Haying again

The first time in 16 years hay is being harvested on the ranch.  In the average year it is less expensive to purchase hay then to own the machinery and hire the labor to run it.  However, the past 2 years of the drought hay had became very expensive and if the machinery was already owned it would have been cost effective to put up our own hay, except due to the drought there was very little extra grass to put up as hay.  Due to the past drought our cow numbers are way down and this year we have came out of the drought and have abundant grass.  We therefore have a custom harvester coming to the ranch to bale up some of the grass so it doesn't go to waste.  The swather you see is cutting the grass and placing it in windrows to await the baler that will follow in a few days.  Years ago 400 ton of hay was put up each year on the ranch, but we will probably only do enough acres to put up about 100 ton and graze the remaining acres this winter.

Next years calf crop

The task of artificially inseminating 310 cows was finished today.  The herd was divided into 3 groups so the numbers were small enough that each group could be AI'd within a 4 hour time frame on insemination day.  Before that day could occur the cows were given hormone injections 3 days and 10 days prior so the cows in each group could become pregnant at the same time.  However due to different gestation times of each individual the calves from each group will be born over a 3 week period next spring.  Moving the cows closer to the corrals the day before the first injection was given and then the sequential times through the chute resulted in us working with the cattle 15 days out of the last 30.  This has been a very busy time, but now we can return to routine ranch work i.e. fence repair, water well maintenance, weed control etc.

Temporary cowhands

Blake and Arden had help moving cattle to a meadow near the corrals in preparation for the synchronization of estrus cycle for this years breeding program.  Sharyn was there to help as well as cousin Everitt and Bev Wohlers from Idaho.  It was work easily accomplished with a good crew.  The next day the cows filed through the chute and received their first treatment in the protocol.  The job was easily accomplished with the cows being handled gently with nearly their full cooperation.