Farm Fun Friday...

I can't say it enough and I'm sure you are getting sick of hearing me say it, but this has been a crazy winter.

It has been mild and open (no snow on the ground).

This poor snowblower hasn't seen a flake of snow.  We bought a new one for this winter based on the previous couple.  It was just taking Wes too long to clean out snow from the feedlot alleyways and the roadways up to the hayyard and feedlot prior to feeding the cattle.  Cattle gain best if they are fed consistently and around the same time each day.  Our cattle get fed once per day so if Wes ends up moving snow all morning they might not get fed until late afternoon.  This beast is supposed to be able to blow manure, too. 

This is a sad sight for me.  Looking out my dining room window I saw the farm pickup parked up by the barn and cattle lining up outside in the alleyway.

Why is this sad for me?

The girls were napping and there was no way I could get up there to help work cattle.  That is where I love to be.  Wes was working heifers by himself this day.  The heifers that will be joining our cow herd this year (they will be having their first calf this spring) need to be given their new ear tags to match the rest of the cows.

Each rancher has his own method of tagging his cattle.  When it comes to cattle ownership in ND the cattle are branded (generally on the hip or rib).  So the ear tag is just a way for the owner to individually identify each animal.  Some ranchers don't tag their cattle at all.  We like to be able to track our cows over the years.  This way we know who their sire (father) and dam (mother) are along with knowing if they were sick as calves, how many calves they've had and how old they are.

This is the time of the year that the rest of the wheat gets hauled into town as well.  Wes and his dad watch the wheat prices everyday to make the determination of when to haul.  A portion of our wheat is contract prior to harvest even.  The remaining wheat is hauled when the price is right and when the grain elevator in town has room.  If the price is high the elevator will fill up fast and you can't haul until they empty out into rail cars.  My FIL does the hauling into town and he starts the day early so he can wait in line at the elevator and guarantee that they will have room for the load of wheat. 

The girls are also enjoying the fact that the quonset is starting to get emptied out.  It gives them room to play and ride bikes again.  They decided to empty out the bucket of wheat for papa.  We had to empty out boots of wheat, too.