Muck and Mire

We figured before the cows disappeared in the mud in the corrals, that it would be about time to move them to the pasture :)

Truthfully we move them to pasture around this time every year!!! But I thought that was a more exciting way to start a post!!!!

We are very, very muddy here though. Ever since spring began it is a rare treat to see the sun shining for more than a couple of days in a row and the rain just keeps coming!!!! Mark and I purposed years ago to never complain about rain. When it rain as least some things grow, if there is a drought...things don't grow. But we are praying that the land will dry so that we, and many, many other farmers, can get back into the fields. A kind of silly phrase has been running through my head every time I see rain in the forecast, "Some may trust in the forecast, some may trust in the weather man, But we will trust in the name of our God" :) So thankful that God is in control!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand....cows. This is what has been happening around here lately. Early in the morning, the first thing I hear is one cow or another bellaring and bellaring and bellaring....you get the picture. Either her calf is on the outside of the fence where it's drier and she wants her udder emptied, or her calf is on the other side of a mud puddle that she simply doesn't want to walk through. Now when I say mud puddle, you have to understand that I don't simply mean just a little puddle, I mean more like a swamp up to their bellies! So I get woken up way to early and have to try to go back to sleep being serenaded by a cow relentlessly calling to her calf!

All that to say, I am happy for them  for me that on Wednesday they got to go to the pasture! Because this means the yard will be quiet again...quiet from bellaring cows I mean!!!

MY SWEET, SWEET COWBOY

(It was so muddy that you just had to concentrate at putting one foot in front of the other.....plus chase cows! It was amazing that not one of us lost our boots :)

OUR COWGIRL PICKING OUT THE COW/CALF PAIRS

(We haul the cows to two pastures, so we have to be sure to match up the mama's with their babies, or one of the ain't gonna be too happy!!!

5 COWS AND 5 CALVES ALL PENNED UP READY TO LOAD 

( We took a grand total of 7 trips to the pastures)

 TIME TO LOAD 'ER UP

(imagine here a bunch of hoop'in and hollar'in)

BACKING UP TO THE PASTURE

(My husband is the best trailer backer upper there is out there....just say'in :)

ALMOST THERE

(Insert excited mooing of cows. It's amazing how they remember the pasture from other years!)

HELLO GRASS!

(insert the very loud sniff of a bull :)

DOESN'T SHE LOOK SO EXCITED!!!

(pretty much the first thing they do after you let them out of the trailer is look for the herd. It took these a few seconds to spot them. After a couple bites of grass they were off to join the rest)

AND HERE'S MISTER BULL HIMSELF!!! 

(his "job" this summer is to breed the 16 cows in this pasture. 

We have another bull with the 13 other cows in the other pasture...same job!!!)

MY SWEET HUBBY  (AKA...CHEIF CATTLE RANCHER)

He is the one who keeps everything moving. He knows how a cow thinks and has trained us over the years the proper way to chase cows. It's not as easy as you think :) 

OUR OLDEST DAUGHTER, JENNIFER (AKA...MIDWIFE JEN)

(Jennifer did almost all of the calving herself this year. She knows all of the cows by name and which calves belong to which cow. 

She did an excellent job this year of helping all these mamas have healthy babies.

Midwife Jen takes her job very seriously and it shows!!

Oh, BTW, the look on her face is sheer exhaustion and the spots...well lets just say it's not makeup!!!)

OUR OLDEST SON JOSHUA (AKA...RIGHT HAND MAN)

(Joshua has never really liked to work with cattle. But he works hard all winter long feeding and bedding them. We appreciate all the work he does on the family farm. 

Oh, BTW, the look on his face is "Yes!!! No more cattle chores until fall!" 

Having the cows out in the pasture is a lot less work. We still have to check on them throughout the summer, make sure they are healthy and that they haven't broken out of the fence. 

Still, a lot less work!

Oh, and since it's a cow day...here's a joke for you!

WHAT DO YOU CALL A COW 
THAT JUST GAVE BIRTH TO A CALF?
DECAFEINATED!!!!