Cattle - Cooking - Cookies

 We sold more cows and weaned some calves this week. That means I had mouths to feed. DH is taking pity on me and we're foregoing breakfast for the crew, but my feet still hit the floor at 4 a.m. on Thursday. By 6, the Sour Cream Apple Squares were out of the oven and the Crock-pot Pizza was ready to do it's thing in the Crockpot:. 

All I had left to do was make bread, a big salad. and green beans. I was being drafted to play the role of the Pied Piper by 7:30. We had to cross cattle over the highway and I drove the feed truck in front of them to facilitate the crossing. No traffic to contend with and it only took a few minutes to get them crossed. Alas, no pictures because my job was to drive and not take pictures, but occasionally we DO have to cross the highway. Here's a photo from many moons ago when I just had to park across the highway to stop traffic:

This was from 2008...back in the good old days...when we had grass...

It took me a while to get back to the house and start my bread dough because of this: 

This is the only kind of traffic jam I don't mind getting stuck in:

 Once the cattle crossed to the south side of the ranch, the boys drove the cattle 2 1/2 miles to the pens here at the house:

Yesterday morning it was 15°, but on Thursday it was 52° - much nicer when you've got to be horseback before the sun comes up - although once the wind began to howl, it dropped the temp to 35°:

We ran the cows through the chute to be preg checked:

My BIL is a cattle broker and he found the buyer for these cows so he drove from Texas and stayed the night. Good to catch up with family over breakfast and a cup of coffee:

  Making a plan

We loaded trucks on Friday morning

All of this came into play on Wednesday so there was a lot of scrambling to organize help, the brand inspector, the vet, trucks, and payment. And that meant, yep, you guessed it - cookies. 😋 I had 8 for dinner on  Thursday. Had planned on dinner Friday, but they loaded the truck at 8 and finished sorting calves by 9 so they just pulled out with cookies:

The fella that takes care of the neighboring ranch is young and single so I loaded him up with leftovers. He really is our neighbor even though there are 28 miles between our homes. 

Now someone needs to do something about this mess:

No grumbling though because a messy kitchen means the Lord has blessed us with food to cook and serve and with a crew to feed. He also blessed me with a nap.

In the Branding Pen

It's taken a while, but I'm finally getting my 2nd batch of branding photos into a post. With 24 hours in each day, you would think I would accomplish more, but I never seem to get as much done as I think I ought to. And in the big scheme of things, my little posts aren't important, but I enjoy documenting the things that make up my days and sneaking out of the kitchen to spend some time behind my camera when branding season is at hand, is one of my favorite things:

                           

We sure do appreciate the help:

And I have yet to see a cowboy turn down the chance to throw a few loops

And drag a few to the fire:

                               

                         

                      

I know many of you have had more rain than you need, but around here, a little rain would sure be a blessing...it'd settle the dirt and grow grass for our livestock:

Sometimes branding and shipping season are about the only times we get to see friends and neighbors: 

The smell of branding smoke means that spring has arrived on our neck of the woods:

A good hand on a good horse:

Working up an appetite:

                               
The mamas didn't seem too concerned and were enjoying a short break from the their babies

But they were curious about my intentions

No worries girls - just enjoying my time behind the lens and capturing a bit of the action before I head back to dish up grub for the boys. Well maybe just one more shot:

Escape From the Kitchen

One day last week I was able to break out of the kitchen. Dessert was made and I made barbecue sandwiches, coleslaw,  Cajun potatoes, jalapeno poppers, chips and homemade salsa for dinner. They were working at Adobe Pens

and it takes me 40 minutes to get there, but I had everything ready by 9 (just needed to pop the poppers in the oven when I returned), so I grabbed my camera, and headed out. It's been too long since I was able to spend time behind the lens and I was tickled.

Sometimes I see photos...beautiful photos...of crews branding and cowboys working cattle that I admire. My first thought is always: That's a great shot! My second thought: I would be in so much trouble if I had taken that because from the angle, I would have been in the way. And the first rule of a photographer is Don't Get in the Way.

Or maybe that's just a special rule that applies to me. LOL. Don't spook the cattle...or the horses...or the men. Don't ride in front of the herd. Don't move. Pay attention. So, I have to choose a spot and park it. In this case, it was outside of the corrals, behind a fence, which was a good spot because I tend to get lost behind the camera and not pay attention to what's going on around me and the fence was a trusty barrier and kept me from getting run over:

It's pretty sandy here, thus there's lots of dirt that gets kicked up

But DH likes to work cattle easy and not get them stirred up:

But the sand here is like powder and it's impossible to not kick it up:

The feisty calves churn up clouds of dirt:

And it can make for a cool shot, but the calf's fine.

These animals are our livelihood and we do everything we can to take good care of them.

The crew works quickly and efficiently, but easy:

Usually someone is at the head, one on the tail end, one wields the branding irons, another is assigned to ear mark the calf, one vaccinates, and yet another cuts the bull calves. It all takes less than a minute and the calf is released back into the herd and quickly reunited with it's Mama.

It's hard work, but these boys love what they do:

And they're good at it:

We run a pretty small crew, but try to work two calves at a time in the pen:

That's probably a long enough post for today. Anyone that knows me knows I've got more photos to share, but I'll share more in a day or two. I was only out there for about 45 minutes and ended up with over 500 pictures. It takes a long time to sort through 500 photos and no, I won't make you sit through that many. I'm deleting as fast as I can. 😉

A Taste of Fall and the Week Ahead

I'm back in the kitchen this week. We're beginning our Fall Cow Works so the last few days have been filled with lists and menus and shopping:

As well as a really nice rain on Thursday afternoon:

The earlier rains came fast and hard and filled our dirt tanks. This one was slow and easy (0.6" here at the house) and just what we needed. We've still got time to grow more winter grass so this was the perfect follow-up to the earlier big rain. On behalf of the ranchers and livestock - Thank you, Jesus.

On Sunday morning we processed some cattle through the chute:

It's not often that the 1st day of Fall feels like the 1st day of Fall around here, but it was 48° when we went out to the pens and I was absolutely jubilant to pull on the first flannel shirt of the season!

I'm already tired and I haven't even made the first batch of biscuits.Thankfully, the time hasn't changed yet and it doesn't get light until after 6 so breakfasts won't mean 2:30 a.m. wake-up calls. I pulled some things together this weekend though since I am cooking and working at the sale barn today. I'll cook and feed them breakfast (waffles, eggs, sausage, and fruit), clean up the kitchen, and get things together in crock-pots for their dinner. I made salsa,

salad, will throw corn in one crock-pot, Tortilla Stack in a 2nd crock-pot, and give them Cowboy Cookies I baked yesterday for dessert.

For the next 6 days, if you need me, I'll be knee deep in  bread dough and soap suds...after the sale. They're calling for 1300-1400 hd today. Someone please send me some strength and vitality to get me through the week.

Yes, Another Post About Fall Works

Are ya'll tired of reading about fall works yet? If I don't get this stuff written down, I'll forget and I really like to keep some sort of record about our life here at the end of the dirt road and this is weaning season so that's what you get. Should I warn you that this is a picture heavy post? Probably no need because you have come to expect it when you visit here. -Grin-

Fall is our busiest time at the sale barn so the days are especially long, but I can't complain about leaving at 9 or 10, when my boss doesn't leave until 1. But combine a long Monday at the sale barn with our fall works and this old gal is plumb tuckered out. We were short handed last Tuesday so DH drafted me to help process cows and haul calves. When I dropped the boys off in the morning and headed back to the house, the good Lord was at it again, painting the New Mexico sky with breathtaking beauty and this red-tailed hawk and I stopped to soak it all in:

Later, the boys gathered the cattle

And brought them to the pens

 Where I take way too many pictures of this fella

But after over 30 years, I am still smitten with him

 One of these days he's going to take my camera away

 But until then, I will continue to capture the magic of ordinary days

They separated the calves from the cows

And started to work the cows

By walking them through the portable setup we have at this set of pens:

DH vaccinated them

And I doused them with Cydectin under the watchful eye of this girl

And the supervision of this gentle Mama

Then we loaded calves:

Drove them the 18 miles to headquarters

And unloaded them

Into the pens

 Then it was back to the east side where the sun was setting

And the cows were let out 

to begin their empty nesting until the new crop arrives in the spring

We had to pick up a bull from Armstrong Basin (a pasture) and then were able to head back to the house, tired, but thankful and grateful for the blessings God tucks into each and every day.