Adventures Of Life!

Last year at this time, Mtn Man, FIL and I were tearing our guts out trying to get things to move forward. But as usual the "Man Upstairs" had other plans for us all! First let me lay the story out so you can follow my train of thinking. We were informed in late summer that the lease was done on the place we working at. Mtn Man and I had put in over two years into this job life we agonized over in the first place. We were vested not only in the cattle but in our life as Ranch Managers. At the start we were put in charge of  400 head of cattle on a daily basis which was built into 1500 by the end of things. It was STRESSFUL a lot of the time but at that time we just took what came and dealt with it, with what we had (not enough help most of the time or lousy help). Mtn Man put up with A LOT!!! By the time we were to ship the cattle, things got delayed by weather over and over and over again. We were so tired and physically sick to our stomachs by this time we wanted to l...

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

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...

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...

Fun Facts About The Two Holidays! Wanna wish my American Friends a Happy Columbus Day and my Canadian Friends Happy Turkey Day! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_%28Canada%29 1. second Monday in October (observed in the United States) 2. Celebrations honoring Christopher Columbus 's first voyage to the Americas in 1492 3. President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event.(Pres. Harrrison is suppose to be a relative of mine as are both Adams, haven't found the connection yet but still searching.)  4.  Hawaii , Alaska , Oregon , and South Dakota are U.S. states that do not recognize Columbus Day at all, though Hawaii and South Dakota mark the day with an alternative holiday or observance. 5.  The most common name for the celebration in Spanish (including in some Latin American communities [32] in the United States) is ...

I, personally, hadn't ever seen a calf or cow with a cast. But this baby was three days old when she was stepped on and we thought if it can be fixed let's do it. It doesn't seem to bother her any she gets around just like any other calf. She runs around and plays just like the others. I thought it was cute so I wanted to share. She will have this on for three weeks.....and hopefully it will have healed correctly! Crossing our fingers, it is a 50/50 chance that it is right..... We have rain today! We, Mother in law and I, were going to go to another ranch and watch a good ol' fashion ropin' draggin' brandin' but the weather has shut us down. The guys went over very early and we were to follow but we have decided to bag it today. The folks are from Missouri so all of this would be a new experience for them and ours is a bit different, oh well, Mom will get to see ours which she says she will be happy to see. The less we have to walk in the mud the better...

As I said yesterday they started gathering up the pairs from the lower field and they hung out around the house here last night. Today they separated out the Mama's from the "To Be" Mama's. They will stay around  the house here and the Mama's and their babies will be moved to another field where there is more grass for them to eat.

Father in law Mother in law Aunt in law Earl and Hubby Hubby Nic and I

Oh, it is just beautiful out yesterday and today! The night before we had a snow storm come through and drop a little snow on us. We figure about 4". In this part of the country the winds blow something fierce, blows the snow around so there are snow drifts up to a foot deep. Hubby had a rough night of sleep worrying that the girls (Mama Cows) would be calving in the snow banks. Thank goodness they waited until daylight! I decided to take a walk into the calf yard by the barn today and check out the calves we have in here.... I found these two sunning themselves...they are so cute! We have a sled we use to bring in the calves and their mama's in from the east pasture.  This works beautifully! Yesterday I made something new for breakfast and wanted to share it with you. It is a hamburger patty, a fried egg, slice of cheese smothered in country gravy or this morning hubby put BBQ sauce on it instead. On another note, we are having a change of the...