Happy 2013!

At home on the range. 

http://www.valentinovamp.com/page/19

Happy New Year and kiss a cow. From Colin and I at home on the range. 

Merry Christmas!!

At home on the range.  Colin and I hope each and every one of you had a very Merry Christmas! After graduation and finals, Colin and I had a little time to celebrate Christmas a little early in Manhattan and then left to visit our families for Christmas with them. Each of us had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of Christ and we couldn't have been more happy to see snow when we returned home. The snow was the first moisture we had seen in a while and we were all very excited.

Merry Christmas!!!! How do you like that nice looking Hereford?

It's been a while since either Colin or I had been back to the farm to check up on things. Needless to say, Colin was thrilled to see his girls (don't worry...he tells me I'm still his number one girl) and they were thrilled to see him. Separation is hard on them...they're just a bit less spoiled when Colin's away.

Feeding ground hay with the feed wagon. 

The girls line up nicely for breakfast. 

I've been getting my bovine fix with some very dapper looking young gentleman while working on my grad project. I'm looking at how mineral supplements affect fertility in yearling, purebred bulls and I have 90 not so willing participants. They like to show off in the lot, but when it comes to their turn in the chute they are a little needle shy. Little do they know, they've got lots more opportunities to impress the lady and her clip
board.

We need to work on some bull pics, but this is how Alissa analyzes her bull data.  All business.  

The countdown is on till the wedding. With the big day less than a month away Colin and I
are very excited. There's lots to do, cattle and wedding wise,  but we will be more than ready when the 19th comes around!

Annie says hi! 

Say some prayer for the sanity of those at home on the range!

Graduation

At home on the range. Last week Colin and I finish up our last round of finals as undergraduate students. We were both pretty excited to be wrapping things up! Although we walked across the stage to get our diploma covers (actual diplomas don't come till March!!!) and then had to go back for a week of finals, we were both very ready to be Kansas State alums.

Now that we are all graduated...Colin will continue on working at River Creek Farms. I don't think it has quite hit that he will never have to spend another day in the classroom. I will begin my masters in bovine reproduction in January and then will begin vet school in August. I guess I couldn't quite give school a break. 

Congrats to the Class of 2012 from Colin and I at home on the range. 

Thankful

At home on the range we are so very thankful.

1. Family - we are so blessed to have wonderful parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, friends that are like family, and everyone else in between. 

     2. Good cows, good fences, and good land - they work very hard for us. We appreciate them more than cubes will ever show. 

      3. Fresh water  - to haul, drink, fish out of, swim in, pray for, and just enjoy. 

     4. For a new, old, cozy little home. And nice homes to go back home to. 

   5. And we are thankful for you. 

Happy Thanksgiving from Colin and I at home on the range. 

From Fall to Freeze

At home on the range. Things have been a little crazy for Colin and I lately. Juggling school, work, and keeping up with the cows back home has proven to leave little time for blogging.

Fall's a beautiful place in the Smoky Hills. 

So...since it has been a while, let me update you about our lives at home on the range.

1) First, I am learning to pregnancy check cattle! Never has a college class been so fun - we spend one day a week palpating cattle to determine how far along they are in gestation. We don't have pictures of me elbow deep in a cow, but I'm sure a few will show up come November when Colin and I preg check our herd!
The gals better get excited!!!!

113 looks pretty excited don't you think! 111...not so much. 

2) We weaned our calves this weekend! Basically this means that we physically separated the momma cows from their calves so that we could sell the calves and retain the heifers. This sounds like it would be difficult for both cow and calf, but just like  with human young adults, there comes a time when the calf can function without the constant watch of its mother. This is important for the consumer because it ensures an ever present food source and important for Colin and I because weaning day means pay day!

A freshly weaned steer belly up to the bunk.

3) We had an early frost...and a few snow flurries. This weekend wasn't just cold, it was down right freezing. Fortunately, Colin and I and the cows were ready for some cooler weather....maybe just not this cool! Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful freeze and weather fit for coveralls. Not only is a freeze a sure sign that cold weather is just around the corner, but it is also important for fall crops. A freeze stops the growing season and allows the crops to get to the point where we can begin to harvest.

All huddled up for a check of the pasture. Thank goodness for hoods. 

Can you see the flurries?

Defrosting before Church.

5) Just because it's cold doesn't mean the work stops. Colin worked extra hard to get the pasture ready to move cattle. This meant fixing more fence and ensuring that water was available. 

How do you like that hat?!? Fix fencing cold weather style....

6) And last but not least, we moved more heifers home. Colin and I sold four of our heifers to Colin's parents and they kept a few of their own heifers back as well. The purpose of keeping heifers back is to ensure replacement cows for the future by selecting for the best of the best. These heifers are the future of our herd and we take great pride in them. We feed them at home to ensure that they are fit enough to breed next spring and we baby them just a little so that they get used to us working them. 

They're all just dolls. And the sad thing is they know it already. 

And how could we forget...at home on the range we are super excited to see our Kansas State Wildcats as a top ten team!!! Colin is ecstatic and I'm just pleased as punch that I have the opportunity to hear more about football than I ever thought possible. The man is crazy....and so is this steer. He's a K-State fan as well if you couldn't tell by the tag.

Mr. K-State

So until the next time we post...probably in a week or so....have a glorious fall, keep rooting for the Cats, and crank up that thermostat. Have a wonderful week at home on the range.

Fall's Creepin in on the Farm

At home on the range fall is creepin in.

The heifers are back home. 

The bull pen's full.

The bale trailer's hitched.

The combine's rumblin. 

Even Annie knows fall is here to stay. 

Happy fall (officially in a few days) from those of us who are always and forever at home on the range. 

Laborious Weekend

At home on the range things are busy as usual. This past weekend Alissa and I went home to do our best to help out.  Hauling water is now a daily chore.  Haying sumac and sedan grass (a.k.a. cane) as well as CRP has taken most of the time lately in an effort to produce enough feed to compensate for the drought.

This weekend Alissa and I helped with the haying (baling and stacking bales of cane) and hauling water as well as our own endeavors of body condition scoring the cattle. When we body score a cow, we are using a 1 to 9 scale to determine the outer physical condition of the cow.  This will alert us if a cow is too skinny that something is wrong or if a cow is too large that she might be eating more than her share of grass.  This is helpful in the long run because we want a happy medium for our cows, by monitoring how the cows change through out the year.

Although we got up much earlier and worked much harder than if we were in class, the break from school was a welcome change, reminding us of why we go to school in order that someday we will be better cattleman, stewards of the land, and business managers when we return to our home on the range.