Tag'n Calves

When you think of dangerous animals and farming, you probably think: bull. But, what on a farm can as dangerous as a bull and just as ornery? A cow with a baby.

Each spring with the arrival of baby calves, Al sticks his neck out to go into the yard and tag the newborn calves and spray their navel with iodine to prevent infection. While this is a necessary part of raising cattle, we seem to have trouble convincing some of the mama cows it's a good idea.

To the cows anything that touches their baby is a threat. A dog, a wolf, a human. Now most cows will simply circle nearby and wait until you finish with their calf- others have no intention of letting you anywhere near their baby.

The farmer must know his herd. He needs to know which cows are aggressive, which are calm and plan accordingly. Sure there can be an issue with a first calf heifer (don't know how she'll react) or a newly purchased cow. It's great to see a cow be protective to fend off wolves, but not so great for us when they want to bulldoze you into the mud.

Over the years Al and his dad have had some notoriously protective cows. Up until recently it was Ol Google Eyes. She was black with a white face and two black eye patches and was the most ornery cow in the herd. No dog, or wolf would dare come near her- she'd come charging. In order to get Google Eye's calf, Al would have someone drive a pickup into the field, would bail out, nab the calf and climb into the truckbed and tag it there so she couldn't get him.

This year the trouble came from a solid red cow. Odd thing was, she hadn't even calved yet. I went with Al into the cow yard to help with tagging (my job was to spray iodine) and the first calf went great. On to no. 2. The mama cow backed off, but this other one came right up bellering and pawing. Not good.

We tried yelling, making a bluff charge (to back her off) and she luckily retreated then circled right back. The calf we were after ducked under the fence and Al crawled under and pursued it. He was yelling that I should crawl under too. Meanwhile, I kept an eye on the ornery cow who was occupied watching the other calves (and satisfied no one was near). I had made a run to a nearby bale-ring (empty hay feeder) and was prepared to jump in for some protection while I debated.

I ended up heading out the gate keeping an eye behind me for an angry cow. Luckily this cow decided to back off -but a truly ornery cow would keep charging. Lesson for me: Learn to duck a 5 strand electric fence. Remember to be more worried about the cow than possibly getting zapped by the fencer.

The herd

Babies taking a rest

Renegade

It's another spring which gets me remembering a particular spring a few years ago when we sold a horse. Well, he wasn't just any old horse- he was Renegade.

My first spring in MN in 2005 took Al and I to a lot of horse sales. We loved looking and shopping for horses. At the time we had no kids and could train/sell some locally. Make a few bucks, give a horse a future: win/win.

We came upon Renegade as an unbroke 4 year old stallion running in a pasture. He belonged to a friend of Alan's and we met the horse when we trailered another of the guy's horses as a favor. He was blue roan and stood roughly 15 hands and for a stallion he was gentle enough. Good breaking prospect.

So Al and I got to talking, that led to talking with the owner, which led to a few hours later: Us buying, loading the stud and bringing him home. (If you know us, that's no big surprise)

I began working with the roan shortly after he arrived and he clearly lacked manners. In the roundpen he would rear and try to climb out. After a few lessons with Al he got the right idea and I was able to work with him. He was bright, learned quick. Before long he was stopping easily on the lounge line and then progressed to ground driving.

After a few more ground lessons we were ready to try riding! I hadn't started many horses before this and getting on stallion to boot was a little unnerving. It's really the ultimate test of "Did you do your homework right?".

After a few hesitant trips around the roundpen at a walk, Renegade had proven he would accept me as his rider. Soon we were trotting and a while later were out of the ring entirely.

We also decided to have him gelded. He would sell better that way and could find a better home. We kept him the entire winter and early spring advertised him on DreamHorse.com. After a few false leads a family with a teenage girl came to look at him.

They liked him, paid us and started to load up Reny. He hesitated a minute before loading into the trailer and looked right at me. I told him, "It's ok Ren, you can go. This is your new family." With that, he stepped right in. I know they say horses can't understand, but I swear he knew exactly what was going on.

I still think about Renegade from time to time and I hope he is happy and doing well. We took him from unbroke stallion and made him into a trailbroke gelding (gave him employable job skills). If you think about it, it's kind of like putting him through horse college. I know we can't keep them all, but they still leave a special place in my heart.

Renegade @ 4yo shortly before being sold.

Hauling hay

Last summer's hay crop left us with over 100 extra round bales so we decided to give selling some a shot. Each week area sales barns sell cows, pig, sheep and hay on certain days. That's all well and good until you figure out what is involved in actually getting a collection of 4'x5' round bales loaded, hauled and unloaded at the sale.

Like many small time farmers, my husband drives a well-worn pickup. It's a Dodge Ram 2500 (3/4 ton 4x4) with some dents and dings in it. None of that mattered to us of course long as it could haul hay and cattle. Now generally, you aren't supposed to pull more than the max. capacity for the vehicle, but leave it to Al to test the limits.

We should've known something was about to give when a lady commented at the gas station where Al was fueling up with his rig. "Wow, can you get any more on there?" she asked with a chuckle. "If I were you I'd kiss that truck!"

It must've looked like an impressive load with square bales piled in the bed and a flatbed trailer full of rounds to boot. The Dodge completed it's trip and then... my husband used the truck as an ATV and romped on it while chasing some cows that had gotten through the fence (electric fence shorted out with snow). *Ping! There went the reverse band. Cost: a new transmission. Not good.

So in a desperate attempt to continue hauling hay before spring comes (and grass arrives dropping prices at market) we decide to hunt for a replacement pickup which turned into an adventure all on its own.

Found a great deal about an hour away and we eagerly drove up for a test drive. Sadly the truck (a Chevy Silverado) had engine problems which we could clearly hear upon start-up. We wasted that trip and drove home. On the plus side we did get a great view of the frozen Mille Lacs Lake which looked like an Arctic tundra.

That night after scanning online we found another Dodge Ram 2500 with plow and new tires and it was in our budget! Problem: it was 2.5 hours away, the other side of the twin cities. We'd been calling different dealers all week and were finding reasonable priced trucks were sold fast so we jumped at it.

Next day kids, Al and I headed all the way to Northfield, a five hour round trip. Upon seeing the truck it passed our inspection and within an hour or so were back in-route to the good old country. Only problem was it was near rush hour in Minneapolis and I HATE city driving!

Thankfully we squeaked through before it turned into a parking lot out there. The kids were also great with no fussing or crying through the tie-up and my oldest even made it to the suburbs before needing a potty break (which was a relief).

So here it is, another week hauling hay. A different pickup to do the job. Hopefully this time Al won't overload it or use it as a snowmobile or 4-wheeler... we can hope.

On the road again