Adventures Of Life!

Cows are all gone as of today! The last bit, our registered herd left today. Our sale prices were awesome on our young cows(heifers) coming 3 yrs olds. They averaged $2028.00 a head and our calves average $828.00. This is a great price for the time of year and the ages of everything. We got for the majority of the heifer pairs $3000.00. Wahoo!!! This will probably be my last post for awhile(couple weeks)....we are out of here come Thurs for sure! Take care and see ya on the flip side!! Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson

Well we rounded up cows again out of the same field we moved them out of the day before then had to gather them out of the field we had them in and moved them thru another to get to the barn we needed them in for sorting. Hubby figured we moved them about 12 or 13 sections, a section being a square mile or 640 acres. After getting them sorted 4 trucks came and took 3 load of calves and 1 load of cows which left right after dark. Again miracles were performed and three days worth of work done in one! Today the rest of the cows will leave and in the next week the remainder few will take their trip north to become a registered herd. Have a great day gotta go load cows...trucks are comin any time! Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson

We started loading about 7:30 A.M. The first truck backed up to the loading chute and we loaded calves. That took up three and half trucks then the cows were loaded they took the rest , in total there were eleven trucks. The last load a driver exchanged his trailer in town for an empty and came back for the last load so they wouldn't miss it due to weather. This whole ordeal did not take place without incident, however. One of the trucks got stuck going over the cattle guard the wrong way and tore out his rear end in his truck. This happened after he just got done watching the first truck have trouble getting over the same cattle guard doing the same trick!( Mind you there was a line of 4 trucks getting ready to do the same route) It took an hour to get him out of the road so the others could pass. Another truck just about got stuck going the right way out of the drive. He miss judged the turn and got his trailer high centered on the turn and tried ram roddin it only to scrap the...

If not interested in looking at Recipes be sure to Read The Current News For Today #1 Recipe: South Dakota Corn Beef N' Hash ( My hubby came up with the name-funny man) 2lbs of ground burger 2 eggs 1 cup of binder ( usually bread crumbs but in this case I used pork rinds, crushed) 1 tbls of Montreal Steak Seasoning about a cup or two of cooked can corn (in my case I had leftovers from Steak Dinner night before) which would probably equal one can of corn 1/4 C of milk Mix all ingredients together well, may have to use your hands to get it mixed Bake in 350* oven in a loaf pan plum full of meatloaf for about an hour.(155* on meat thermometer) Serve with Baked potato! #2 Recipe: 5 Bean Chili & Corn bread  1 can of black beans, rinsed 1 can of navy beans, rinsed 1 can of kidney beans, rinsed 1 can of pinto beans, rinsed 1 can of chili beans 2 lbs of ground meat, cooked thoroughly 1 onion, chopped 1 pint of salsa 1 can of tomato sauce Add to a ...

I will write tomorrow...I just didn't want ya to think I forgot ya! I know you are anxiously waiting to hear these words "They( cows&calves) have left the ranch" (the first group =720 head). The second is coming to its finish on Wed. The weather hit tonight...Thank you Lord!! Ok talk tomorrow.....Nighty Nite Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson

Gathered cows today to move into another pasture so tomorrows gather will be easier. To give ya an idea of what we call pastures in these parts, the field we moved 600 +/- head out  of is about 1500 acres. The one we moved them into bout 900 acres. Tomorrow afternoon we will gather them and hold them in our steel pen for shipping to sale on Sunday. Hope everybody had a great day! Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson All Photographs Copyright © 2013 M.E. Masterson

I have a few for today as it has been a couple days since I shared anything....Keep in mind that if not interested in recipes be sure to check out the blog below from today for further news! ALRIGHTY THEN......... Recipe #1 Hamburger Helper (I consider this a quick meal) 2 boxes of Mac & Cheese ( I use plain label) make as normally would 1 lb of burger, cooked thoroughly 1can of tomato sauce seasonings of choice 1/2 -1 cup Shredded Cheese Add extra cheese makes it the cheesiest! Add tomato sauce and spices Mix thoroughly!! Recipe #2 French Bread Buns I got the recipe from my breadmaker recipe book. These turned out really good! So in your maker let the machine do the prep on the dough, your hands will be in it soon enough. Add 1 1/4 cups of warm water (80*) 2 tsp of bread yeast 1 tsp of salt 3 1/2 Cups of Flour Glaze: (Apply to rolls before you put into oven to bake) 2 Tbls. water 1/2 tsp salt Take out of bread mac...

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was in the upper 40's. Today is a bit breezy and overcast and hopefully we don't see the moisture they are predicting for the next couple days. We are still planning on bringing in cows from the lower field (the one that all the water is in...should be fun!) on Saturday and Shipping them out on Sunday. I have been working on getting the paperwork together on all the cows. On this ranch we have set up a system to keep track of how the cows are doing( i.e., weight, calving season, age, breeding, etc.). About this time of the year I usually spend time getting the numbers together for the owner so he knows where his herd stands in the way of whether we need to cull or how many calves he has so he can decide what he wants to keep or sell. This year as you know is a bit different as most everything is going to sale barn. So he needs all cattle accounted for and closing out the books so he can report to taxes what he needs ...

Worrying about the cows all night I woke this morning to swollen eyes and bags. My eye has been a little sore the last couple days but it is rearing it's ugly head this morning. I think it is a result of worry and anxiety, I do have these bouts periodically. But I can't really do much for the cows as the waters are so high, we watched thru binoculars yesterday the creek rise and it got the highest we have seen it in a long time. This morning it looks like it is going back down or maybe this is my wishful thinking!!! The guys have headed out to see what the results were from last night and to open up the windmill pasture to let them back in for feed. We did see a bit of snow and the temps did drop some last night and the wind blew but woke to wet ground and a little bit of ice on the porch. The butte's are covered in snow this morning it sure is pretty to look at. Looking at the butte's on the South Dakota Side For our lunch/din...