Mother said "Praise the Lord for this gorgeous weather" at least 6 times while working calves this morning. :) Yes, it was that lovely out! Just the perfect day. We agreed that it was even nicer than when we worked our calves in November!
My family and I got up on time this morning, did our chores, then drove apprx. 60 miles to our friends' place. After getting a tour of their house from Mrs. K. while Mr. K. fed cows, we all headed out to get set-up for some ACTION!
I realize now that we failed to get pictures of/with Mrs. K., as she was in the house preparing our food most of the time. This is the one and only one that I have with her on... (She's a great cook, by the way!)
Heading out of the house with Mr. K.....
He had a couple barrels handy to set supplies on:
They really have a very nice set-up for working cattle! It was nice to work with such sturdy and organized equipment. :) Hopefully we'll get our own dream corralling built one of these years....
Andrew was the head-gate operator again and did a GREAT job, only letting one of the very first ones escape (when he didn't have the technique of the new head-gate mastered yet.) We were able to get that one back in a pen and worked him later.... Andrew also gave the shot later in the day.
Jacob helped bring the calves along the runway...
Dad offered to do the banding and nobody fought him for the "Privilege". Mr. K. showed us another technique to do while banding, so we'll probably use that in the future. Dad also did a lot of the "Pouring" (putting on a liquid designed to kill any and all lice). Oh, and he knocked off the 4 sets of horns that were found throughout the day.
Mother had the job of giving the Tetanus (vaccine) shot and doing misc. jobs in the morning (she stayed inside in the afternoon to help Diane with cooking and visiting. :) )
Jacob kept the bander filled and handed Dad the knife when needed.
My job was holding the calves' tail so Dad didn't get smacked in the face. Then, I opened the bottom part of the shoot and trimmed the underside of the bulls with a scissor so they'd look nicer when they get sold. I figure I gave 70+ haircuts today---Mr. K. doing the first ones 'til I knew how. :)
Mr. K. kept the calves coming up the alley-way. I think I told you last night how he isn't able to do a lot of bending currently on account of being run over by a (large) calf recently and having sore ribs consequently...
Here are some of the steers, taking it easy...
After we were finished with making the bulls into steers, we ran all the heifers through and "Poured" them also. That was after lunch. By the time everything was done, it was getting close to being dark outside. We went in for more food (supper), visited; did dishes; then Mom played piano and Mrs. K. played organ while some of the rest of us sang hymns and the others visited. We left there about 6:30 to head home and take care of our own animals. It felt good to help our friends. They insisted on paying us something for our assistance though, so we figure we'll use the money to help pay for going to the family camp this weekend..... :)
Yes, it was a good day (and nobody got hurt too bad---just Dad cut his finger with the sharp knife when he was just getting started. As Mrs. K. is a nurse, she bandaged him up good!).
3 comments:
Sounds like a very full and active day Cora.
We still don't have a chute for the goats. I know if we had one things would be so much easier... but at least they never grow even near as large as cattle!
Anyways, we need to get them TB and Brucellosis tested again, but we're going to have to wait until after they kid. They're too far along for rough-housing like that! :)
But anyways, I'm thankful all went well yesterday, and I was praying for you and your family.
Cattle can be so hard to control. I'm thankful that the chute was nice and workable. :) The last cattle farmer we worked for had a very nice chute, it was fairly new, and we never got to help him work the cattle in it, but his setup of runways didn't look very efficient.
So sorry your Dad got cut though, but thank the Lord for Mrs. K :)
Be blessed Cora, I better get running, today's a busy day already.
In His Love, Carra
Dear Cora Beth,
It must be chilly working in that snow! I've never seen snow before - only a couple of small places in Australia get that cold, and only sometimes!
That looks like a great setup for working cattle. Dad and my big brother use an old rusty crush, and often some of the first calves escape because the hinges are rusted over... so they go to close it, and it won't close!
We've tried the banding a couple of times. Or rather, Dad has. It can be challenging, can't it :).
That looked like a lovely day, thanks for sharing about it!
It was special to look at your blog today.
In Him,
Maddy
Thank you for your comments, ladies! :)
I hope all goes well for you, Carra, as you test your goats. We've never done that, as there really isn't much (if any) TB around these parts. How often do you get your goats tested?
It was great to hear from you too, Maddy! Australia---wow! It's so fun to meet people on-line (kindred spirits especially) who you wouldn't ever meet if it weren't for the internet! I can't imagine never seeing snow... I've spent half my life with snow crunching under foot. :) I'd be glad to send you some, if I could think of a way to do it without the snow melting first. :)
May the Lord bless you both,
~Cora
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