My Cow

On March 13, 2015 By colleengbergIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Out of the over 200 cows we have collectively, there is one cow that is my cow and mine alone. When we acquired her a few years ago in a pen of heifers we bought from elsewhere [something we no longer do as all our females are home-grown] I took a liking to her right away. Her brown and white patchy blotchy look is called “brockle-face” and to me, that means she has character. I also thought of vanilla and chocolate pudding right away for some reason and she soon came to be known as Puddin’.

We’re watching her closely these days now as she will be the first to calve out of the cows.She’ll probably end up being a week ahead of the others because she got to be with the bulls first having lost her calf from illness quite early on during last year’s calving season. Every single year she has had a male calf, she has yet to bring me a female like herself that we can keep in our “home-grown” young herd.

This is why she gets a special place in the blog tonight. By next week I am truly hoping I can write about her and her new heifer calf. I want to keep the Puddin’ Family keepin’ on!

However…………….

I do have an appeasement if she happens to grace me with yet another male calf. He will eventually go to market and be converted to cash, which will then be converted to a new camera lens for Flicka Rancher.

I Hate Cancer

On March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 By colleengbergIn Uncategorized1 Comment

When my stepchildren were young, I remember cautioning them to think twice about using that “hate” word….that it was an awfully strong word. Well I can’t hold back on that word these days. I have to say I do hate cancer and now what it is doing to my beautiful young cousin Karin. She’s not even forty and she finds herself battling a very aggressive cancer that is in fact diagnosed as terminal.

I dedicate every day to her. Nothing that happens in my daily routine can be as scary or as painful or as stressful as what she has to awaken to every day. I can pray for her, for her family, for her doctors but I wanted to do something a bit tangible too. So my husband and I entered a cancer fundraiser on the weekend in honour of her. It’s called a Cutter Rally and many horse-drawn cutters and haywagons gathered to ride either a 3 or 7 mile route through the fields on a sunny yet windchilling day. The cowboys, like my husband, rode horseback but most of us were either passengers or teamsters of a horse-drawn sleigh of some sort. We raised a tidy sum of money towards cancer research and funding efforts and had great fellowship with like-minded, good-hearted folks.

Here’s the one and only cadillac-heated version of a horse-drawn cutter….the rest of us were open to the elements.

And here is the view I had from my seat on a hay wagon…

Blogging Mobile-Style

On February 26, 2015February 26, 2015 By colleengbergIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Today for my Thursday Blogging episode, thought I’d try an entry from my phone since loading the app a few weeks ago. So I’m sitting on a bale watching my crazy dog run around me and climb even higher bales than me as we wait for the cows to finish feeding on chop so we can move them to the processed hay bales in the field for the rest of their feeding day. Minus 30 wind chill going on here so taking a break now to put the gloves back on.
Note to self….don’t do mobile blogging in a minus 30 wind chill.

What Is Boredom?

On February 20, 2015 By colleengbergIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

According to the Wikipedia definition, it “is an emotional state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, and not interested in their surroundings.”

I can honestly declare that I have not experienced this emotional state ever since I became a rancher’s wife [also know as “unpaid farmhand”] sixteen years ago. And my surroundings? How could I not be interested…what with the husband….the dogs, the cats, the horses, the chores, the weather and of course….the cattle. The cattle are our life and our purpose…the reason we do what we do, day in and day out. My husband has always said “the cows come first”. That used to bother me a wee bit but now I’m “all in” on that reality and it has helped us become a much more cohesive decision-making unit.

New Life

On February 13, 2015February 13, 2015 By colleengbergIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Being the conscientious, forward-thinking, responsible ranching couple that we are….we were diligently attending an afternoon seminar on Farm Taxation/Succession in town yesterday. {Yawn!]

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, one of our young bred heifers was busy birthing a baby! Problem is, we don’t officially start calving until the end of March. The other problem is, there was a wicked -30C windchill going on. Thankfully she had calved on the straw bed. Also thankfully, hubby had decided to leave the meeting just a few minutes early….I swear he had a premonition….he’s pretty in-tune to our critters. He found this poor shivering little new-born calf upon return home and gave her the front seat [or floor, in this case] of the Ford pickup for a nice warm-up.

She got to meet her mom an hour or so later and all is well

But then, next morning, when both of us are about to head back to town for our respective jobs….another incident on the straw bed. Another new calf from a young bred heifer! Oh right….back in May of last year the bulls broke out!

We are so fortunate to have home-grown, calm and quiet young heifers in times like these. I guess then – unofficially – calving 2015 has begun on Berg Farm & Ranch.

Dad Would Have Been 87 Today

On February 9, 2015February 9, 2015 By colleengbergIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I am reminded today why it is so important that I keep a blog and that I have kept a blog in the past. Today would have been our dad’s 87th birthday. It is the first time a February 9 has come that dad has not been with us. He passed away last summer and we all still ache over our great loss. Two years ago we had a grand family celebration of his 85th birthday and between my youngest brother’s pictures and my blog story of the day, we have a comforting memory intact. Mom shared with me today how heartwarming it was to review again. Thus….why it is so important to journal and capture life’s events. Blogging is that avenue for me.

Miss you so much dad.

Trixie

On February 6, 2015February 6, 2015 By colleengbergIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Although I’ve “been told”, over the years on the ranch, to not name my cows, I do so anyway. But only for the ones that have a unique-ness or a story or……a place in my heart. Like Trixie. She was born with a stunted back leg, thus leaving her with three good legs. I turned “tri” into “Trixie”. Because of her minor disability….she did get around fairly well….she was allowed to stay home instead of out to pasture every season. Her first calf was a handsome steer and she delivered him quite easily and on her own. In fact we were both alone that year as hubby was full-time trucking and I was nervously responsible for supervising her first calf. Then last year she needed an expensive C-Section to deliver her fancy heifer calf, Suzy-Q.

I was so happy that she gave us a heifer as I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to keep Trixie around too much longer. Her disability was getting greater as she got older and I knew hubby would not put up with another C-Section. This week Trixie left the ranch to be slaughtered. It bothered me more than I expected. But I’m okay now, a couple days later. I have her fancy heifer calf to keep with us for years to come and Trixie’s legacy will carry on through her, Suzy-Q.

Then there’s always the others….Puddin’, Zsa-Zsa, Vanilla Dip, Shaggy…..

Thursday Is For Blogging

On January 30, 2015January 30, 2015 By colleengbergIn Uncategorized2 Comments

In the past – when it seemed I used to be far more skilled at multi-tasking – I set aside Thursday evenings for blogging. Lo and behold….I find it is a Thursday evening, my husband is away on a short haul trucking trip, I am alone and at that state where I can just do whatever I want for a few hours!! Earlier today I realized that after taking on the two jobs and having the hubby home most every day….I have not turned the “off” button “on” for quite some time! This was the first day in awhile that I could just hang out with myself. Sounds selfish, but it was ever so cathartic to just realize that I have been going at warp speed lately, no focus really, and that’s no way to spend “retirement”!

The story I meant to publish back in November, I’ll post now:

The very first week that I was left alone on the ranch to commence my FlickaRancherRole…..well, I blew it!! The bulls took to fighting amongst themselves and in fact proceeded to pull gate posts out of the ground and knock over huge steel gates and ultimately create escape routes just about everywhere. Heifers and bulls and cows all escaped within the perimeters of our ranch [thankfully] but all got mixed up amongst each other after being carefully sorted out by the hubby and the kids.

It’s Already 2015

On January 6, 2015January 6, 2015 By colleengbergIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have to chuckle when I review my one and only post so far since starting my well-intended blog. I started this blog November 2014, intending to describe my adventures,since recently retiring, as the lone lady rancher on our property while my husband worked off-farm, subsequently entrusting me to feed and care for our cattle, horses, dogs and cats.

Well, life has it’s funny way of introducing twists and turns. Since November 2014 I have taken on a casual job as well as a ‘2-day a week’ job with our local municipality, thus ending “retirement” for me. Both of these jobs take me back “to town” to work and who ends up retiring? My husband! All the better, as he is the one that needs to be home to take care of our herd which has increased in value much to our delight and surprise. We are feeling very blessed to be experiencing this in our industry after many years of droughts, BSE crisis, Ecoli scares….all drama that affects the value of our livelihood.

That being said, my blog will still exist and live on. It is important that my readers know and understand how hard we work in the agricultural industry. I am sure my adventures will still happen as we ranch together. I’ll have 5 days of every week to be in the rural world I love and there will definitely be stories to tell and share and let you all know what a great life we live with our animals under the big and beautiful Alberta sky.

Why Flicka Rancher?

On November 4, 2014 By colleengbergIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I used to be a banker. I was this banker for almost 40 years. I retired from this banking career on March 1, 2014 and am now home full-time on our ranch realizing the new role as girl-rancher. Drawing from my Swedish background on both my parents’ sides….I call myself Flicka Rancher as “flicka” is Swedish for “girl”.

I really don’t have any more free-time in retirement because I have an awful lot of interests. Now that the full-time job is out of the way I plan to tackle all of those interests…one of them is writing.

I thought it might be interesting to write about ranch-life from a female perspective and in turn do so via a blog. The “deal” between hubby and I, now that I’m retired, is that I’ll be taking care of the ranch and the livestock and running equipment on my own while he continues the off-farm job – trucking. Not that I haven’t been “doing” the ranching while I was working but now I’ll be responsible for making the decisions of the day…because I will in fact be here during the days. Yes, wonderful daylight! The days of chores in the night after a day in the office are, thankfully, no more [or at least….less more!]

Around animals….250 head of them….there are bound to be “stories” and adventures. I may just ramble though too and share thoughts…muse, ponder, contemplate…all shared through this blog.

I welcome you then to the world of Flicka Rancher. Feel free to let me know when you’ve dropped by. Share a comment now and then….there’s nothing a blogger likes more than to know somebody’s out there and checking in on occasion.