Hi I’m Mike, weve been so wrapped up in haying for the last few weeks and its easy
to forget the backbone of the ranch and what we do all this for.
Today we head down to summer pasture and reunite with the cows on our Wyoming life.
Welcome back, thanks for coming along as we explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary.
With not coming from a ranch background, in fact Erin and I both moved here from corporate
jobs to help out family, I didn’t know what to expect from the ranch life.
I remember when we were going to move out here, we came to visit one night, and I looked
around and said, it is way too dark out here, but now a set of headlights moving past the
window is enough to wake me up most nights.
Over the past few years my entire prospective on life has really changed, I see family in
a whole new way and I see work in a whole new way as well.
There is always something to be done.
It might be fixing fence, which by the way, we have a video coming up testing new methods,
equipment and tools, to maintaining equipment or just cleaning up.
But the best part of being here is the freedom.
My job might not be that much different from yours, even if you work no where near farming
or ranching.
I have deadlines, I have customers, and yes, I even have co-workers.
And mine might still be a little dirtier than yours but they might not
In the summertime its easy to forget what the ranch is all about.
The cows.
After branding, the cows are moved 5 miles back on the ranch to summer pasture.
It takes them a few months to move that far but buy now the beginning of August they are
back where they have the most freedom of their lives.
For the next 3 months they will roam over 2500 acres, most of it with free access.
They will start to wean their calves here and by October, most will be completely weaned
from their moms and its here with an abundance of grass to eat over the summer, they will
put on some weight to help them get a head start on the long, cold winter.
Also, while they are here, we will start the cycle again, as the bulls move through the
herd.
There are 150 cows down here, each one has already had her calf and while they are here
they will continue to come into heat until her and her bullfriend meet up and take care
of a little business.
Cows that are able to continue to breed are the backbone of the ranch, without them and
their calves we wouldn’t have a ranch and that’s why we always try to take care of
our herd the best that we can.
As a calf grows on the ranch, we strive to make sure that him and mom are the healthiest
that they can be.
Its not always easy.
Snowstorms, wet weather and even drought can make keeping any animal alive on the ranch
a struggle but it becomes what we are all about, almost every day of the year.
Calves for the first few months of their lives will stick very close to mom but by now they
are between 3 and 5 months old.
They are ready to adventure and experience some of that freedom for themselves.
Which is a good thing for us, but its not just by happenstance that the timing has worked
out this way.
Timing is key on the ranch.
We time calving to happen when we hope that cold weather and winter storms wont hinder
the process, making the chance of a calf surviving the first few hours of his or her life much
greater.
We time when we hay, to have the most abundant crop possible when we cut it and bale it.
Giving us the best hay to feed all winter long when snow covers the ground and cows
have no more forage left.
Just like haying, we time when we go to summer pasture.
As the cows begin weaning their calves and producing less and less milk for them.
We want those calves to have the most mineral and vitamin rich grass that we can possibly
provide for them at that stage in their development.
This boost at the beginning of their lives allows them to grow bigger, faster at the
rate of 2 to 2.5 lbs per day.
By the time we sell calves in October, most of these boys and girls will be tipping the
scales at over 500 lbs.
By offering them the best grass on the ranch, not only are we helping them grow but we are
doing it consistently.
The more uniform our calves are at sale time the better, as buyers know what they will
have to put into them to continue their finishing program.
And just like you at work, there are folks that get along with and those that you don’t.
Just because you don’t get along with them doesn’t make them any less of an asset than
your best friend, who may be a bigger pain in the butt but still you wouldn’t want
to be without.
The cows of the ranch all have their own unique personalities.
Almost all of these cows were born here on the ranch and kept out of our own herd, all
but 45, who we bought from a neighbor as bred heifers.
Those 45, you can spot them from the freeze brands on their hips are a different kind
of cows.
They are wilder than the others, although as they get older, they are mellowing out
a bit.
There are cows that have been here since the day I showed up here, and I was the newcomer.
Over the years I have shown that I’m not here to hurt them and I have slowly gained
their trust, which in some cases was not an easy task.
Others though were easier.
Like Bambi, who was hand raised after her mom died during calving, and Number 2, who
for some reason just likes people more than cows.
Out here is where my freedom really is, I have miles in any direction.
I have no cell phone service in most areas, and I am surrounded by the most important
part of the ranch and what makes a ranch, a ranch.
Together, every year, myself and these cows go through our happiest times out here on
the prairie and the some of the saddest.
But that’s what makes us who we are, the good and the bad.
From the cow, to you and me.
Thank you for taking your time with me today and if this is your first time here on the
ranch, thanks for coming along.
If you get a minute, please subscribe and like this video.
That helps get videos from us and others like us in front of people who are curious about
this life, were their food comes from and the families behind it.
It doesn’t matter if that channel has a million subscribers or 50, by you liking,
commenting and subscribing, that tells YouTube that people care about agriculture and helps
people learn and begin to care themselves.
That’s important for so many reasons and I want to thank everyone who puts out agriculturally
based content.
If you are thinking about putting out a video, a podcast, or even posting a picture about
your farm, ranch or even garden.
Do it, because its better to give yourself a voice than to sit in silence.
I challenge everyone who knows the importance of agriculture to find a way to spread that
message and here on YouTube is a great place to start.
Like those type of videos, subscribe to creators and as much as I hate to say it, YouTube is
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we do that trust me someone will notice.
And again, I am not just speaking for us, find a channel that speaks to you and help
them succeed and help agriculture get back on top, where it should be, after all, we
all eat, its the one thing we all have in common and it’s one of the easiest things
to forget.
I’ll see you again soon, until then have a great week thanks for joining us, in our
Wyoming life.