Hi I’m Mike, with super bowl Sunday finally here we get a chance to run a few plays with
the cows, the young ones and first-time moms need to be moved closer to home for closer
monitoring as calving season approaches and we let the cows give their own super bowl
prediction, it’s all coming up on our Wyoming life.
Hi and welcome to our Wyoming life, we post videos 3 times a week giving you a chance
to explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary, from the ranch, the gardens to ranch style
cooking and much more.
Today in honor of the super bowl we get to do something a little different, although
we will be watching the game this evening, there is still plenty of work to be done before
we get there.
Our heifers, which are currently located across the road need to be moved back over to our
side of the road.
They will be calving in around a month and I have no doubt that we will have one or two
early calves so we need to put them closer to home and the barn, where we can bring them
in if we have any problems.
Right now, we have our replacement calves from this year and our steers for next year
in the corral by the barn and they need to be moved to make room for our heifers to get
moved in.
This morning we are going to take the four-wheeler, and lock the heifers in a small corral, where
I fed them yesterday, and get them ready to go.
To do that, first I’m going to switch hats because its just a little bit chilly out there
and now we break out the play book.
This is the main ranch, and these are the corrals where we are going to be moving our
heifers to.
These corrals are really close to the barn, here, where we can take them if they have
any problems.
Heifers are first time moms and sometimes they get confused, and even scared and nervous
over the calving process, most will do fine but those that do have problems, we want to
have them close by so we can help them as quickly as possible.
Currently the heifers are living over here, a few hundred acres, where they have been
able to roam and hang out.
Now we need to lock the heifers in this corral, then we will load them onto a truck and trailer
and take them over to the barn corrals, where we will then load up the calves and steers
that are in there now and take them back over to other side of the road.
That’s the basic game plan, we have a few roadblocks to deal with, some defense if you
will, we have 2 cows in with the calves and steers that we need to leave back but the
first big problem that we will run into is this big red gate.
Whoever built this big red gate probably 50 years ago, either didn’t plan on using it
in the winter time, or didn’t care.
This gate is a thorn in my side, every time I have to close it and now we need to close
it to lock these young cows in this corral.
This gate weighs hundreds of pounds and really needs to be replaced, the only way we have
been able to open or close it over the last few years has been with a chain and a four-wheeler
pulling the gate closed.
With the heifers held back and watching, we can hook up the chain and give it a tug and
rip the handle off the gate.
With a quick audible, we can change the game plan and move the horses out of their connecting
corral, and into a pasture, then move the heifers into the horse’s corral and hold
them there while we get ready to move them.
But the big red gate, is still there and its still a problem we need to tackle.
We need to get it closed, because when we bring the calves over here I want to closed
them up in this corral for a few days.
This will be their first time without adult supervision and giving them free reign of
hundred acres right off the bat might quickly lead to them traveling out of bounds, so containment,
is the mission and the gate can be moved, even by hand but it hangs up in the track
at about the half way mark.
Moving to the outside of the gate, where we still have a handle, we can try it again,
and again and with 4th down and 10.
Its time to punt, we find a close by fence panel and move it into place, attaching it
to the existing fence with plumber strap.
With the gate closed, kind of, we jump back on the four-wheeler for a quick time out.
To move cows we need a trailer, and this stock trailer will do the job nicely, it’s the
biggest one we have at around 20 feet and after backing up the truck and lining up the
hitch we can lower the trailer, and hit the road.
Backing up to the chute and bringing the cows into play.
Once on board, then it’s a short trip across the road, to another chute to unload.
Easing these girls out of the trailer and into a corral to wait to move into their new
home.
Its halftime and that means we take a look at the stats.
The game has gone pretty smoothly to this point, the weather is not helping but at least
the sun is shining.
So far, we have moved 16 heifers, with no major turnovers, one fumble with the big red
gate that was easily recovered and taken in for touchdown.
Spectators are beginning to arrive for the big game, the chickens head out of their coop
along with the ducks and geese and a special appearance by the hop a long Cassidy the one
footed peacock, also in attendance this year the steers, are anxiously waiting kick off
and with the concession stands open they are filling their bellies before the game starts.
Even a little kitten takes a peek at the action, so she can sit and judge our silliness quietly.
Heading out the field, the greens keepers are in the process of laying out the field
for todays predictions by the cows.
Each row of hay will be one teams end zone and whichever row has the most cows eating
when they leave the locker room will be named the cows favorites to win the super bowl.
The rows of hay are placed a rough 100 yards apart and when we return from moving the calves,
we will flip a coin and decide which row of hay will represent which team.
Soon we will know the cow’s opinion, until then, we head back to the action.
With the heifers now comfortable in their corrals and waiting we can now head over to
the calves.
These calves have never really been moved alone before and they have certainly never
been in a trailer.
We get started with the second half and move them down into the lower corral, where we
can sort off number 92 who is still suffering from a bad knee and number 14, graces empty
heifer.
These two will stay behind and live with the heifers when we get them moved in here.
After separating them from the little kids, we can then run the bigger players back up
and into the upper corral, stopping the pursing cows and locking them in.
Herse the play, these calves will move up into this alley, then down another alley and
into these corrals.
Where they will then head into this circular loading tub, down the chute and into the trailer.
The play starts easy as the little calves move quickly from one corral into the next,
the 40, the 30, the 20, into the circular loading tub and down the chute, where just
inches from goal they drop the ball and are then back 15 yards for sportsman like conduct.
2nd down give us another try, where we stall out again, a few calves loading on the trailer,
but then pushing back.
3 rd. down, stopped at the goal line again.
With nothing to lose, and 4th down we go for it and the calves fly down the chute and onto
the trailer, where the gate is closed and away we go, back across the road, back into
the chute, where the calves are unloaded and placed in their new corral.
These calves will be fine over here on their own and now that we have them in place, we
can put the heifers into their new corral, where they will have their first calves of
their long lives on the ranch.
Game time has arrived, we step out at mid field in front of the tractor for the coin
flip.
Today we will be flipping a handmade hobo dollar coin, one side an Indian head skull,
the other a buffalo skeleton.
The patriots have called heads and there’s the flip.
The coin has fallen in the snow and its heads, giving the patriots the South end of the field
and the eagles the north.
The cows are locked in the lot, anxiously awaiting their chance to predict this year’s
super bowl winner.
The gate is opened and the team rushes the field.
It appears most of the cows are heading directly for the Eagles hay, giving them an early edge
in the game, but as the game plays on, more and more cows are jumping ship and heading
to the patriot’s hay.
This pattern continues and at final count, 64% of the cows predict that patriots will
walk away super bowl winners once again.
Well, that does it for this week.
We got a lot done, and had some fun, which is sometimes all it takes to keep you going.
If someone told me years ago that Erin and I would be here on the ranch, I would have
told them they were crazy and if someone told me about the hard work that we would be doing,
I would have figured we’d would be crazy to do it.
You have to have fun in life, take even the little things, have a laugh at the bad that
things that happen occasionally.
If you don’t, then I firmly believe you end up old and bitter, and who wants to be
that.
This afternoon I will be watching the super bowl just like millions of people, and we
will see how the cows did.
I guess they have a 50-50 shot, don’t go placing any bets based on them though.
I’ve heard they are hockey fans.
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Enjoy the game, have a great week and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life.