Glen is sporting a Class "A" shiner this week - and don't believe a word of what he says, I had nothing to do with it. It was a female that did the damage, though. When people ask him what the other guy looks like his answer is "Like a cow."
In building this herd, Glen has gone to special lengths to get the cattle used to his presence in amongst them. He talks to them, scratches them, slaps them on their backs, pushes them sideways. They know his touch and his voice and don't spook easily, that way, if and when the need arises for him to have to treat them, or when he has to ear tag their claves, they're much easier to handle. This close contact also gives him time to study each cow's disposition giving him insight to who might give him trouble in different circumstances.
The cow that did this damage hadn't been around long enough to show her true colours before she had her baby. Glen and Jesse had bought nine new animals at the last auction they had gone to. He had been so proud of the big Charlais cows he's brought home - seven of them and two from another herd dispersal. He's paid big money for the first batch and picked up the others just to fill the trailer for the ride home- they hadn't cost much at all.
Right away you could see a difference in their temperment. The seven were skittish and kept to themselves, the other two were fine to settle in - as long as they were fed they were happy. They were barely here a week and the Charlais started calving. We were gone for two days up to the Brier in Regina and came home to find one mom and baby doing fine, but the other calf had got pretty cold and was not very perky. That's when the farmer steps in and gives the calf a drink of powdered formula. This required the half ton truck for protection as the mama went berzerk with humans touching her baby.
She didn't get any better either, as time went on. The next day Glen slammed her into the head gate so the the calf could suck on her own (baby still wasn't very strong and needed to be held up). The next day Glen tried the operation again (alone for the first time) and before he got the gate fastened this time she swung her head and slammed the gate into his face. He thought she'd broke his cheekbone to begin with, but the swelling has gone down and he can see out of the eye again. He sure does look pretty. But then, so does the cow - the calf is finally strong enough to follow mommy on her own so Glen let her back out ino the herd today, but before he did he took a marker and decorated her up good. She's not going to be able to sneak up on him - I guess you could say she's a painted lady. I sure hope the rest of the ones he bought from that herd aren't the same - they were a lot of money and they won't be staying if they're like that- Glen won't have a dangerous animal on the place.
There has been a terrible cold/flu circulating the community for the past month and it finally caught up with me this week. I haven't had a doosy like this in ages and have been sleeping probably 18 hours out of 24. I sure hope I feel better tomorrow - it's inventory time at work and I want to go in and do a count. I tried on Friday but my head was so stuffed up I couldn't do anything. It's only 8:00 and I'm going to go find a decongestant and my pillow. I only got up at 10:30 but it's been a long hard day.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Sunday, March 05, 2006
In Like a Lion?
March is here, and it came in with quite a messy little storm. We woke up to the sound of pouring rain on the roof about 4:00 in the morning on March 1st, and later on in the morning this was covered by 4 or 5 inches of snow. Yesterday we were promised more of the same, but I think the precipitation all ended up going north of us. The wind sure blew, but there was very little fresh snow. I was out most of the afternoon to help Glen bed down the barns (spread fresh straw to keep the cattle dry and warm), the temperature wasn't bad at all as long as we were out of the wind.
Our first calf arrived ten days ago. She is a bouncy little heifer, very inquisitive about everything. She loves to follow Glen around while he's out doing chores - with her worried mother following her around making those low, concerned mother noises to warn her baby not to stray too far. Glen and Jesse spent Friday at the cattle auction and came home with another nine animals to add to the herd - big cows, young and healthy; he's pretty pleased with his purchase.
We have a new project on the go here these days - looking at real estate in Winnipeg. For the past four years our older son, Wayne, has been working on a degree at the University of Manitoba. He finishes up this spring, just as all of his siblings head off to the same city to do the same thing. Sandy wants to get her degree in Biochemistry aiming for med school after that. Jesse is accepted into the Agriculture program for a two year diploma in animal studies and herd health - she's leaving it open to change it up to a degree if she wants to later on. She's not a city lover and is leaving her boyfriend here at home working rigs and saving for a house after she's done school, so two years already sounds too long to be away. Our youngest, Mitchell, is looking into Red River tech - his love is computers and he's having trouble trying to decide which of the many choices will suit his interests best.
Glen and I have decided that the obvious way to help them all out is to provide their housing while they are at school. We hope to find something that will be a comfortable fit to their chosen campuses within our price range. They will not have to worry about housing costs and we will have an investment to sell off once they are done. We have only just started looking, but hopefully things will fall into place and we'll be moving them up about mid August.
Glen, when he first started working as a CAT skinner, was only supposed to be part time - a relief guy for when the regular crew needed days off, but the oilfield industry is growing by leaps and bounds and he works more than fulltime hours these days. I just shake my head - he has to squeeze in time to crush grain for the cattle and do his other chores. He could say no, but never would - he enjoys running the heavy equipment and working with the other guys. I've taken to helping him with the evening chores just so he's in before 9:00 at night (and, besides, it's a good workout for me), but I refuse to do the farm books for him so that's what he's slogging through tonight. It's Income Tax time and he's let it go the whole year again. Every year he swears he'll never do that again, and every single year it's the very same thing all over again. Our appointment with our accountant is a week from tomorrow so he has his back to the wall now.
With March coming in like a bit of a lion, the speculation has been rampant that it will leave like a lamb (we prairie people love our weather lore). The temperatures are quite reasonable these days and they can send us lots more snow before winter calls it quits. Up until this last storm we have had next to nothing for snow cover - it's important to have lots of snow melt to fill the duggouts and water holes, and to give the land a good drink. The weather map looks as if we probably have a couple more dumps of snow before we're all through.
Our first calf arrived ten days ago. She is a bouncy little heifer, very inquisitive about everything. She loves to follow Glen around while he's out doing chores - with her worried mother following her around making those low, concerned mother noises to warn her baby not to stray too far. Glen and Jesse spent Friday at the cattle auction and came home with another nine animals to add to the herd - big cows, young and healthy; he's pretty pleased with his purchase.
We have a new project on the go here these days - looking at real estate in Winnipeg. For the past four years our older son, Wayne, has been working on a degree at the University of Manitoba. He finishes up this spring, just as all of his siblings head off to the same city to do the same thing. Sandy wants to get her degree in Biochemistry aiming for med school after that. Jesse is accepted into the Agriculture program for a two year diploma in animal studies and herd health - she's leaving it open to change it up to a degree if she wants to later on. She's not a city lover and is leaving her boyfriend here at home working rigs and saving for a house after she's done school, so two years already sounds too long to be away. Our youngest, Mitchell, is looking into Red River tech - his love is computers and he's having trouble trying to decide which of the many choices will suit his interests best.
Glen and I have decided that the obvious way to help them all out is to provide their housing while they are at school. We hope to find something that will be a comfortable fit to their chosen campuses within our price range. They will not have to worry about housing costs and we will have an investment to sell off once they are done. We have only just started looking, but hopefully things will fall into place and we'll be moving them up about mid August.
Glen, when he first started working as a CAT skinner, was only supposed to be part time - a relief guy for when the regular crew needed days off, but the oilfield industry is growing by leaps and bounds and he works more than fulltime hours these days. I just shake my head - he has to squeeze in time to crush grain for the cattle and do his other chores. He could say no, but never would - he enjoys running the heavy equipment and working with the other guys. I've taken to helping him with the evening chores just so he's in before 9:00 at night (and, besides, it's a good workout for me), but I refuse to do the farm books for him so that's what he's slogging through tonight. It's Income Tax time and he's let it go the whole year again. Every year he swears he'll never do that again, and every single year it's the very same thing all over again. Our appointment with our accountant is a week from tomorrow so he has his back to the wall now.
With March coming in like a bit of a lion, the speculation has been rampant that it will leave like a lamb (we prairie people love our weather lore). The temperatures are quite reasonable these days and they can send us lots more snow before winter calls it quits. Up until this last storm we have had next to nothing for snow cover - it's important to have lots of snow melt to fill the duggouts and water holes, and to give the land a good drink. The weather map looks as if we probably have a couple more dumps of snow before we're all through.
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