Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

The recent Blizzards in Colorado and a book I am reading have reminded me of the winter of 96-97 in this area. It rivaled the historical winter of 1887 in it's ferocity and snow cover around here. It started in mid October and didn't end until mid April.

I have never fed cows so much hay. I don't care how much hay you put out, they cleaned it up. It was so cold they couldn't get enough energy and the snow was so deep they couldn't get absolutely any king of grazing to eat. Cows would just lay down and die for no apperant reason. I claim to this day that they got tired of fighting the cold and snow and just decided to quit. It's the only explanation that makes sense. I lost over 5% of the cow herd that year just do to the winter being so tough. Normally, I don't lose any but that year I was losing them left and right. It was a bad deal.

Then spring came, the snow was melting and the mud was about 2 feet deep from all the snow and it was quite the quagmire when a when a winter storm hit on about April 4th that lasted for about 5 days. I was in the hight ogf calving season then. The wind blew and the snow fell and the calves died. I fought night and day to save calves and in the end when all was said and done, I lost over 20% of my calves to this one storm. Cows would have them in a bunch to keep warm and the cattle would just tromp them to death in the mud before you could save them. They would have them away from the herd and then get up and walk away never to return and the calf would die before I got there. If I did get there I would never know the cow it came from or have the time to do anything about it. I also had 30 bum calves from the storm that I never could get the time to graft onto cows. It was a never ending nightmare that I never want to go through again.

This was the only time since I had gotten out of the Navy that I ever thought that maybe I had made a bad decision. It really made me wonder if fighting the cattle and the weather was worth it. The funny thing was though, when the sun came out and the warm temperatures hit and the remaining calves were bucking and playing, I forgot all about it and loved what I was doing again. Sometimes a person can get really dragged down around here but you can't let it get you.

There are so many thing in our lives that we can't control, like the weather, our neighbors, politicians, the rain, the land, mother nature and so on to the point the list is unsustainable. Against all these things we can't control, there is one important thing we can control, how we react to these things we can't control. We have to let these things wash over us and continue in our lives and not let them overwhelm us. How we react to these things makes us who we are and let's us set examples for the world.

Why do I bring these things up? Like I said, the Blizzards in the Midwest but also raising a teenage daughter. She's having trouble at school with another student and I have been trying to get her to see that she can't change what the other person is doing, she can only change how she react to it. She hasn't been taking the advice real well until her Grandpa independently told her the same thing in a way she heard. She's finally starting to feel better and react better. Hopefully the lesson will stick.

It is easy to react if everything is going great. Vince Gill

Colorado Blizzard Could Top ’97 Storm’s Livestock Death Toll

Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Don Ament told Meatingplace today that he expects a Dec. 28 blizzard that hit the Rocky Mountain state will be a crueler killer than a 1997 storm that claimed 30,000 heads of livestock in the same region.

Ament said the storm would likely kill at least 40,000 head of livestock in southeastern Colorado, an area home to more than 300,000 farm animals.

Now I understand that these numbers are guesses at this point but it is looking grim. I feel for these people and I hear another storm is moving into the area, not much more snow but more wind. With all the snow they have more wind is just more drifts and more problems.

The NCBA is requesting Federal assistance. Federal assistance is always low-interest emergency loans which I have never figured out how that helps but what do I know. The NCBA is doing more though which I support.

Joining forces with state cattlemen’s associations across the country, NCBA is providing needed assistance through the National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF), with every dollar collected directly assisting families impacted by the winter storms.

Credit card contributions can be made by calling 1-866-BEEF-USA (1-866-233-3872) with Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Online contributions can be made by going to www.nationalcattlemensfoundation.org and clicking on “make a contribution.”

For those wanting to send a contribution by check, checks should be made payable to National Cattlemen’s Foundation with “disaster relief” included on the memo line. Checks can be mailed to:

National Cattlemen’s Foundation
9110 East Nichols Ave., Suite 300
Centennial, CO 80112

In addition to cash contributions, the NCBA is also looking for those able to donate hay, trucking services or equipment.

So anybody interested in helping farmers and ranchers during this disaster now has a way. They need the help. I can't begin to describe what these people are going through. I've fought snow, blizzards, wind and dying cattle and I lack the finesse with words to describe it. You fight your way to your cattle and find them dropping like flies and you are doing every thing you can you fell so inadequate and feeble it isn't even funny.

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone. Ronald Reagan