Fun Picture for the Day

Just a fun picture for the day - I took this one last summer. What a pretty heifer!

Oh the Snow

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. That's the song we were singing yesterday here. My Mom and I tried to go to town, but the county road that we live on was unpassable. So, I could say, we are officially snowed in.

Sure the snow can cause some difficulties during the winter months, but it is a true blessing in the long run. The snow in the picture will become spring run-off, which will supply the country side with plenty of moisture and will come down the creeks for farmers and ranchers to irrigate with. Where I live it is much to dry of a climate to dry land farm. We must take our alloted portion of the creek and distribute it across our meadow land to produce a crop.

My family and I use flood irrigation, which is not only benificial to us, but to the water table and the land as a whole. The land is an awesome tool in which to store water in, acting like a sponge and gradually releasing it.

While the white stuff is mighty abundant and spreads as far as thee eye can see, it will soon turn the country side green for the livestock and wildlife to enjoy!

Feeding our Cattle

I sit here this morning eating my bowl of cheerios. It's my breakfast, cheerios and a nice big glass of milk! And you know the old saying, it's the most important meal of the day!

Well, this is no different for our cattle. When the weather is nice and and the grass is growing, they can "hypothetically" go to the cupboard and pour their own bowl of cheerios - there are enough forages available for them. But when the weather is winterish and the temperatures are cold, we need to feed them. This consists of the hay we put up during the summer, our 800lb round bales. Our hay is made up of timothy, garrison, and brome grasses.

Feeding our cattle has got significantly easier in my lifetime. I remember when I was young, we didn't have our round baler - we would put our hay up loose and store it in haycribs. To feed the cattle, we would fill a trailer with loose hay and my Dad would fork the hay off while my Mom drove the truck. It was a physically challenging job, one that only my Dad could do. Fast forward to 2003, we purchased our round baler and the tractor in the video with the "spinner" on the tail. Now anyone of us, Mom, Dad, or I can go out and feed the cattle!