Happy President’s Day on Monday, we had a great day. It was a little brisk on Monday, but we checked cows, halter broke horses, fed cows, put hay out, etc. Toni and I worked on Celest and Robin, we went out and looked for heavy mares. Kade rode his horses. Anna worked on all her show animals, Kade worked on his steer and Kaine worked on his heifer.  We started our heavy checks- meaning we go out and walk the mares daily to see who we think is heavy, evaluate if they need moved or not, etc. It can be time consuming but it is necessary. Technically on the 19^th (Monday) we could have had a foal. But we didn’t have anything that close. We did put 4 or 5 mares on our list to make sure we specifically look for every time we check. So multiple times per day they get looked at.

On Tuesday I went to Reno for work with a coworker named John. We went to the annual Family Farm Conference. I went last year as well. It was a great experience, I met lots of new people. We went to the D Bar M Western Store, if you ever go to Reno you should definitely stop there. They have LOTS of things piled in there. Saddles, tack, lots and lots of ropes, clothes, lots of boots, jewelry, hats, hat blanks and they will form them there, books, etc. I brought back some ¾ zips, a rope for Kade, shirts for the men, jewelry for mom.

At home Toni went and saw a friend’s new baby boy. She does love babies. Whitney texted me some old pics she had found of her and mom and Grandma, Great Uncle Manny and Great Granny. Everyone did chores, checked horses. Kade rode Mauney. Celeste and Robin got tied up. Celeste is pretty much one of those born halter broke kind of horses. Robin has more fire, but is super smart. They are fun, especially for our final 2 of 4. Toni went and stayed with Grandma on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday dad and Toni took the ram, and some cull cows, to the Moses Lake sale. We are happy the ram is gone and hopefully has gone where he is appreciated. Then they went to Othello and picked up our bull we had in getting semen tested. They got home decently early, even with a stop for chicken fried steaks. More chores, checking mares, trying to decide if Goldie was heavy enough to move over to the other pen. Lots of decisions. Kade started roping on Mauney and pulling a garbage can around on the ground. She is a pretty cool little mare.

On Thursday the kids had a FFA breakfast and dad and Toni went. The kids were all shocked to see Toni she reported because they know she hates early mornings. Then dad rode his side by side around checking things. Toni worked on the foals, Robin has now realized that human hands can hit all the itchy spots so things were really starting to come together for her. Celeste got to go out and about on a walk about in the driveway. She will try to follow a person anywhere, including the saddle shed. . Kade rode Mauney. A typical day. Toni stayed with Grandma again Thursday night.

On Friday Ben and Toni sorted all the cows and put CIDRs in. Toni called Marlo for reinforcements since the mud was so deep. It was hard going. The cows all did great, it was just really muddy.  All the kids except Kaine went to Finley for FFA competitions. Anna went as an officer, she was not competing. Jaxsen, who had flunked his school meats test, tied for the highest score at the jamboree on the meats test. As Mr. Palmer, the FFA teacher says, Jaxsen loses 50 iq points when he is around his friends. So we are proud of the kids and their efforts. Anna has reaffirmed she does not want to be an ag teacher. Dad helped Kaine do chores. Toni rode Mauney around for the first time. So now she is also a fan of Mauney.  When Kade got home he rode Mauney around bareback. Celeste and Robin are still getting worked on.

On Saturday I headed home from Reno.  Kade had trap shooting in St John. Dad went and Skip met them there. Ben and Anna went down and caught Gin for Toni to show to potential buyers, and Black Devil the mini to take to the house. Then Kaine and Toni hooked up the little white trailer and went down and got them and hauled them up. We had people come out to look at all the mares we had for sale and take the tour. They really loved Gin so decided to buy her. Anna and Lane went to Sadies that night so Toni did Anna’s hair and then Anna and Lane left. Toni did chores then her and Kicker went to Franklin County Cattlemen’s Banquet. When I got home I saw a dog running across the circle, that looked like the dog that had been missing off of Facebook. I called Kade since he was down there doing chores to see if he could grab her. Kade could not catch her on his own, so he called me and I ran back and we corned her on top of the hill. Yes, I know you should not grab a frightened animal, I took my coat off and we wrapped it around her. Poor little pup had been missing for about a week and was scared. We have no idea how she survived. We took her to mom as I called them on Facebook. I took Kade back to the 4 wheeler and by the time I circled back to meet them at moms they were already there and headed out.

On Sunday we tagged the week’s worth of calves. Ben and Anna cleaned out the barn. Kids all caught their animals. Toni and Kade caught Gin and sent her to her new home. Beth Sullivan, that used to live in my house, they moved when she was around 2, came with her kids and husband, and bought an Angus steer. We worked on Robin and Celeste and then turned them out and got in Jexy and Smo.  After Jex and Smo we are DONE halter breaking. Very exciting to finally be done. We also moved Goldie and Dagnon to the heavy pen and moved a bunch of horses around to minimize foaling drama.

I learned long ago that you can’t show any weakness in sorting cattle or you will get steamrolled. We have mostly gotten rid of the cows that want to steamroll a person, but it is really a life lesson. The sorting of the cows and getting them synchronized really went well. I think it says quite a bit that 2 people and a couple of good dogs can handle these cattle.  We turned bulls out on the cows and heifers we are not AIing. Breeding season is officially upon us. Exciting times.