I am hoping that everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Now, after three days of eating, visiting it is time to get back to business. I was able to get my cows and calves home on Friday night. They will come for hay and this time of the year and were happy to have it. Despite having access to fresh water some of them had mud on their legs, meaning they were searching for water at an old, mostly dried-up beaver pond. Silly things.
Saturday my mom and I spent a good part of the day in Fort Frances. We naturally headed straight to the Muskie Girls fundraiser at Safeway! This is Marlee’s last year of Muskie hockey so we have to take in a much as we can. Once Marlee finished her shift, we headed out to Lowey’s to check out all the amazing vendors at their Thanksgiving Market. It was a real hit, and they certainly picked a wonderful day. From there we went and had a great visit and some laughs and tears at my Auntie Denise where we sat with a wonderful group of ladies and shared stories of Cousin Shanny who has been gone for three years already. Shanny lived a full but very short life, and we all miss her dearly. We ended our town day with the Laker game and home to do chores in the dark!
Sunday morning after chores I started to set up for weighing calves. I don’t have a scale in my chute system; I still have an old one that I need to pull out and balance. Since we had a Thanksgiving Dinner date with friends and I wanted to harvest some Brussels sprouts to take I decided not to get the calves in until Monday. This was my first time growing Brussels sprouts. I was handling the plants gently through the year as I thought the sprouts would fall off easily but they are on the stem pretty darn good, and it was a workout getting them off the stem. We headed over to Zimmerman’s for a wonderful meal. I ate too much, and I had to rest on the floor for a while.
Monday was the weigh day. After chores I had to move lambs to allow us to run calves to the scale. The cattle came in so good. I am hoping they will be this good later this week as we sort calves to go to the Cattle Sale. I started sorting cows from calves and cows. I started weighing calves and had a few done before my mom was able to come over. She is my official weigh lady. She was busy getting ready for another big meal! I had called my cousin Charlie to see if she could help and once, she had finished sorting her calves she came to help as well. It didn’t take all that long and now I can decide who is staying and leaving. I had to get cattle trailer cleaned out since I had beef going to the abattoir and we will be hauling calves to Stratton this week. It is nice to start out with a clean trailer. It took a lot of pressure washing and, in the end, I was dirtier than the trailer.
We are expecting good sale this weekend in Stratton. If you have time come out for a view and something to eat from the canteen! Everyone is welcome.
A quick reminder – the RRFA is hosting their AGM and Trivia night on October 25, at the Emo Legion. Get your tickets from any RRFA director. As well, the Abattoir is hosting “Diamonds & Denim Fundraiser Dinner” on November 1, at the Chapple Rec Centre. Last year this event sold out so get in touch with Kelsey or Kerry ASAP to get a ticket!
