Well, it was -30 when I left the house for chores this morning and my dog decided she would take the morning off. There was no wind, and the sun is out so it felt decent. Happiness is when you see the water still in a liquid state at all locations. I walked to my cows, and they were all happily chewing their cud. The cold doesn’t bother them, but the wind does. I will be doing some travelling the rest of the week so I will have to start the tractor and top up all the hay. It is always a worry starting equipment in the severe cold and it does sound like a warmer day tomorrow, but I will be travelling to the Thunder Bay Beef Farmers Annual Meeting. My mom will oversee chores, but she doesn’t feed cows. Her biggest job will be looking after Lexi who is a bit of a pain because she expects you to lift her in the vehicle or on the bed and she is too heavy for my mom!
We often dread the month of January as it seems to be a long month but here we are, we have already reached the middle of it! There are people calving cows right now, so I hope the cold weather don’t stretch out too long for them. My cows are due February 18th, so I am expecting a cold snap again around that time. I will bring up my first time calving heifers this weekend for their booster shot of the Scour Bos vaccine. Then I will work on getting pens set up and things moved around for calving time. I am trying to think of a better way to set up my wind break panels or maybe I should look at purchasing a couple more.
I have a big list of jobs that I want finished before I moved into the calving season because it ends up consuming your time and it really does tire you out. The extra jobs seem big when you don’t have enough sleep.
We are still looking for a Sales Barn Manager for the upcoming year at the Sales Barn. Generally, we have great staff that run the barn quite well, but we need a main contact person. We are open to suggestions and options. If you are interested or have questions please reach out to Murray McDonald or our past Manager, James Gibson.
I hope everyone is planning to join us at the Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association Annual Meeting this Thursday January 16th at 7:00 p.m. at Our Lady of the Way Stratton. We run a very successful business in the district selling over $12 million of cattle in 2024. Come to hear our updates and plans for 2025. If you would like to get more involved, we will be looking for a few new board members or perhaps there are some smaller committees you would like to get involved with our attend the Beef Farmers of Ontario Annual meeting in February! Come out – you will be sure to learn something!
