Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

Three of the bums watching what is going on. Taken 4/28/2007.

The bums out grazing the green grass. I'm having a hard time getting them to eat their grain they so like the green grass. Quite the problem, isn't it? Taken 5/11/2007.

Six of the eight bums I have running around the place. For some reason when there is a late snowstorm like we had, I have more bums. I've talked to some of the neighbors and they are having the same problem with more bums than normal. I don't know what the problem is but it is annoying. Taken 4/30/2007.

Boy, things are going slow around here. As far behind as I am getting they should be going fast, but they're not. I'm not really complaining though. What's slowing me down is rain and more rain and more rain. It keeps it to wet to do most of the work I need to do right now. It wouldn't take me to long to get caught up if there would just be a break. These showers that hit every third day allow me to get some things done but keep it to wet for others.

The biggest hold up now is a little farming. I need to get the renovating done and I really wanted to plant one field down to a grass/alfalfa stand. It's been way to wet to do the farming though. If the seed was in the ground all the moisture would be great but with the seed still in the shed it isn't doing me much good.

On the hired hand front, I offered the job to a guy and I think he is inclined to take it. I am a little worried that his family might be a little large for the bunkhouse but he says that they are fine with it. In a way I am taking the first guy that is showing an inclination to want to work here but what do I do? With unemployment in the state at 2%, workers have more than enough jobs around so you have to take what you can find. This guy on paper looks more than qualified but how it works out in real life waits to be seen. I'm hoping for the best.

I keep meaning to take some pictures and I haven't yet but I now have 5 bum calves running around. The damnedest thing is happening this year and I have no explanation. Perfectly healthy, young cows in good flesh have a calf, take care of it and everything appears to be all right. Then a few days down the road the calf is starving to death. He nurses the cow fine but she doesn't appear to have any milk, or enough milk, and the calf is starving to death right on the cow. Not all 5 calves are from this but too many, that's for sure. I've considered bringing the cow home and trying to feed her up to produce more milk but have decided against it. If she can't produce enough milk for a calf to survive on, I don't want her genes on the place and she needs to go down the road. She's not fit, so she don't need to survive. Sounds cruel but it will help the cow herd in the long run.

Yesterday in Ed's City Lights column he had a real good statement that I wanted to preserve for prosperity.

When we flew into Miami, the whole city was still soaking wet from a storm a day earlier that dumped up to 2 inches of rain on parts of town.

It turns out that the storm stopped just minutes before Florida authorities announced the imposition of severe new water restrictions in the face of a continuing drought and the prospect of rampant wildfires this summer.

And I saw in USA Today's state-by-state roundup that Montana's Drought Advisory Committee had to cancel its meeting last week because of heavy rains.

It's like talking about global warming during a blizzard. Shortsighted skeptics love those coincidences.

I wish I had Ed's way with words. I've heard people questioning global warming during cold snaps or our recent blizzard and have never been able to figure out what to sat about them. Shortsighted skeptics, I love it.

Well, time to see what I can do in the rain today. One hundred percent chance of rain all day long so it will be too wet to farm. Maybe in a couple more days. We will see.

I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back. Abraham Lincoln

The leaves are just starting to come on the bushes so spring is definitely here. We finished riding and taking the last of the pairs out to the hills yesterday. I wanted to get that done before the storm they are predicting hit today so I worked on Sunday. I know, bad kid, but sometimes that is the way things work out.

When we were riding on Saturday I discovered another bum calf.






Boy was this little lady in bad shape. She was so weak she couldn't even run away, heck she could barely get up she was so weak. She is damn lucky I found her. I was riding on the far side of the pasture the cows were in and checking the draw to make sure no cattle were in it. I could tell from a distance there was no cattle in the area but it is better safe than sorry. As I was riding back towards where there was some cows to be pushed I stumbled, my horse almost tripped on her, upon her hiding in a sage brush patch. I stopped and looked her over and could see she was a bum. We picked her up as soon as we got done riding and took her home. She still can't take a full bottle of milk she is so weak but she is getting better every day now. Good deal. She wouldn't have lasted much longer with out intervention. Why her mom left her is beyond me but I hope she is in the bunch I am going to sell. It would serve her right.

One last thing to show you. Here is a short clip (3.3MB) of the three healthy bums after we were done feeding them the other day. Cute little tykes.

Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit. Aristotle

Well, quite a day yesterday. Both Sunday and Monday I found a dead calf out on the cows in the morning, so yesterday I was pretty leery about going over to feed because I was afraid I would find another dead calf. Both the calves that died were so picked apart by the Bald Eagles that I could not determine why or how they died. It's depressing is all I know to find them dead like that. We got over to feed and it was looking pretty good. I didn't spot a dead one right away so thought I was in the clear. Then, from over the top of a hill here comes two bald eagles swooping down on a cow standing up on the hill by herself.

"Damn", I thought, "she must be standing over a dead calf there and she is protecting it." So we fed hay up that way to check the situation out. The eagles kept swooping at here and she would throw her head and chase them off every time. Even some magpies and crows were joining in attacking this cow. I knew for sure the calf was dead. When we got up there with the hay guess what? The calf was alive and the good momma had been valiantly protecting her baby. I was really surprised. I had never seen Bald Eagles attack cattle like that and was amazed. It makes me wonder if that is what happened to my other two calves. The eagles killed them. I got no proof one way or the other but I am keeping it in the back of my mind.

So what does this have to do with the title, "Two More Gathered?" Not a damn thing, just some thing interesting that happened. Also while we were feeding I noticed the other twin from the old cow I talked about the other day. I have had my eye on him ever since we pulled his brother and he hasn't been doing very well. I kept hoping his mother would come into her milk to feed him but she hasn't. I was worried if she would have enough milk for two babies, as it turns out she doesn't have enough for one baby. He was so thin that I decided I had to pull him and bring him in and put him on a bottle. Best thing I could do for him.

Then I found another calf on the feed ground who was starving to death slow but sure. I have no idea who his mom is or what the situation was but he was in poor condition. I threw an ear tag in him to identify him and left him until afternoon to see if he would mother up to a momma. When you have over 500 cows in a bunch it's hard to mother things up real easy. When we checked later in the afternoon we still couldn't mother him up and all he did was run around from cow to cow trying to get something to eat. The only thing I could do was grab him and bring him home and put him on a bottle. After having three sets of twins, there is an outside chance that this one is a twin that got separated form mom and she still has the other one. Judging by his size it wouldn't surprise me.

So that's the two more gathered. As you can see by the picture I now have three bum calves to take care of. It's a pain in the ass but it's best for the calves. Maybe we will get a mom like the other one I grafted, which by the way is a stunning success, she loves the little thing, but whatever happens, happens. I just hope there is no more mysterious dead calves like the two. I'm tired of that.

The day is always his, who works in it with serenity and great aims. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Like I said I was going to do I got the twin calf pulled off the heifer and have the two different bum twin calves shown in the picture to feed. The one that has been on the heifer I expected to give me trouble learning to go on the bottle since she had been on a mom so long. No problems though, took a bottle right down two hours after she nursed momma. That just shows momma was really not producing enough milk for them and I needed to do this. I hauled the heifer twin cow home yesterday and turned her loose and what did I find over in the cows? A cow that lost a calf.

It looks like it came back feet first which usually causes the calf to drown in the amniotic fluids before it is completely born so this cow makes an excellent candidate to graft one of the bums on. We brought her home and are now working on getting one of the calves grafted on her. She is not real keen on the idea yet but she appears to be gentle enough that I can make it work with enough patience and time. I will put that in because a cow will do a lot better job raising the calf than I will. Bums never do real well in the long run.

Now I only have one bum to deal with, and the weather. Winter storm watch is out, talking 3 to 8 inches of snow with possible strong winds to last from this afternoon to Monday morning. Damn, how miserable that is while calving. The moisture won't hurt but it's tough while calving. As always, have to take the good with the bad and make things work out. Lot's of fun.

Love and work are viewed and experienced as totally separate activities motivated by separate needs. Yet, when we think about it, our common sense tells us that our most inspired, creative acts are deeply tied to our need to love and that, when we lack love, we find it difficult to work creatively; that work without love is dead, mechanical, sheer competence without vitality, that love without work grows boring, monotonous, lacks depth and passion. Marta Zahaykevich

I came over a little hill this morning and spotted something that started a whole train of thoughts running through my head and I thought I would share how it went.


what's this? two calves following one cow...is one of them lost....no...look at them, they are very small and look real similar...look at the way she acts towards both of them...DAMN, twins...now what do I do...if I leave them on her she will lose track of one of them and it might die...I could take her home and feed her special and see if she could raise them both...

At this point I drove up a little closer to the cow and calves.

DAMN......look at that old cow...she must be 15 years old...she is going to have trouble raising one calf let alone two...I can't take her home or treat her special, even doing that she would never raise both those calves...she kind of looks wild too, so putting her in somewhere will just get her excited and put her off feed and make things that much more difficult...so what to do...DAMN, the best bet is to pull one of the calves off of her and let her raise one and I can bum the other...I don't want to do this....What do I want with a bum...well, it's the only choice...which one to grab...have to see what their sex is, if possible leave a bull on her and take the heifer if they are a split...both bulls, grab the smaller one...glad I picked up that sack of milk replacer before calving started, have something to feed the poor little guy...Hmmm..look at mom and remaining baby, she's leaving the country so I don't take her other baby...don't blame her but it's for the best...suppose I should do the same thing with the twins at home on the heifer...bum the heifer and let momma raise the steer...it would give this poor little fella company...you know, I heard yesterday that day old calves are bringing $300-$400 at the auction yard...I could sell the poor little fella...ahh, I don't want to do that...he's having a hard enough time being taken from mom, I can't stand to take him to the auction yard....hell, he would probably pick up a disease and die there...I wouldn't want to see that...yea....pull the heifer calf on the twins and I will have two bums...not the best solution but what else to do...DAMN...DAMN...DAMN...might end up with a cow I could graft one on...ahh, I wouldn't want that though, that means I lost a calf and I don't want that....DAMN...two bums...

Yep there it is, two bums now. I am going to wait a couple of days while I get this one on his bottle and I will pull the other one and start it. I guess I shouldn't complain about the twins but they are a pain for a cattleman. Well, that's the way the ball bounces. Now I just get to worry about the weather. Possible big storm coming in this weekend. Never a dull moment, that's for sure.

Those thoughts are truth which guide us to beneficial interaction with sensible particulars as they occur, whether they copy these in advance or not. William James