Thursday, June 30, 2011

Where Babies Come From

Let me start this post off with some background information. We are a heifer raising ranch. We buy cows at a young age, breed them, and sell them before they have their babies because we don't have milking facilities for mama cows and their babies.

Just like people, cows have an average gestation.

Just like people, cows don't always give birth according to their average gestation.

Fortunately for me because I love the babies...

 but unfortunately for the ranch because a "fresh" cow (just gave birth)...

 doesn't bring as much money as a "springer" (a pregnant cow)...

we sometimes have some girls that pop a little bit too soon and we end up with this...

"Why do fresh cows bring less money than springers?" One might ask.

Dairy farmers will pay more for the pregger cows because...

1) They can get the most milk out of that cow as they can start milking as soon as the baby pops. Whereas, a fresh cow that's been milking it's baby for a few days, doesn't have as much milk as she's been feeding her babay for awhile.

Get it? Ok, number 2 -

2) Dairy farmers desire female calves, not male calves. Why? Female calves eventually turn into springers which bring in - what? - more milk. Male calves eventually turn into veal as they can not be milked - duh. A few lucky male calves get to grow up into bulls, and well, I don't think I need to do any explaining there. Therefore, because a female calf is more valuable to a dairy farmer than a male calf, one would pay more for it at auction. Price comparison as a newborn calf? Typically $200 for a female calf and $10-$50 for a male calf.

How does this pay a part in our end of the deal?

Well, if we send a pregnant cow to auction, the sex of her baby is unknown. (Unless she was inseminated with sexed semen, but that's a story for another post - or you could read my college senior project blehhhh). So, since the sex of the baby is unknown (with the high possibility it could be a female calf) and the mama has not popped nor lost any milk, the buyer will pay more for a springer than a fresh cow.

Get it? Or did I just really confuse yall, and now you're craving a big glass of milk? Or veal?

Isn't the baby above so cute though?? And guess what - we got a girl. :)

  Just another day on the ranch.

Backseat Driver

 This is how I spent a lot of my mornings.


On the back of our 4-wheeler, or as our Portugese herdsman likes to call it, "his horse".

Whenever the horse doesn't start, I say, "Hey, my horse always starts."

Whenever the horse runs out of gas, I say, "Hey, my horse never runs out of gas."

Whenever the horse throws us off, I say, "Hey my horse never..."  Oops, wrong horse. I think that's the other way around folks. :)

Anyhoo, the horse is pretty fun to ride on, minus getting covered in mud, cow $%@&, and whatever else the tires decide to kick up.

Happy Dogs

Happy dogs come from California.


Happy cows come from California, too.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Beef

Beef.


It's what's for our dinner.

Literally. These are the four steers we have set aside for Texas and I, my mom, and the two guys that work here as well. They go to their new home (a.k.a. our freezer) sometime around December.

Texas and I have the cute little one on the left closest to the camera. I was thinking of naming him until I realized how hard it'd be to send him off to the butcher... unless of course he was named something like Freezer Burn, Medium Rare, or Stewy.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Baby Steps

I took Miss Jade out on her first walk outside of the arena the other night.

If she hadn't launched me through the air the first time I got on her, this adventure would have come a lot sooner. I wanted to make sure I didn't rush her into anything, even though I know the girl who had her before was riding her all over the place.

As per typical Jade style, she walked around the corrals, machinery, concrete, sprinklers, and cows like she had been doing it for the last 20 years.


Ain't she purdy?

Uno

Ok, I promised myself I wasn't going to get attached before kitty was 6 weeks old.

But I can't help it.

He's (or she's, I'd just prefer it to be a boy) got stripes, his hair is so soft, and he's so helpless! He needs me.


I've been checking in on him everyday. His mom is not known for her superb mothering skills, so I've been watching to see if she's stopped feeding him.

Sooo, in the midst of trying not to get attached, I've sorta been thinking of some possible names. Shout out your favorites if you so wish.

Uno. Duh, one kitten in the litter. Uno.

Pancho. Pablo. Cuervo. A variety of Mexican names because after all, his mom is Pepe.

Obviously, it's a clear race between Uno and Cuervo.


Monday, June 27, 2011

Settle For A Cooldown

Took the boys for a walk yesterday.

They always get really tired.

Texas and I never get tired though.

We are machines.

Actually, we are on machines. Well, a machine.

We usually take out the 4 wheeler and have the dogs run behind (Stoney) and ahead (Hote) of us.

Takes them about 10 minutes (Stoney) and an hour and a half (Hote) to get their tongues dragging.



They looked like they needed a refresher yesterday, so we chucked them into one of the cow troughs in one of the pastures.


Some little doggie who is so scared of water was acting like a fish!

Maybe more like a starfish. Fish actually move around in water. Stoney refused to move in the event that he may get more wet.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Bedridden


Above is a trip down memory lane when I was bedridden for two weeks with a lovely case of a collapsed lung. Can you guess how many years ago this was?

During the last 40 hours or so, I've been glued to the couch in my living room. Sometime between throwing back beers at a BBQ and swimming at my friends house, I came down with a pesky stomach bug. I'll tell ya, it's really hard to eat soup and noodles when it's 100 degrees outside!

I'll be back to posting about cows soon, as long as I don't keel over from going stir crazy first!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Babies

High school friends + 1.


Someone's having a little girl in August!

90

Can you guess what we made 90 of last night for a BBQ?


I'll give you some hints.

Jalapenos.

Bacon.

Cream Cheese.


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Brandin' - Texas Style

Texas dropped in on our branding session this morning


Feel the burn..


Thanks for the help Texas man!! :)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Cute

Pep literally crawled into Stoney's lap.


Also, the total kitten count is....

One!

Friday, June 10, 2011

I Got Mad Skillz

All the new little heifers at our ranch have been running around with this tattoed on their hiney:


Sometimes the girls get really nervous in the chute when I stick 'em with the branding iron, so the end result can come out a little wobbly. Other times, I get girls that come in that must have a high pain tolerance because their little booties come out looking nice and pretty like in the picture above.

Friends

Kittens have popping out of the hay bales like crazy the last few weeks. Must have been all that warm weather a couple months ago.


Stoney has made a new friend.

Mama


Some little kitty is a mama this morning :)

Friday, June 3, 2011

Expecting

Someone is gonna be a momma soon...


Little Peps has us guessing day to day when she will have her little kittens. It must be something in the water here - another wild cat in the hay alley has 5 gray kittens that are just starting to come out and romp around.

This is probably one of my favorite things about living on a ranch. :)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

One Year Ago From Today

Once upon a time, there was a a California sorority polo playing cow girl who spent a few summers and a winter in a little town in Colorado, working on a high end guest ranch as a Wrangler.

Once upon a time, there was a sweet girl from south Texas who wrote a birthday rap for the California Cow Girl.

And performed it at 7 a.m. at breakfast after I helped guide almost all of the ranch summer staff on horseback to our meal.


Once upon a time, I spent my birthday on top of a cliff with two of my best friends.


Well, two of my best friends and some other dear company.

Once upon a time, we dangled our feet off of cliffs and drank beer with old friends.


Once upon a time, this Cali girl could get to this exact view by driving only 20 minutes from her house.


Once upon a time, nights were spent driving down isolated mountain road with new and old friends.


Once upon a time, I watched many a breaktaking sunsets.


Once upon a time, I shot beer bottles with a BB gun off those cliffs for fun. Because I could.


Once upon a time, I got to see these lovely ladies as much as I wanted.


Once upon a time, I could count on at least one person at any given second of the day to join me on a last minute adventure.


Once upon a time, I lived in Colorado with my best friends.


Once upon a time, I was only 23 years old.