We've had two beautiful days in a row his week. That might not mean much to some readers, but here in Saskatchewan, in April, it's pretty special. Late this afternoon it clouded over and we've had the odd sprinkle since then. As most farmers have been gearing up for seeding, this weather is not all that welcome. I don't think anyone would turn down a really good soaking rain, but drizzle will just hold up seeding and not contribute real moisture at all.

Anyone watching the news is probably wondering why I would be talking about needing rain. The areas hit by the flooding are hundreds of miles to the north. Here, in the southeast, we could use a rain, and out west they are desperate for it. This province is a very big place.

This past week we've been cross fencing the pasture on 21, cutting it into four pieces so we'll be able to control where the cows graze, and for how long. With just one fence around the whole thing, they can go where they please which means they don't graze it to its full potential. They have their favourite plants to eat, and favourite places to spend the hot summer afternoons. A lot of the nutrition value of the pasture is left, or trampled, in their daily trecks. Once this fence is done, they will have to graze one quarter of it at a time. The literature that we've read on this intensive pasturing method says that the vegetation also responds to the heavier grazing by becoming more vigorous. Of course, we'll have to keep watch on the land and the cattle and switch the pastures when necessary.

We have Jesse's friend, Jenn, a fellow Ag student, staying with us for the summer while she's working in town at the Coop. She may be from the city, but she dives right in when it comes to doing farm chores. On Sunday Jenn, Glen, Mitchell, and I spent the day fencing ... and collecting woodticks. There's nothing like a warm, spring day to bring them out of the woodwork. It only takes one of those nasty little bugs to show up, and pretty soon every little tickle you feel (and imagine) is another one. Glen was out fencing by himself today and said he hit one stretch of fenceline that just seemed to be crawling with them. This evening, having gone out to check cattle with him tonight, and sitting on the seat where Sam, the dog, sat I can't shake the feeling that I, too, have been infested with creepy crawlies. I think that this calls for a shower.

Yucky as woodticks are though, Glen says there is something worse. It is just ridiculous that a grown man can be so freaked out by a tiny little garter snake, but he really can't handle them. I don't want them anywhere near my house, and I'm not too crazy about being surprised by one, but I'm not afraid of them! The reason Glen took Sam with him today was for snake patrol - I wonder if Sam realized that? He probably thought he was on some kind of holiday or adventure on land he'd never explored before. Glen said it didn't matter - he didn't see one snake all day, and that's what counted.

Calving season is going along nicely - we now have 30 calves with another 22 to go. The really unusual thing this year is that the ratio of heifers to bulls is so lop-sided. There are only six bulls out there! Glen says he's going to blame Global Warming - he has no basis, of course, it's just a really good conversation starter.

EASTER WEEKEND ON THE FARM

It's Easter Monday, and the weather is the usual fare for Saskatchewan in April - it's windy out there. Our family's gathering was on Saturday night and we hosted the feast here. There were sixteen of us so there was lots of noise and laughter. It's hard to tell who makes the most noise though, the three kids who were present, or the uncles with their jokes and wisecracks. It's always entertaining, though.

With the big meal behind us and the girls gone back to Winnipeg for their end-of-term exams, Sunday was a very quiet day. It must be more than three decades since the Easter bunny started coming to our house, but this year there were no eggs to be had. It seemed very strange.

I went to church in the morning- it was a longer service but we got to sing the joyous Easter hymns so it didn't seem long at all. After lunch Glen and I spent a good part of the afternoon outside doing chores and checking on the animals. One really cold night last week there was a calf born who was nigh on to frozen when Glen found him. We brought him and his mama into the barn and worked on warming him up. He didn't have the strength to suck even a bottle so we had to tube him to get some warm milk into him. Usually once does the trick, but he just couldn't seem to get it together enough to look for mama and her milk on his own. He had to be fed (tubed) 4 or 5 more times. The last two times Glen had to rope the cow and tie her solid (back and front) to the corral fence so that he could milk her. We have powdered milk that we had been mixing up for the calf, but there comes a time when if the cow isn't milked out she will shut down milk production and then when the calf can suck, she doesn't have anything for him.

Milking a wild cow is an adventure, even when she's tied solid to sturdy wooden posts. Thank goodness he only had to do it twice - this morning when we went out you could see that she had been milked out on the side Glen hadn't touched last night so baby must have finally figured it out. He is looking a lot perkier today; I think he's going to make it.

I have today off from work too, so we spent all morning out there again doing chores and sorting cattle out. Somehow one of the bulls got out into the cow herd this morning. That's not a good thing because chances are his incentive for the breakout was a cow in heat. We don't like having calves in January but we better be on the lookout for that next year. With all the new mamas out in the pasture, there is no telling who, or how many, were ready to be bred again.

We are having a good calving season so far this year. The slow learner I mentioned being the hardest trial we've had so far. We did have to go out and walk the pasture this morning because one mama was frantically looking for her baby and couldn't seem to find it. Turned out that another older cow had had her new baby close by where the lost one was laying and she wouldn't let it's mother close. Those new mothers are very territorial for the first little while after birth takes place. We were sure relieved to find the calf - there are coyotes all around and I while I was walking the fenceline I was very worried I was going to find leftovers from a coyote breakfast.

All the dug outs are full to overflowing now. Glen's has even starting filling in the low area around the actual holes he's dug. We're really surprised that there was that much water out there, it didn't seem like the snow pack was that great. The weather people are busy telling us that we could get another four inches of snow tonight so before dark we'll be back out there taking extra staw out for bedding for the babies out in the pasture. We don't want any more frozen calves to have to mess with - better that their mamas can provide all the one-on-one care - just leave the humans out of that equation if possible.