showed up with the lamb on their lap.  After it's two hour jaunt around town, the lamb got to come with me.  All that adrenaline would not make for tasty lamb chops.  So I unloaded the naughty lamb and tomorrow I get to do it all again.... Hopefully minus the icy roads and two hour marathon around Fort Benton....

Judge thinks we work too hard....

On the up side, it's a gorgeous day.  The snow makes everything so beautiful!  And I'm certain that nice young man will never walk away from an unlatched trailer door again.  Like.... ever.

Bye for now,
PB

The View From The Porch

It's a very cold, damp day here today.  But it's also very peaceful.  I thought I'd show you how peaceful....

Now that my big boy and I gathered up the calves from their overnight adventures, they are peacefully munching grass where they belong....

Rhett and Fancy Pants are cozied up....

The alpacas are chillin' up close to the house....

and the chickens are really enjoying their new, winter digs.....

I took all of these shots, standing on my porch in my pink, fuzzy slippers.  Now I'm gonna enjoy this Sunday with my kiddos.

Bye for now,
PB

Good Enough Is Perfect

I'm not a perfectionist.... well, maybe I am sometimes.  But, like many of you I have dreams and visions of the way things should be.  Here on the farm I have wanted things to be a certain way.  I do not like clutter and junk laying around.  I wanted all my barns and sheds to be clean and bedded deep with fluffy, gold straw.  The garden was supposed to be abundant and weed free and the yard ought to look freshly mowed.  The animals are supposed to always behave themselves.... My little farm is supposed to be perfect.  Ha!  I bet your laughing at me right now!  That's ok because I am laughing at myself.

We've been on the farm for only six months.  I dove right in to many projects.  We raised thirty five baby chicks in the garage if the town house before we were able to move out here. We invested in two wonderful, Livestock Guardian dogs and went to work on their obedience training. I bought a small herd of alpacas and quickly learned all I could about raising happy, healthy camelids.  Then came the ten bottle calves.  Twice a day, every day, for sixty days we were tackled by ten hungry babies. I brought home ten lambs to help with our weed problem and provide us with another source of grass fed, all natural meat.  The weaner pigs arrived in June.  An acre of garden was planted including several raised beds that are scattered around the yard.  Irrigation hoses were laid out. By the end of June it was set up for perfection....

The first week of July brought the biggest, nastiest hail storm I had ever seen.  (I wrote about it here.) The garden had just enough time to get a good start and then it was annihilated.  It looked like there was no way we'd see and produce from this years efforts. The roof of almost every building was damaged. We were lucky though, the animals were all fine no one was hurt.

Soon after the storm we discovered our water system couldn't support the garden that had survived.  We had planted too big for our britches.  We saved what we could and watched the rest wither on the vine or get overtaken by weeds.

One of the "LGD's" had taken a liking to killing chickens instead of guarding them.  We lost about eight before we solved that issue.  We were sure she was going to have to find another living arrangement.

The lambs absolutely refused to stay anywhere we wanted them to stay!  For a while I had a daily round up using the four-wheeler.  Then I put them in the "riding arena" that happened to be full of grass and forage and they actually didn't escape from it. Except one.... We had a lamb just up an vanish.  I like to say it was abducted by aliens.  It was there one day and then "poof", gone.  No sign of a struggle or a coyote feast.  I actually think it must've been a cougar that stopped by for a sack lunch.

The pigs weren't much trouble except for when they figured out how to push their shed door open.  Thankfully they like their home and didn't run too far.  It's just that they like to pick nasty, windy days or the day I'm on vacation for their little excursions.

The tractor broke down and my mechanic was out bringing in the wheat harvest for month before he went on vacation for a month.  Needless to say, the sheds didn't get cleaned out all summer.  The poo piled up until Hired Man Jim bought himself a little tractor and  tested it out on my barn.  We're still waiting on the parts to come in....

Somehow I haven't found the time or energy to get the shop area cleaned out and free of junk.  I have seen worse, but there's definitely a few trips to the scrap yard that need to be made and some clearing out and organizing to be done....

In all of this I have learned a valuable lesson. Joel Salatin has a saying that I just love! "Good enough is perfect!"   If it is working, if there is a profit, if things are trucking along ok, it's perfect.  For the most part, things are working. The kids and the critters are all thriving....

 

 I have so very much to be thankful for!  I did get an amazing harvest of tomatoes after they regrew.  The alpacas did provide an abundance of fleece that is becoming yarn that is so beautiful it has inspired me to learn to loom knit and people actually want to buy it!  The lambs fleece happens to be just the thing to blend with the alpaca to make even more amazing yarn. 

 

 

 

 The chickens are laying wonderful, fresh, organic eggs.  The calves are all healthy and looking fat and sassy.  The hogs grew like the weeds and are ready to harvest a month ahead of schedule.  The dogs now do a great job of holding off the coyotes and protecting things, most of the time.... I was blessed with a yard full of flowers and beauty all summer.  So even though this year hasn't been just like I had imagined it.  It always feels good to come home.... because it is perfect.

 

Bye for now,
B

Hey Hay!

Farmer Tom is our cousin over north of Fort Benton.  They have a very busy, family farm that has been operating for four generations now.  Farmer Tom married into the family and into farming.  It's a bit of "new" thing for him, but he has taken to it very well in my opinion.  I am very grateful that Tom and Roger grow some nice hay, put it into nice, small bales and haul it over here for me.

The first load they hauled went like clockwork.  Roger has designed this handy dandy trailer that slides the stacks off the trailer and onto the ground in a very nice stack.

 

Today was different.... Just as I was heading out to take some things to Farmer's Market the phone rang.  It was Cousin Joellyn calling to let me know that some of the hay had fallen off the trailer en route.  Could I please bring a truck so we could get them off the highway and back onto the semi trailer?  Of course! 

 

 

I had the easy part of the job.  The driving along to pick them up, job.  A thunderstorm hit just as we were loading them.  Then it rained....  Jake and Tom are probably pretty sick of stacking bales tonight....

 

Once they got the trailer out to the farm, the next task was to slide the stack off the trailer.  Unfortunately this was not Tom's day.  The cable that pushes the slide down and therefore the hay off, broke.  So there we were trying to figure out how to get about 300 bales of hay off the trailer any possible way other than by hand.  Lucky us! I have this little backhoe sitting here on the farm....

 

 

But our idea of pushing the stack off with the bucket didn't work.  And our idea of pulling the stack off with the straps, didn't work either.  But lucky for us I have this really cool little forklift just sitting here on the farm.... So after we filled up it's big ol' flat tire, we put it to work pushing the stack off the trailer....

 

 

It actually worked! Kind of ....

 

 

Look! It's a bale-ka-bob!

 

 

My very favorite saying these days is, "Good enough is perfect!" That's a quote from my favorite farming guru, Joel Salatin!  The hay is off the trailer!  We'll fix the stack a little and it will be perfect!

Don't ya think?

 

It was a perfect summer evening in north central Montana.  Tom made the comment that it was waaayyyy better to be out bucking bales on a Montana evening than running on a treadmill in some gym.  I could not agree more!  Now we have just two more loads to go.... wish Tom luck!

 

To read more about Farmer Tom and his lovely wife Joellyn, go to www.montanaprairietales.com

 

 

Bye for now,

B



Baaaaaaa!!!

September arrived today and that little fact makes me smile.  I love autumn. It is starting to feel like it's on it's way, even though it was ninety degrees today..  Next month I am hoping to have some wether lambs that are ready for the freezer.  But before that happens I wanted to be sure to harvest their wonderful fleece.  I plan on having it blended with some of the alpaca fleece.  I'm told it will make amazing yarn!

The young man I bought the lambs from last spring happens to be an actual sheep shearer!  Shearing is very much a dying art and I am so pleased to see a young guy that is still willing to work that hard!  Most of the old timers that used to shear around here are long gone, so I am very lucky that Josh was willing to come all the way out here to give my lambs their haircuts!



Josh Pecukonis, sheep shearer extraordinaire.
 



We also had Jim helping us again today.  Jim has become pretty much invaluable around here.  Especially since he is a sheep whisperer!  It was his job to wrangle the wooly buggers and hand them off to Josh.

 

 

Then we'd shear each one and I'd gather up the good parts of the fleece and bag it.

 

 

Then Jim and I would scoop them up and haul them over to their pasture.  It's sure is easier than trying to drive them anywhere!  They scatter like ping pong balls!

 

Boy, I'm sure glad I only have nine of them!  They are weighing between 80-100 pounds or so!

Up and over!

 

Of course we did have some spectators! 

When we were finished we had some of Prairie Granny's awesome homemade pizza and ice cream!  The best part of a tough project is the dinner afterward!  I'm very grateful to have help in that department or we'd be eating at the local bar and café on a day like this.

Special thanks to Josh's mom, Anita for taking the great photos for this post!  It sure takes a village to make everything work some days.  Thank God for the village.

Bye For Now,
B

Something To Crow About

When I gathered the eggs this evening, I got a little too excited.  Miss Jade thought I was losing it.  Again....  I opened the egg door and she heard my, "Whoo hoo! Awesome!!".  I caught a sideways glance from her and I had to explain.

 

Today, we got the very first egg from this years Barred Rock pullets! Six months ago we brought home thirty five baby chicks and raised them in the garage until they were big enough to move out to the barn.  We fussed over them and were saddened when we lost one here and there.  Finally all that care and coddling is starting to pay off.  They're hens now, beautiful and proud. 

 

 

The egg on the left is from one of our Black Star hens.  The light blue one is from our Aracauna hen.  And the tiny little egg on the right was today's moment of joy!  Isn't it cute?  They will lay smaller eggs like this for a few weeks and gradually get to normal size.  Jade thinks it would take about fifteen of those pullet eggs to make an omelet!  I think she's right.  But soon we will be getting about thirty gorgeous, all natural eggs from our happy, pastured hens.  I don't think there is anything better!  So if you are looking for better eggs, come on out!  We'll have extra!

Until next time,
B