First thing my mom said last week on “paper day”; “Did you not write for the paper?” I said I think I did. I looked back at my sent emails and could not see that I sent it in. Turns out that I did indeed write but I never sent it over to Ken.
Lots have happened since last week so I thought I should update you all. As you are all aware the weather changed, and we were finally able to get on the land. That didn’t happen until mid-week, and I was scheduled to head to Brandon on Thursday. Wednesday, I prepared the land for our cereal trials but unfortunately our planting tractor was not ready to go, and we were waiting on a filter. I thought we might luck out and we could plant before I left on Thursday. I debated multiple times on cancelling my trip, but I was asked to judge the Canadian Auctioneer Championships at the Virden Auction Mart. I didn’t feel great about going but I didn’t feel good about letting someone down. I headed west later Thursday morning. What an event! I have attended in the past, but I have never been asked to judge. There were 39 auctioneers all completing to be the Canadian Champion and then heading to the National Level. Virden Auction Mart hosted the event and they sold over 5100 head for nearly a $17 million day! It was incredible. I will say it was a very long day, but it really was a good time. Saturday night the winners were announced at the Red-Carpet Event. I was up early to head back home Sunday, and it seemed like I had been gone for month!
The first job I tackled (besides laundry) was getting my bulls out. I asked Charlie (my cousin) for some back-up help, but I only had to sort a few heifers and in no time, we had the three bulls out and on business. Of course, because of being gone for those days everything needed to be fed and most importantly it was Mother’s Day, and I wanted to do something for my mom! Thankfully my friend offered to host a fish fry, and she invited my entire family! It was so good.
Monday morning came quickly, and we have been busy planting ever since. Everyone is talking about the heat but honestly the wind is causing us more havoc. It is hard to get our marking lines down with these wind gusts, we may need to trim a bit more! Time will tell.
It is hard to believe we are coming in the long weekend in May! Time is flying. I am looking forward to a weekend of moving sheep out of the barn which will mean a few hours of shoveling and then housework and… my income tax! I am not finished yet and it is a top priority!
Happy Long Weekend Friends!
(Editor’s note: Because we believe more Moos is good Moos, here is Kim Jo’s column from last week, as well.)
This is the weather we have all been waiting for! I still find it strange that we go from cool to turning on the AC overnight. Sunday was an incredible day, and we spent the entire day chasing cattle in the mud. Ideally, we should have boostered vaccines this coming weekend, but the yard conditions made me want to bump them up a week and get them on some higher ground. I started off getting my yearlings in. They are easy to get in as they come for grain. We boostered their footrot vaccine and moved them into the field south of my house. Next up cows and calves. The cows didn’t need any vaccines but we needed to sort into breeding groups, so we ended up getting most of the cows in. Sorting isn’t a bad job when the footing is firm, but it is a long way from firm currently. We had two calves that we didn’t get in but we managed to catch one of them in the calf pen and the other in the maternity pen, so everyone received their clostridial booster. Next up was the bulls. Cornell Farms delivered our new Red Angus bull yesterday. Stacey and Charlie were ready to breed their animals so after getting the bulls vaccinated, we went and picked up their heifers and brought them to my place to breed. We then took a bull down to Stacey and Charlie’s and I was holding back my bulls for at least another week. We thought it was just easier to leave them in the corral for a week and they can get in out of the mud, and it is only for a week roughly. This may seem like not a lot of work, but we didn’t finish this until 4:30 or 5. We had a quick sandwich and drink and headed back out since it was now chore time, and now we have multiple groups of cattle that all need to be fed. Of course, the sheep are on a bit of a schedule because we have a few bottle lambs. After my mom bottles the lambs she was looking up at the cows and said, “where did you put the red angus bull?” You guessed it. He jumped the fence and was in with one of the cow groups. He was trying to breed two cows that were in heat. I am not sure if he was successful, but I’ve marked them down. I tried to get him in and had him right to the corral and I fell in the mud and he got by me. I had to call in reinforcement and we finally got him back into the corral. I decided to leave him with the other bulls and re-think where I am going to keep my groups. I have run three bulls for a number of years now and never had issues with them staying where they should be but there just has to be that one! It was a very long day.
My tractor broke down last week as well. The cable for the forward / reverser broke and a replacement has been ordered. Thankfully my friend brought me over a tractor to use because our second tractor has a flat tire and a hydraulic issue. I am not so great with my friend’s tractor as it has a grapple loader and I am not very good with that, but I am very thankful for the use of his tractor.
Thank you to Dr. Stacey Angus and Dr. Rebecca Cornell for a great day on Saturday at the Sales Barn. We had a very informative day with plans to build on these sessions going forward. We were hoping to have live cattle for a demonstration, but the barn is under construction again, so we opted out.
Thank you so much to the Rainy River Valley Ag Society for hosting a great night at the Hometown Hoedown this past weekend. It was like we were all uncaged because the minutes the band started everyone hit the dance floor! It was a sold-out event with 500 tickets! That impressive. I hope it was a successful night. Great food, great company and great band!
