Hi there I'm Mike and this is Our Wyoming Life
I remember watching America’s funniest home videos as a kid.
You could always tell who was going to win each week.
It was either going to be the video with the baby or the video with the animals.
Well, if the format works why change it…
On this episode of Our Wyoming Life, we feature the animals
A ranch without animals is, well probably not a ranch.
I guess it would be just a big patch of empty land, and that’s no fun.
In all reality the animals are the backbone of any ranch, they all have their job to do,
just like me but the only difference is that without them, i don’t have a job and without
me, they’d probably be ok… not as pampered, but ok.
Today, I have the opportunity to take you around the ranch and introduce you to my friends
and my co-workers.
See, just like you, I’m not friends with every animal I work around, and I’m sure
some of your co-workers, you just tolerate.
Its kind of the same way around here.
So in the effort to be fair and diplomatic, we are going to work alphabetically.
And because we don’t have an alligator, or a pet baboon.
Although how cool would that be….we start with the cats.
This is Kitler and deuce is around here somewhere , they are our two friendly cats and the ones
that you see messing with me when I’m in or around the barn.
There are more cats, they are barn cats, some are friendly, most are not.
We stopped counting a long time ago.
Most of them come and go.
We do end up with a few new ones now and then, we try to catch them.
We get the males neutered to control population.
They are shy, but there is one guaranteed way to bring them out.
Wet cat food, they love it.
Next up, the chickens.
We have just over 30 chickens that live here, they are kept in the chicken coop at night
and during the day they are allowed to roam free.
Every day we collect eggs, we wash them and sell them.
Bunking with the chickens are the geese and the ducks, their eggs are also useful, duck
eggs are used in baking and goose eggs are sold to artists who make goose egg carvings.
Very cool stuff.
Now to the cows, we will stop by the bull pasture on the way.
These are our herd bulls, during the fall, winter and spring they live in their very
own bachelor pad.
Around the beginning of July they will be put out with the cows and allowed to go to
work.
They will only spend a couple of months with the cows and then its right back to their
very own sausage fest, don’t feel too bad for them though, when they go to work, it’s
a busy couple months
Alright, the cows.
Kind of the star of the show.
We’ve had a lot of cows over the years, but just like anything, they get old, they
get sick and there time passes.
We’ve had cows that jump fences, we’ve had cows that wouldn’t leave you alone,
and we’ve had cows that you couldn’t get within 50 feet of.
Our current herd, is probably the best it’s been in years.
The thing about cows is, they are kind of indifferent, most are anyway.
They have this take or leave it attitude, and I rarely get a thank you.
But we do have our unique residents.
This is 39, yes her ear tag says 59, but trust me she was originally 39, somewhere along
the line she got a new tag, but she will always be 39.
She is 10 years old, and when she was younger she was a pain.
She was the first friendly cow that I ever really had a chance to deal with but soon
I figured out that she was only friendly to distract you.
One day we found her with her head stuck in a toilet, you think I’m kidding but my father
in law had made an outhouse out of a barrel, she somehow found it and ended up wearing
it as a necklace for a few hours.
It didn’t really bother her, shes a little odd.
We did get it off, and now the seat is on the wall, commemorating one of the weirder
days I’ve ever had.
Not all of our unique cows are trouble makers.
There’s 80…she’s been around for what seems like a hundred years and white cow her
best friend.
There’s blonde cow, and good old butt stain….its actually a birthmark.
Are you seeing a pattern in the naming of cows around here….the simpler the better,
unless you end up with 2 white cows, or even three.
This is white cows calf born back in 2009 he is a steer, meaning he is castrated and
he lives out with the cows.
He was kept around to act as what’s called a lead steer.
He has been trained to follow me and the cows tend to follow him.
Makes it a lot easier for me to move cows from pasture to pasture, especially when I’m
by myself.
Of course he has his days….
I think that brings us to bambi, our current pain.
She is mackenzies cow.
Each year the ranch tries to give each of our kids a calf of their own, they make the
money off of her and that money goes into a college fun.
Bambis mom actually had a stroke a few weeks before bambi was born.
She was down and couldn’t get to her feet, I had to feed her and give her water by hand.
Our hope was that if we could keep her going until she had her calf, she might be able
to get up and take care of it.
Unfortunately, Bambi came breach and her mom didn’t live through the birth.
Bambi was and orphan, so we bottle fed her and took care of her.
She went from around 60 lbs to 1200 real quick but she has no idea how big she is.
She loves people, she loves Mackenzie and they are best friends.
Last year she had her first calf, he name is Elsa, and she will be staying with the
herd as well.
Cows are amazing animals to have around, I wish everyone could experience, the oddly
satisfying bond that we share.
They know me, they are around me every day.
There’s nothing like the experience of helping a cow that really needs you, and when you
look in their eyes you can tell….maybe they do say thank you.
We still have a few animals left around here in our alphabetical journey around the ranch
and next up…the horses.
We have two horses on the ranch, this is brea and this is heiro….Brea is a quarterhorse,
she is around 10 years old and heiro is a paint draft mix.
Hes a big boy, and he loves to run, he was actually trained as a barrel horse before
I got him so he turns on a dime.
As we head over to the barn we are nearing the end of the tour.
But I really feel like we have forgotten something….Thats right….the peacock.
Before we had peacocks we had chickens and geese and ducks but I guess something was
missing and when erin got wind of a rouge peacock that was captured by the local sheriff
wandering down the ditch of a major highway in the area she had to rescue him.
We adopted him from the local animal shelter and he became part of the flock.
We eventually found him a girlfriend, who he chased off, so we found him another girlfriend
and I think she ran away.
Erin really wants baby peacocks, so we got him another potential mate, and I think this
one is going to stick.
And he seems happy about it.
Alright, so that’s it.
The animals of the ranch, not a bad crowd to run with, and I’m sure we will add more
someday.
Erin wants a milk cow eventually, the girls will soon want their own ponies and Lincoln
is dead set on owning a dragon.
We might have to build a bigger barn.
Thanks for joining me today, if you like us be sure to subscribe and check us out on facebook.
As always I want to thank you for watching, without you, watching us, telling your friends
and spreading the word, theres no way we could do this, which makes you the most important
star of the show.
Have a great week and thanks for joining us, In Our Wyoming Life.