War has been declared

We have been invaded (100-150 years ago) by a number of foreign plants, many from eastern Europe.  In their homeland they had natural enemies, such as insects or plant diseases that kept them under control, but when our early settlers accidently brought them to America the natural enemies did not come with them.  The Scotch thistle that  Blake is spraying here has formed several stands on the ranch that not only crowds out forage, but are so dense cattle  cannot walk through the infested areas.

viewing the herd

Finally we came to a herd of cows so Arden could show Sackett and Brennen some baby calves, they weren't real impressed, but the herd wasn't impressed with us either.  Calving is nearly finished so vaccinating, branding and DNA testing will be the next job to be done on the ranch.

family tree

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The Foster's desire was to see the big cottonwood tree in the west meadow so that was the next stop.  This tree holds the size record on the wohlers' ranch, but is way behind the state record.  Cottonwoods are notorious for rotting in the middle and falling over.  This tree is over 100 years old, how long will it stand?  

visiting the turtle

My grandkids Foster visited last week and we did a ranch tour.  The first stop was on the dike over the Niobrara where we found a turtle that had been laying her eggs in the gravel.  Blake controlled mama turtle so she would not snap anybody.  Too bad the kids can't extend their visit until the eggs hatch and the baby turtles emerge from the gravel.

Viewing cattle

While attending the recent Akaushi convention Wohlers Ranch staff visited Bovina Feeders the feedlot where our cattle are living a life of leisure and eating a very well balanced diet formulated for an ideal growth rate and for developing optimal muscle and fat characteristics that will be nutritious for people.  This pen has the Wohlers Ranch cattle that obtained most of their growth while eating grass in Nebraska for 15 months before finishing in about 4 months at the feedlot.  This is one of our yearling heifers saying hello as we viewed her and her penmates from the bus.

Akaushi convention

 notes

Blake, Sharyn and Arden recently attended the Akaushi Convention in Lubbock, TX.  Akaushi bulls are what we are breeding the ranch cows to.  This cross produces meat that contains a higher concentration of monosaturated fat relative to saturated fat, which the American Heart Association notes can lead to lower cholesterol, the prevention of coronary heart disease, and weight loss.  Second, it is a significant source of oleic acid -- the compound in olive oil that the USDA touts as good for the heart.  Beef has many nutritional benefits and our cross breeding program enhances it further.

stone bones

 Dave an amateur paleontologist (he is actually a research chemist) spent the day at the ranch and we searched numerous locations for fossils.  Searching is tedious and recovering fossils is even more so, but we did find several ancient animal bones and this maxilla (wild guess-prehistoric camel).  We also found a 3 inch piece of petrified wood.  Blake and Arden found the experience interesting and now know more of what to look for, but will probably not spend much time searching in the future.