As I sit down to pen this Moos update, it is raining outside.
Yuck.
I think we all know how I feel about rain in the warmer months, and I don’t enjoy it any more in February. I spent most of the day on Saturday getting extra panels set up and putting extra straw out to keep the cows dry because of the warm weather. The rain will not help with that.
I am heading off to Toronto for the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) Annual General Meeting. It is stressful enough trying to get my head wrapped around leaving but the weather only adds to that. I guess it is not -40C, but these temperatures are not normal either. I have cows that are getting close but thankfully my friend Debbie will come stay at my place while I’m away.
She and my mom are in charge, and I hope things will go well for them. I have tried to get things in the best shape possible to make it as easy as I can for them. It does look like my cows are going to keep me busy when I return. This weather makes me wish for a great big open barn that I could stick all my cows in and keep them dry and out of the mess. I need to win the lottery!
The ski club has had to meet earlier in the day to get a ski in. It is great to be outside on these warm sunny days, but it is very hard on the ski trail. Lexi loves the ski trail and gets very excited when I pull out the ski boots. It is hard to believe, but you don’t even need to wear a jacket in these temperatures.
I had a busy week of Zoom meetings. With the BFO AGM this week, most of our committees had to meet and prepare reports. I will be reporting on the research committee this week in Toronto. I have had trouble attending this meeting in the past for various reasons, so I am almost nervous about getting too prepared. Katie Hay-Krueger and Bennet Krahn will be attending the meeting this week as well, representing Rainy River. Murray McDonald will be joining online as they are hosting a hybrid meeting this year.
The Rainy River Cattlemen’s held their first board meeting with their new board. McDonald was elected as president, Keith Caul vice-president and Brodie Gross is the treasurer.
We did have a conflict with our April Sale date, so we decided to bump the date up to April 18. The fall sale dates are Sept. 26, Oct. 17 and Nov. 7th. Hay-Kreger will continue to do farm visits and invite producers to bring cattle to our sales. She will also be doing all the staff scheduling.
Kent Martin is going to take over the feeding/watering/bedding. Brodie Gross and Bradley Teeple will continue to oversee the loading out of all cattle. Murray will be the key contact, but we feel with these leaders we will not be hiring a sales barn manager at this time. We haven’t had much luck finding a manager and the board is confident these staff members will do a great job.
I hope everyone had a great Family Day weekend!
