Hi I’m Mike, Its Christmas eve but the ranch never takes a vacation, the cows still need
fed and waters still need filled and the animals never give you a day off.
On our Wyoming life
In a lot of ways Christmas around here has to be treated just like any other day, even
though erin is inside baking up a storm, making Christmas goodie plates for all the neighbors.
Let me give you a sneak peek of keeps me warm while I’m out working.
Inside she is making, fry pan cookies, scotcheroos, peanut butter blossoms, fudge, and chex mix
along with sugar cookies.
Which I hope will be all waiting for me when I get back inside.
But first things first, we need to take care of all the animals.
Of course the cows need fed, you have to do that everyday.
The bulls also need fed and I’m going to take you along with me today as we venture
into the bull pasture and see if the cold weather has calmed them down a bit, they have
been a little bit frisky lately.
Once everyone is fed then we can go and check and fill waters, and hopefully that is the
extent of the work we are going to do for today.
It’s a holiday after all and definitely a day that is better spent inside warm and
toasty.
So, today is gonna be a short one, and we can get right to it.
As Erin gets to work making her sweets, and grace looks on.
We can finish up feeding the cows.
With such bitter temperatures we actually feed a little more than we normally would.
Cows use digestion to help them produce body heat and the more they eat the warmer they
are, so we will feed a couple extra bales today.
Usually I do this anyway on holidays, give the cows a little extra.
Yeah, they don’t know the date but in a way they are part of our family.
I could get them an Ipod or something but then they would just have to share it, this
way they all get a little something extra, if not in their stocking then in their bellies.
With them happy and taken care of we can now take another bale and head to the bull pasture.
The bull pasture is located on the other side of the highway, away from the cows, and for
good reason.
A bull can smell a cow in heat from quite a ways away, and we don’t want the bulls
to get any ideas if they think there is an available cow somewhere.
So they live in their own private bachelor pad for about 9 months of the year.
They hang out with other bulls and do bull stuff, which usually involves fighting and
trying to prove dominance.
When feeding the bulls, we have to be on our toes, just like with a cow you never know
what a bull is thinking but I usually assume that its something along the line of “this
guy is on my turf” or some other macho bs.
So I stay alert.
The bull gate is always locked, with a padalock, A few years ago, someone thought it would
be funny to open the bull gate in the middle of the night, I woke up to sirens and the
highway patrol directing traffic on the highway.
No one was hurt and I got the bulls back in but since then its better to be safe than
sorry.
Once we are in the pasture, then we can cut the net wrap off the bale.
Netwrap is what is applied to the bale when its made and it holds it together.
The bulls seem pretty mellow today, which is a good thing, I think the temps have taken
it out of them.
The bale is dropped into a bale feeder which contains the bulk of the hay, reducing waste
by the bulls spreading it around or standing in it.
This bale will last them almost a week as they will eat about 40 lbs of hay per day.
Not like they have anything or anyone else to do.
As we head back to the shop, we can swing into the house and check in with Erin.
The scotcharoos and the fudge are already done, and shes trying a new recipe with saltine
toffee candy.
A little unorthodox, but I’ll go with it.
I like saltines, I like toffee and I like candy.
The fry pan cookies look like they are done as well and Erin is putting the finishing
touches on her traditional chex mix.
As much as I’d love to stay and eat, its back out to the cold for us, where we can
start checking and filling the multiple stock tanks that keep the animals hydrated.
There are 4 different stock tanks we need to check, bull tank, I know is full.
I filled it yesterday and the corral tank for the replacement heifers and steers is
filling nicely.
With the stock tank heater keeping things thawed and happy.
The cow tank is a different story, its empty with a crust of ice built up around it.
This is actually a temporary tank as our usual tank and water supply have recently failed
and that repair is on the project list.
But it’s a quick fix, a few sharp kicks and we can get their water going.
As we head into check water that supplies the horses and the bred heifers, well that’s
where find a problem.
Their stock tank heater has failed.
Tank heaters work really hard, especially in this kind of weather but when they break,
they cause all kinds of problems and they need to be replaced.
Frozen water is no good to anyone, even cows.
So we start the process of breaking the ice.
And this ice is thick, luckily I brought my trenching shovel which actually makes short
work of ice.
Once the ice is broken then we get the chunks out using a pitchfork to fish it out and throw
it off to the side.
Then its back to the shop to grab a new tank heater and take it over and put it in the
tank, plugging it in and letting it get to work.
With that done we still have to check the pigs water which I know is frozen.
The same process takes place there as we start breaking ice, and breaking the tank.
The ice that built up made the plastic of the tank brittle and with one wack of the
shovel, either me or the ice has split the side of the tank….I’m blaming the ice.
This is an added problem, another added problem that I didn’t think about is that camera
batteries don’t last long in the cold and this one is going to die.
Quickly, lets toss in a new water tank and get it filling up.
We are just going to have to hand water the pigs 3 times a day until we can get their
water tank fixed again.
Not a big deal, just more time out in the great Wyoming tundra.
And I guess that’s it, battery dead.
I’ll finish up and meet you in the house.
Where the cookies are out of the oven and Erin is applying the finishing touches,
where the kids play and be all silly, where I finally get to take off c old, wet
and dirty boots.
And we are back, and in the warmth of the house, I’m not going to lie, if feels nice.
My boots are soaked, my socks are wet and I am freezing but right now I feel like the
luckiest guy on the planet.
I’ve got my family around me with more on the way, my mom and step dad are due in from
Idaho today.
Hey that rhymes.
I hope you have a great Christmas as well.
The ranch doesn’t stop and Tuesday we will be back to tackle more chores of the project
list, Thursday you can join erin and me for a little chat as we livestream together and
next Sunday I really want you to look forward to a very special year end episode coming
up.
Its gonna be awesome.
Have a great Christmas, cherish those around you, be thankful if you don’t have to freeze
your toes off and if you do, I’m right there with you.
Have a great week and thanks for joining us, in our Wyoming life.