Sad having to sell my cows

We hauled all our cows home on Saturday, and preg-checked and weighed all our calves. I knew I had two open cows but we ended up with five.
I was a bit disappointed in that but not much you can do about it, either.
The hardest part for me is letting go and selling the cows. I really like my cows and find it difficult to sell them. It would be silly to keep them, though, unless I was breeding for a different time of the year, I guess.
I like to stick to calving in February/March. If I gave them another chance, they wouldn’t be calving until 2019 and I would have a lot of money into them by then.
I’ll maybe just keep a few extra heifers to replace them, I guess. The cattle sale that I normally sell at is this Saturday (Sept. 30), so I have to make all these decisions pretty fast!
Maddie, Marlee, and one of their friends, Ella, were out and were a big help to me. They are able to open and close gates quickly and build hockey muscles all at the same time!
All the cattle now are locked up at home and on hay until we get them sorted and hauled to the sales barn on Saturday. It’s both an exciting time of the year-your one and only paycheque and sad when you have to see some of your animals go.
Like I’ve said before, “I am not sure that I am a good farmer as I feel sad about this part.”
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Jenna (my helper at the Emo Agricultural Research Station) and I harvested a few dry beans last week. We just picked the pods and because they still were pretty wet, we just put them straight in the oven.
I’m not sure that we will see all 17 varieties mature or not, but this is actually part of the test to see what we can do here in Rainy River District. If it dried up, I still feel as though our soybeans are a couple of weeks away and this is definitely later than normal.
Jenna also has been cleaning oat seed, with very good results! At least something is making these wet days more exciting.
Speaking of the weather, this rain has to stop! We have crossed the line and we need sunshine–and no more rain until next year!
We went from receiving 1/10th of an inch per rainfall to one inch.
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Our “Catch the Ace” committee ventured to the Rainy River Walleye Tournament on Friday night to make our weekly draw!
Susan Martin of Fort Frances had the lucky ticket and she chose card # 11, which revealed the nine of spades! As such, our progressive pot is now over $11,000!
We’re excited to see this amount grow every week. Be sure to get your tickets fast as we have been selling out very quickly of late.
This week, we make the draw at the Stratton sales barn on Saturday at 1 p.m.
A big thank you to the Rainy River Walleye Tournament committee for allowing us to join in on the fun this past week!
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The Riverside Foundation for Health Care’s annual gala is quickly approaching. It is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 14 at La Place Rendez-Vous in Fort Frances.
From what I understand, tickets already are sold out but if you are interested in making a donation towards the penny table/silent auction, feel free to get in touch with the Special Events committee (I would be happy to give you contact information).
It is going to be a “magical” night, indeed!
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Be sure to mark down Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. in Stratton-this is when the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is coming to the district to do a “town hall” meeting and I want to fill the hall!
Let me know if you have any questions about the event. I would be happy to answer them.
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Take some time and drive on over to Stratton on Saturday, where you can check out the consignment auction, as well as the cattle sale.
Good times!