From lady banker to lady rancher. Finding purpose at "home on the range" after 38 years in the office.
On a ranch, your Future is always your cow herd. Our young replacement calves born last year and kept back (not sold at the market) are a big part of our future herd ahead.
This is the first year we’ve “held back” more than 50 calves. We certainly have to pick the right set of bulls to put with these girls in June!
Our 3W cow has had a pretty tough calving season so far. At the outset she delivered a set of premature breech twins – well, hubby had to certainly help her along on that. Sadly the first twin out was deceased and the second little fella just took forever to “spunk up”.
His first few days of life were spent inside our cozy barn and then in the “executive suite ” pen….the very same one where my pampered blind calf Ugo used to reside. I came to call his subsequent environments “Wayne’s World” and he then became “Little Wayne” to me.
So Little Wayne would sleep in the straw in a corner in the pen day in and day out. I would bring his mom 3W in at night and let her out in the morning and Wayne would muster enough energy to get up and suck for awhile.
That was pretty much his exciting life and routine until I went away for a few days on the conference and I got the news that Little Wayne had died while I was away. I pretty much knew he wouldn’t make it. Being a premature calf and a lonely twin, the odds were stacked against him.
So this week the oddest thing happened. I happened to be walking in the pen where 3W was feeding and she looked up at me with such a “look”- hard to describe. The oddest thing was she then started to follow me around the corral. I realized that this was the first time she had really seen me since losing her Little Wayne and she may have thought perhaps I would take her to him once again just like I always used to do.
Well of course this kind of thing has a way of breaking my heart. I put too much human emotion into the lifestyles of our cows and I think it costs us some extra energy – that which we have little to spare these days at full-bore calving! However, this behaviour encouraged both hubby and myself that perhaps she was able to take on a recently born twin, in essence to replace her Little Wayne and take the load off the other twin mom cow and ultimately keep her a productive member of the herd.
So we are now in the process of attempting this “transplanting” activity, to turn 3W into the adoptive mother of Little Wayne. It requires separating the “new” twin from his original family but luckily we have another fella living in the barn to keep him company.
One of my passions when it comes to photography is…landscape and so I was happy to see it is this week’s photo challenge.
More often than not there are cows in my Landscape.
The Hyatt Regency – my home away from home for a couple days this week as I attended the Advancing Women Conference. Country girl in the big city whilst calving capers continued to carry on back home on the ranch – and with a vengeance. The calf count went up considerably in my absence!
I was fortunate to travel to Calgary and network with other women in agriculture as we gathered to listen and learn from some amazing gals in the industry.
The very best thing about a conference like this is the opportunity to meet new people and develop that very social skill called “networking”…always my favourite part. Thanks to Tamara, Elan and Christen – three fun and warm-hearted girls from Saskatchewan that I met for the first time – for a fun evening enhanced by a little wine and calamari.
I am blessed to live in Alberta where we experience the most incredible beautiful skies whether it be at dawn or dusk or every hour in between those golden hours. I find that I have taken countless pictures of my world at “Half-Light“…. which happens to be this week’s photo challenge.
This is one of my favorites captured last fall. A flock of geese had just passed over us heading into the stunning western glow after the sun had set and was washing it’s glow over the clouds.
What happens, more often than not, during springtime on the ranch in the early stages of calving is – a winter storm. We just departed from probably the mildest winter in decades to be greeted, on the second day of spring with a blizzard.
Also, what happens, more often than not, a blizzard-y storm brings on the birthing! Our heifers started to calve one after the other. Between hubby and myself we were getting up to check the herds every two hours.
We are so fortunate to have a big old hip-roof barn for shelter and warmth for the critters and their babes. It doesn’t take long, however, to fill it up when these girls just keep dropping their calves! We are at full capacity!
My heart goes out to these young females, on a good day, when they experience motherhood for the first time. Throw in this nastiest of nasty weather to compound their new adventure – all I can say is….it builds character! For animal and human alike! So far we are very gratified to see they have taken to their calf almost immediately and become the strong, quiet mothers we have raised them to be.
This gal was so quiet in fact that we were able to pull her calf right in the barn pen where she lay. Here you go….freshly pulled!
Recent events have resulted in bringing our cows in from the field this week…TEN days early. Our official calving start date was “calculated” to commence March 26. Wellll, as I started to say…recent events have encouraged us – most strongly – to bring them home within eyesight and a close by stroll from the house.
So this is my new view from the kitchen window. Suits me just fine. It has been a chilly few days, during the snow squalls and winds, riding the quad out to the far field to check on these girls.
“The Watch” is now underway. Flicka Rancher does the midnight check as I am the night owl and like the quiet evening hours to tackle the paperwork projects back inside until it’s my turn to head out. Then hubby checks whilst I sleep…..but the deal is….if there is a hint of trouble….I am to be rousted from said slumber!
And so…it begins…
The love and connection between a cow and her calf is ultimate. The mother cow will watch over her babe with earnestness and gentleness, fierceness and protectiveness. Should they become separated either by man’s choice to offer assistance, or regular maintenance or if they should become separated in the pasture, that mother cow will do everything in her power to get to her calf or to find her calf. She can in fact sniff the little fella out from a mile away or more as I’ve seen happen over the years watching these girls.
This same consummate oneness of love repeats itself as she continues to deliver us a calf year after year as long as she stays in the herd. Every calf she has becomes her One Love.
Another part of preparing for the spring calving season is to have the freezer full of homemade muffins and make-ahead-casseroles. I’m behind on the casserole category but the muffin mission has been satisfactory.
Looking forward to spending as little time as possible in the kitchen in the days ahead. My preference is to be out in the corrals, fields or barn and helping our new little critters start their lives with us on the ranch.
Photo challenge this week
Harmony – the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole.
A newly cultivated field at day’s end…could there be anything more harmonious?
By Creative Memories
Photographing LIFE...wildlife - rural life - family life
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Flicka Rancher 