Overlook
http://blog.rimrockenglishshepherds.com
Carol's Bio
Wyoming ranch woman, mother, breeder of English Shepherds, outdoor girl! Interests include: dogs, kids, photography, archaeology, crafts, reading, and a zillion other things! Proud to be on a Wyoming Centennial Ranch... 100 years in the same family! Check out my main website at www.rimrockenglishshepherds.com.Syndicate
Overlook
What is it Video
Here it is!
The newest video of calving!
Beware... slime is involved.
A Calf is Born from Carol Greet on Vimeo.
What is it Winner
The question I posed yesterday:
What is this?
Drumroll please....
Yup, calf hooves!
Sandy, sorry I about made you ill...
DK, putting on gloves never occurs to me... my hands are washable and I don't go farther in to contaminate her...
This heifer was very calm...
but the hooves seemed a little large...
so I had my library book...
and read in the sunshine while she worked on birthing this bigger calf.
One of her various positions placed her at my back with just the 2x8s separating us...
I couldn't resist...
I reached through the boards...
and I felt the hooves move with my finger.
It is such a wonderful process.
The yellow colored ends of the hooves are just for the birth process... they are soft and therefore don't hurt momma from inside.
So long as the yellowish bottoms are facing downwards, that is, towards the mom's hooves, the calf isn't breech. If it was breech the yellow would be on top, because the back hooves would be coming first.
Tomorrow I'll upload the video.
Laura, Robin, Kris H, Marg, Kris, Ginny, Della, and Alice... congratulations! (Marilyn... I took your first answer... which was wrong, sorry)
Della's name was picked out of the hat... YOU WIN!
Send your mailing address to tanasi_1701 at yahoo dot com and I'll get your rustic reward in the mail!
I enjoyed this little competition, I might just have to do it again...
but make it a little more difficult!
Wordless Wednesday - "Guess What"
Wordless Wednesday for this week is a riddle...
And a fairly easy one...
What is this?
Answer in my comment section, and I'll draw one winner from the correct answers and send you a memento of Wyoming...
a small rustic reminder that I exist out here!
Good luck!
Twisted
In case you've wondered...
Yes, calving season is cruising along.
We have calved all but 9 of our heifers... so we still are doing our evening, 2 am, and early morning checks. Last week our cows started calving as well. We do not check them in the night, but do try to keep a close eye on them. Vernon will usually drive his 4 wheeler through the different bunches, counting, seeing if any are missing and possibly hiding in the brush calving. Most cows will try to go off by themselves during this time. Dogs will den, cows will be alone in a protected area.
Yesterday he saw a cow with signs she was about to calve... she was alone... and had the unmistakable kink in her tail. That was before lunch. He checked after lunch. No progress. He checked her later... still no progress. That's rather unusual. He quietly trailed her into the corral, and came and got me.
We put her in the chute and Vernon slid his hand in a long vet "sleeve" or plastic glove that extends clear to his shoulder. Upon investigation, he had to reach *way* up inside her and then his hand began to turn. That's not good... It signals a twisted uterus. There was no way that calf could be born. Twisting can happen if a cow falls down on the ice just at the right moment and the uterus can flip... but we haven't had much ice this year. Sometimes *poop* just happens.
Plan B. Vernon loads her in the horse trailer and I drive her to the vet in Worland. It is an hour's drive, and we simply had to hope that the calf wasn't dead from stress.
We arrive and begin the c-section process. This is a good ol' cow... and she stands patiently in the chute, munching on corn, unconcerned.
Soon she is shaved and prepped and has anesthetic injected along the incision site.
The scalpel appears and I lay down my camera... ready to aid the Good Doctor should he need it.
Within minutes...
Son of a gun... the little heifer's alive!
How cool is that?
No big deal... says the cow as she continues to munch on her corn.
A twisted uterus can have quite a different outcome... this one was a happy ending.
Fossil Cliffhanger... part two
Fossils are prolific in Wyoming.
This place is heaven if you like fossil fish...
Then there's mucho dinosaurs in the Big Horn Basin...
Even in my front driveway are these... thousands of white seashells imbedded in a matrix.
And my friend Shreve over at Daily Coyote makes extra bucks selling belemnites!
But for now...
these are the fossils I'm excited about.
Small...
Incomplete...
Hardly unique.
But they were my dad's...
And sometime in the future...
they will be part of a decorative feature in my remodeled bathroom.
So say I.
And for those of you with bigger wallets than me...
go here...
drool...
and tell them I sent you...
perhaps there's a reference fee/reward for sending them new customers...
I'll take mine in fossil fish, please!
Fossil Cliffhanger
Keeping an eye out... is Lucas...
I've been on a kick lately...
One of the things I received from my Mom's house was my Dad's small collection of fish fossils from the Green River formation in southwest Wyoming. It is way spiffy!
The wheels started turning...
and soon I have a plan for my bathroom at the Mills place.
Fossils are cool...
and my Dad's collection is small...
so I'm on the lookout for more!
Wyoming is full of fossils...
pictures to follow tomorrow.
Donchya just love cliffhangers?
Gettin' the Job Done
We went to a bull sale in Riverton today. Bull sales have their multiple appeals... and I've written about them before, here and here.
How'd we manage to get away from calving? Well, the boys came home from school for the weekend, specifically to cover for us. They are GOOD men!
I'm always interested in the people as well as the bulls. I try to be observant. Which guys are buckaroos from Nevada or Oregon? Those with the flat top hats. Which guy is going to top the sale with his $13,000 bid? Not the one I expected! In fact, I've decided I'm pretty bad at people observation!
There was also a stockdog clinic in Riverton this weekend. Well, Pavillion, just outside of Riverton. I didn't figure I would be able to go since we are calving, but I would have been tempted to go out and watch for a couple of hours. Of course, it is much more important that we get good bulls than improve my dog handling skills... But my thoughts were with Elvin Kopp and the stockdog clinic sponsored by Hope Dennis.
To make up for it...
Here's my dogs' outrun and lift the other day.
Elsa's better at the outrun... She leads the way.
She is faster than Lucas!
"These heifers, right?"
Old green tag didn't want to go to the shed... and put up some resistance.
But it was 2 to 1... old green tag lost her battle!
It's not pretty technique according to "trial rules".
It gets the job done.
Me happy!
Mud
I really think the Q & A yesterday went quite well...
Please give me leave to touch on a few other comments...
Sara... the plight of the family farm/ranch being passed down to the next generation is insane. I'm not much for sharing politics on this blog, but Congress better address this *fast* as next year, estate tax reverts to 55%. In other words, chances are your kids probably don't have half of the value of your land sitting around to pay off the stupid government's taxes if you suddenly die. Their choice is to broker a loan or sell off part of the land to keep the rest. Tell me how this is fair... that you work all your life and the government gets half of it when you die. <big sigh>
Laura... I'm *so glad* I didn't hurt your feelings by picking on your question! To answer your new comment... I wrote an entry about STUPID people here. That's the main complaint... shutting gates! There are more... but perhaps I'll save those for another time!
Alice... don't worry... I'll have another Q & A in the future!
Now...
Mud.
M.
U.
D.
The old joke goes that Wyoming has four seasons... winter, mud, dust, and fire.
Guess which one we're in?
This is my road.
When I was in town last week, the UPS man came into the same building I was... and told me he knew I was in there... he recognized the mud on my Durango.
Sometimes you think you're well dressed for your trip to town... then look down and see either 1) Mud all over your nice shoes 2) a line of mud on the back of your calves from exiting said muddy Durango.
OK, I may be a touch grouchy... when I look at my laundry... or my floors in my house... or my car... but really... honestly... mud can be fun!
See, it's too muddy to actually *work* in your yard, or go hiking... so take the time to drain those puddles! I was one of those kids thrilled to make boats from leaves and sail them down the gutter while I was growing up... Any kids ever *play* in gutters these days? Since my kids never had gutters... we'd come out on those first few 50 degree days and drain puddles!
Like so. Build dams. Irrigation ditches.
Use what you have at hand... sagebrush for a dam foundation. Rocks to blast through ice! You having fun yet?
Wow! Look at it roaring across and off of my road! Wheee!
I dare you. I double dog dare you. Go play in the mud... stand in the sun and enjoy the change of seasons... it'll be dust before you know it!
Questions and Answers
Wow... I am SO HAPPY some of you sent in questions!
I had this *great fear* that no one would ask anything and I'd be twiddling my thumbs or having to cruise eBay for entertainment tonight!
So, first off, thanks to you who gave me some inspiration...
Let's go!
(The bar) Love it, love it .. so creative,unique, meaningful and beautiful! I'm interested in how you put the arrowhead and other things into the wood and end up making it even and smooth? Sandy G.
The one photo shows Vernon using his router... We cut down into the bar just enough to sink them down so that they were level... Then we used an epoxy coating called Envirotex Lite. A little tricky to use, and nerve wracking cause we'd never done it before. We did end up with drips on the side, but you reach a point you can't wipe it anymore, it gets too sticky, and though we left it with no drips on the side, it did continue to drip... but, hey, that just proves we did it and we are NOT professionals!
The place you call "the Mills place" where all the beautiful wood work is done.... is that your house? Sara
Yes. And no. We purchased the Mills place a few years back, so yes, we're buying it! However, we don't live there yet... We gave the people a few years to move all their stuff... You think you have household belongings... try a house, multiple shops, barns, equipment, etc., etc. Then we are remodeling it... and just manage to work on it during the winter... There's no rush to move there, so we aren't rushing!
Have you made any progress on your studio? Kris
Alas, poor Studio... no. My plan... was to ask for a full day's work from my kids and husband for Christmas... get some windows in, finish some chinking, some electrical wiring. Then my mother got sick... and here it is March and I haven't even walked out there in 3 months. Maybe Mother's Day??? Hey... I did get a cool .22 for Christmas though. Come to think of it, I haven't even shot it yet...
Myth or true.... I was once told that a cow that gives birth to twins will often abandon one of them? Also, that twins being one male one female are often sterile? Katt
Well, cows are like people... a few can handle twins, some don't even want the one they have! We try to take a twin off and give it another mother if we have another cow that lost a calf. They usually do much better that way... True. If twins are one of each sex, they cannot reproduce... usually good for a laugh when the vet is preg testing and gets a puzzled look on his face... If the twins are both heifers or both bulls, they are fine to go...
I almost forgot (but remembered while I was out doing chores)! What happened to the rest of the pups? How are Dally's ribs? Kris
Ooohhh... OK... Sadie went to future son-in-law in Kaycee, Wy. Devon went to Montana. Liberty went to Minnesota. Patriot Blue went clear to North Carolina! Chisum went to South Dakota. Bogie went to Washington. Dillon went to Wisconsin. Toffee is in Arizona. Sprite went to Idaho. I'm occasionally working on my website with updates... new names, new adventures! Dally has recovered, though she still has the bare spot where the hair was ripped out! She was very sore for a week, and couldn't even bark... but she's okey dokey.
What fascinated me about Dally was that she was nursing Elsa's pups and she actually produced milk! I had no idea that dogs could physically do that when they had never been pregnant. I was curious if you plan to breed Dally now that Elsa is fixed, or are you taking a break from puppies? (Personally I hope you don't because they are so darned cute to read about!) Sarah
My vet had never seen it happen in real life either... but she's done it twice now! Yes, Dally will hopefully be bred next spring. I plan on getting her hips checked and finding an unrelated male will be tough... well, one that's close anyway! But that's my plan.
Calving:
You seem to have a lot of bull calves. Is this coincidence on the blof or are there really a preponderance of boys?
You seem to have a lot of bull calves. Is this coincidence on the blof or are there really a preponderance of boys?
Laura, I split your question up here... Uhm... it really does work out 50/50, we might have a line of heifers or bulls, but at the end it is pretty evenly balanced. You might be looking at the pictures and are noticing the umbilical cord area...
Morbid questions: what happens to the calves that don't make it?
We do have a dead animal pit. My dogs and coyotes and carrion birds love it.
Ranch:
How big is your ranch? What advice would you give to people who wanted to adopt a more rural lifestyle, though perhaps not launch themselves into a full-fledged ranch like yours? I am wanting (once school is done and all) to buy some land and have chickens and a few cows to raise for beef.
-Laura
How big is your ranch? What advice would you give to people who wanted to adopt a more rural lifestyle, though perhaps not launch themselves into a full-fledged ranch like yours? I am wanting (once school is done and all) to buy some land and have chickens and a few cows to raise for beef.
-Laura
Hmmm. OK. I'm going to take this opportunity to educate people on Western Manners, and Laura, I'm not meaning to pick on you! BUT... it happens often... and I'll take my tiny soapbox for a split second. I have had this happen many many MANY times. People do want to know this and I understand totally because it is something people can relate to... When you ask ranchers either 1) "How many acres do you own?" or 2) "How many cows do you have?" it is equivalent to walking up to some stranger in town and saying "How much money do you make in a year?" Now, I know people aren't trying to be rude, but many ranchers, especially the older ones, DO see it that way. You don't ask someone you don't know how many houses, cars, RVs, and boats they own, or trips to the Bahamas they can afford. If you DO ask a rancher/farmer that question, you'll often get a vague answer... "enough", "too many!" or "more than you" if you persist with your questioning! Please keep in mind, an acre of Wyoming prairie is far different than an acre of Kentucky bluegrass! OK, Laura, I thank you for giving me that opportunity. I know you are curious and I'm off my soapbox. Let me answer you this way... we're average-sized for the state of Wyoming!
Your second part of your question is a good one. SAVE. EVERY. PENNY. Check land prices in your area. When you've given yourself CPR and picked yourself up off the floor... breathe. Investigate the rules in various subdivisions... some allow cows, no pigs, contained chickens, no free ranging chickens, horses, no goats. There are ways to be more "rural"... raising container gardens... using chicken tractors... canning fresh veggies from the farmer's market... sharing ownership in milk cows or buying quarters or halves of beef from the butchers. Purchasing even small acreages can be a challenge in certain parts of the country... if you have a good paying job, keep it and be a weekend warrior until payments are low... or work really hard and try to find a rundown farm you could basically rebuild from scratch. Many, many ranch and farm kids... the ones that have the knowledge of cattle and irrigation and farm machinery and crops... can't get into the business because land prices are too high and inheritance taxes are insane. That should worry every person in America that eats... but it doesn't. Whoa. I'm stopping now. 
When did you buy the ranch? Do the doggies sleep outside? I hope you haven't forgotten about your wonderful tipi for the coming nicer weather.
I really enjoy your blog! Marilyn
I really enjoy your blog! Marilyn
Marilyn, we celebrated our centennial of ranching last year! Yes, the dogs sleep outside. Well... the girls do. They can't sleep through the night inside, so we kick them out so they don't wake us up at 3 am to pee. Boomer sleeps inside because he's stupid and barks at shadows. Lucas is inside most of the time, except summer when it is too hot in here! My tipi needs some repairing, but I will put it up next summer again!
You use A.I. is that only on the heifers? I remember you going to a bull sale, is that for the cows? How many bulls do you have per head of cows? Ginny
Yes, we only AI our heifers. The cows are all natural. Let's see... I think we run about 1 bull for 20-25 cows? I think. Hmmmm. Numbers. I'm really bad with numbers. I'm guessing that's it. And, hey, there's another bull sale Saturday. I might go along. Maybe I'll confirm that!
Thanks everyone... the questions were great... and if I could have figured out why sometimes I could change font colors and other times I couldn't... this Q & A would have been perfect!
Wordless Wednesday - "Going, Going, Gone"
Here's my Wordless Wednesday entry for today...
The ice on the Nowood River disappears...
February 25, 2010...
March 2, 2010
Please send any questions you have for me to the comments section...
I'll answer them tomorrow!