Hi, I’m Mike.
Everyone is asleep, its 5:45am and today I get to take you with me for a day in the life
of Our Wyoming Life.
Good morning and welcome to our Wyoming life, here we are in the shop and today I get to
drag you with me for an entire day of ranching in Wyoming.
Of course, ranching isn’t all I do every day around here.
I have a family that needs taken care of and of course since starting this YouTube thing,
well that’s changed things a lot also and you are going to be there for all of it today.
If this is your first time here, please subscribe and join us on a journey that we only started
a few years ago.
Come explore the ranch life with us and escape the ordinary.
Today we have a busy day, its Thursday.
That means tonight we have a live stream on youtube where we get a chance to sit down
and hang out with you, answer questions and keep you up to date on whats going on out
here.
They are always a lot of fun, and if you have never had a chance to visit one live, we invite
you to do so.
We do them every other week on Thursdays at 7pm mountain time.
So today we have to be done by lets say around 6, and back in the house to set up for the
livestream.
We have a super full day ahead of us and like most days around here it starts with feeding
the cows.
Sunrise is officially at 6:30 this morning but first light is right around 6 oclock and
this morning the cows look hungry, they are waiting for us at the gate and as soon as
net wrap is cut and pulled off we can get to laying out the food.
This is one of my favorite parts of the day, especially when the weather is nice.
We are expecting temps up into the low 40’s little wind, sunshine on and off, but for
March in Wyoming, I’ll it for sure.
With theses cows fed we can now head back to the shop and grab out last sack of food
for the steers.
This adds something to our list for the day, we are going to have to replenish our supply
so that means later we have a trip to town to get some more for them but for now we head
out through the barn, and feed these guys their corn oats and barley for the day.
After getting the steers their breakfast, it’s a quick walk over to the chicken house,
where the chickens and geese come out to greet
the day.
The heifers currently live right next to the chicken house so they are our next stop.
These group of girls are due any day now.
They have been pregnant for the last 9 months and this is their first time.
We keep them very close to the barn mostly for the ease of checking them, but also if
one has any problem with calving then we can bring them in to the barn pretty quickly where
we have the tools at hand to help them out.
While we are here we are going to fill up their water and while that’s filling we
are going to run over to the house and get the gator, which I left out last night and
is thoroughly frosted up.
I quickly scrape the windshield with a credit card, and we can head over to check waters
across the road, the calves water gets turned on and we stop and check the bull water, which
is good and doesn’t need filling today.
Back in the shop we get a breather while we wait for waters to fill, Erin has a meeting
this morning and has to leave the house about 8.
She’s meeting with the state assistant director of sensible nutrition, where they are going
to talk about farmers markets role in feeding the less fortunate.
With the clock ticking on that, its back out to turn off waters.
First back over to the calf water, turning that off then I catch a glimpse of Mackenzies
bus coming over the hill.
I haven’t seen the kids yet today and this is my last chance to see Mackenzie until tonight
so I usually try to make it to walk her out of the house and onto the bus, to see her
off for her day.
With Erin getting ready to leave soon, I am going to get to hang out with Grace and Lincoln
until its time for Grace to go to school, we are going to take her to school, which
means we need Erins car because her car has the kids car seats in it and my truck does
not.
So Erin will take my truck to her meeting.
Shes probably not going to want to take a stock trailer too.
So lets get that disconnected for her.
So far so good, our day is coming together nicely.
And now we can take the truck back to the house, grab the gator once again and go and
shut off heifer water.
Then its back into the house, where Lexi our dog meets me and we are just in time to catch
Erin heading out the door.
She will be back this afternoon and until then its time to get some kid time and get
some work done in the house.
The kids want to color so we get to printing out some coloring pages for them and with
Graces help, we pick out a few.
And the kids settle in to their coloring project.
And I settle into some youtube.
We get around 50 new comments per day on YouTube and around 10 emails, also 20 or so comments
and inboxes on Facebook.
So first I get to answering those.
Sometimes the going is slow.
But it doesn’t bother me, we will get done when we get done and I know that everyone
understands that and most are very patient about replies.
Soon I am all caught up, for now and I can get into working on our new channel trailer
which will be debuting in a few weeks, the phone calls start to roll in and before we
know it time to load up kids and take Grace to school.
After dropping off Grace, Lincoln heads up to spend some time with Grandma and we are
back to work.
Erin’s new high tunnel is supposed to arrive today at 3pm, of course its early.
So we head out to get it unloaded out of the back of the transport truck.
It comes in 3 rather large boxes.
2 of which have been somewhat destroyed in transit, which we find out as soon as we try
to take the first one off the truck.
The second pallet is just as damaged and of course falls apart just like the first.
The third box however is intact and comes right off the truck.
But we do have a mess to clean up.
All of these parts need to be inventoried to make sure we have everything, but for now
we are going to take the intact box, which holds the cover for the high tunnel into the
shop.
The rest we are going to load up and store in the sales barn for now, until we can get
the inventory taken care of.
Loading it piece by piece and hauling it over to the sales barn, dropping it off, then headed
back for more.
Three trips should do, and it may not look pretty but its here.
That will make Erin happy.
Now that Erin is back and the pickup is back we can head into town to get the food for
the steers that we ran out of earlier.
A quick trip to town takes us to our local feed and ranch supply store where we can get
a ton of corn oats and barley, or COB for them which will last them a few weeks.
The pallet is loaded onto the truck, using a forklift and we are out, and back home.
Where we can unload it, but first we need to cake the cows.
We have to move the cake trailer anyway to bring in the new pallet of food, so we might
as well cake them while we are at it.
Loading 300 pounds of supplemental food for the cows, full of vitamins and protein they
need to keep themselves and their calves healthy.
Once our cake has been delivered we can drop off the trailer.
Warmer temps today have starting the snow melting, and it’s a bit messy out in the
field, so we try to lay down the cake in the driest parts of the field.
Caking for me usually means the beginning of what I like to call my rounds on the ranch.
Everyday, I like to put eyes on each and every animal we have around here.
Caking the cows gets them all lined up for me to check out and we can take a quick trip
around looking for anything that might catch our eye.
Then its back over to the heifers, checking on them once again, I’m very sure they get
tired of me poking my nose in their business constantly, but the minute I decide not to
check on them, that’s when they will need me.
That’s how it usually works so they will learn to put up with me over the next month
or so as will the cows, when they start calving as well.
After the heifers, then we can check on our steer and heifer calves, that we kept back
year.
Theses heifers wont be ready to breed until summer and the steers will raised and finished
for next years beef production.
Then comes another of my best parts of the day.
Everyday I spend a few minutes with the horses.
They don’t get worked a lot during the winter months, and we keep them purely for recreational
riding but with the amount of snow and ice we have on the ground we choose to not risk
injury to them and let them live out the winter in their corrals and pasture.
Each day I bring them over a few treats, I get to hang out with them and they get some
attention that they need.
Brea is our quarter horse and Heiro is a paint-draft mix.
They are both extremely friendly and we all look forward to our daily visits.
The clock is ticking as our livestream is coming up quick and we still need to get the
pallet of food off of the pickup, first moving the pallet of cake out of the way, then heading
out.
This ton of food is very close to the tipping weight of the bobcat and we have to be careful
getting it off the pickup and into the shop.
That done we can fire up the incinerator to burn some used net wrap before heading back
into the house, catching the kids having dinner and Erin making ours.
Looks like French Dip.
Dinner is served as Erin and I get a chance to catch up on our day.
I get to tell her how her brand new high tunnel is laying in a pile in the sales barn and
she tells me all about her morning meetings.
Before we know it, its time to send the kids up to grandmas house, along with the dog,
a short walk across the yard and into grandmas garage.
The computer is quickly set up along with the camera, wires are run and software is
fired up.
Erin gathers up the cats, who will plan to jump on us at some point in the livestream
and the clock keeps ticking.
And before you know it, its time to go.
With the livestream complete, Erin is heading up to the grandmas to get the kids and I am
headed back out to finish up a couple more chores for the night.
We need to close up the chicken house and check those heifers again.
Each and every day on the ranch is totally different, and most days you never know what
to expect.
When it comes to living the life you love it all comes down to the little things.
Being able to stop by the house and hang out with kids for a few minutes, or visiting the
horses, or even driving across a field.
I never would have expected this life to grow on me the way it has over the years since
Erin and I came here.
We were blank slates, thrown into a life we knew nothing about and I really believe that
we were able to take this life, and make it into not only something we can live with but
something we love.
So take the little things in your life, no matter what they may be, a sunrise, a phone
call with a friend, maybe just some peace and quiet.
Cause when it all comes down to it, every day is just a series of little things and
the little things make big things happen.
I never in a million years would have guessed that life for me would have become a juggling
act of ranching, kids, family, and YouTube, but now that it is.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, if even one of those things were missing there would
be a huge hole in my life.
We are very lucky to have what we do, and we are lucky to have you along for the ride.
Thanks for taking your time to follow me for the day, I am wiped out and done but I hope
that you have the energy left to like this video, find us on Facebook and continue with
us as we explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary.
Until next time, have a great week and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life.