Another Monday after a short weekend. Toni had court all day, in two different locations. But luckily it is light enough now that Anna can check before school. The weather was nice on Monday. No new foals, no new calves. Toni texted the boys to do her chores and needed a confirmed receipt of text after the last time. Kade confirmed it and fed the babies and the olds. Then he rode Mooney around, she is a nice mare and meets him at the gate.

On Tuesday Toni had court again, but had time to check in the morning first. The sun was shining and she reported that the tractors were hitting the field. Already?? Come on guys, it is February, we just got to use all the corn stalks the beginning on this month. Take her down a notch. We bid on some bale spears for the Skid Steer in the Musser Bros auction. Jaxsen had FFA practice after school, dad went and picked him up after. Toni worked on Smo and Jexy and asked if I had secretly halter broke them when they were in Las Vegas. I said of course I did. Coffey Refrigeration came out and looked at the outdoor freezer on Tuesday. Thank you Coffey, you were the ONLY people that would come out and look at it out of the 14 people Ben called (14 might be a slight exaggeration). We do not live that far out of town. And Happy 2^nd birthday to our Shea Bug.

Guess what I saw Wednesday on my way to work?? Goldie foaled. Fancy colt by Sagebug. Mom and I were disappointed it was not a filly we could name Shea Bug since Shea’s birthday was Tuesday and he could have been born in the night. Goldie is claimed by Ben and so is Sagebug so we are all waiting on Ben to name “his” colt.  Sonny got out and Scarlett caught him, Sonny is the mini colt we have left from last year. We moved Derringer up with the mares so Sonny had to go down to the barn and he is not super happy about it. Toni was in meetings/calls all day. Kade had agronomy practice. Kaine fed the horses and did not notice Dude colicing. Kade came down to ride Mauny, and noticed he was down and go him up, but did not think about him colicing. When Toni got down there she was not happy with them. Toni and Kade were walking him and had gotten immediate response down him and Zesterra. We got Dude through it but it was pretty stressful there for a bit. Toni went and spent the night with grandma, mom had been there during the day. Mom checked Dude every few hrs and I was on call. Thomassans came down and picked out a couple of Hereford steers. They were picking them up later in the week, so Ben and Anna put their EID tags in. The boys helped feed grain since Anna was selling steers.

Toni checked in the morning, nothing new. Dude was still fine.  All of the kids except Kaine had FFA practice after school. So he did chores and when the other kids got home they helped him. Toni and I got Mage and Duke in and got them ready to leave the next day. Ben and Anna got the cows in to get ready to sort on Friday.  We are also still working on Smo and Jexy. Even though they are pretty much perfect, they still get their week of halter breaking, need it or not. But seriously they are pretty much perfect. Smo does not like her feet picked up and that is the only issue with her. Jexy doesn’t like it when you put a halter on him, he is more of a leader than a follower. As Toni wants to keep him as a stud prospect we need to get him beyond that mentality. Toni also wants Smo off of the for sale page. She is priced at $15,000.00 so I think it is pretty safe. Toni is trying to claim Smo as her next horse. I also claim her so we will see.

On Friday Ben, Toni, Marlo and Anna sorted cows, pulled CIDRs and then semen tested bulls.  In addition, Andy and Ilene came and picked up Duke and Mage. Duke and Mage really hadn’t loaded before so they were a touch resistant to load but so smart. They didn’t freak out at all just didn’t think they could get their feet picked up that far. Toni put a rope around Duke’s front foot and got him to step up. They ended up having to pull both of Duke’s front feet in to get him to load. Mage they only pulled one front foot up then he jumped in. But Mage had been loaded with his mom before so he kind of knew about it.  We are excited for Andy and Ilene. Both of those colts would have been keepers if they had been fillies. But I think we say that a lot about the foals. We pretty much like them all. Duke we may have spoiled a tiny bit. So they had a busy day. Coffey Refrigeration came out and worked on fixing the freezer. We continued working on the Smo and Jexy that night. Mom went to grandmas. Dad went to Tri Cities and brought me a coffee at work.

Saturday night the cows broke the water line. So Sunday morning early Ben and Anna started to fix it and then went to Othello to get the parts. Leslie loaded up lot 1 for me to bring home, so I turned him out at mom and dads on my way by (we are calling him Uno). Toni had also turned Libby out on that side of the road, and she was happy to have bovine friends. Toni and Kade hauled Stormy and Electra down to ride and Kaine caught Ol Kevin. I guess we went from Big Kev to Ol Kevin. Kaine watches too much Dale Brisby. His cat is named Ol Son and it is a girl cat. We sorted cows to AI and then Kaine and Kade rode out and got 034, the bull in. He was limping so the men doctored his foot for foot rot. Mark and Mike came out and we AIed cows. Then Toni and I went down and turned Smo and Jexy out after one last day of working on them. The boys fed and then Kade rode Friday, Toni is switching Electra for Friday so Kade made sure he could ride her as well. Anna washed her show steers and heifers that night when we got done. Kaine finished fixing the leaf spring on Ben’s pickup.  Toni put Electra in with Tank when they got home and moved Friday up to her house. Electra is decent to ride but she is way too mothered up to Stormy. Stormy is great. Both are out of Double so we think they are great. Stormy was awesome at my house on Sunday. That was only the second time she has been hauled somewhere to be ridden. Kade has done a good job with her, but she is a good horse.

Saturday night the cows broke the water line. So Sunday morning early Ben and Anna started to fix it and then went to Othello to get the parts. Leslie loaded up lot 1 for me to bring home, so I turned him out at mom and dads on my way by (we are calling him Uno). Toni had also turned Libby out on that side of the road, and she was happy to have bovine friends. Toni and Kade hauled Stormy and Electra down to ride and Kaine caught Ol Kevin. I guess we went from Big Kev to Ol Kevin. Kaine watches too much Dale Brisby. His cat is named Ol Son and it is a girl cat. We sorted cows to AI and then Kaine and Kade rode out and got 034, the bull in. He was limping so the men doctored his foot for foot rot. Mark and Mike came out and we AIed cows. Then Toni and I went down and turned Smo and Jexy out after one last day of working on them. The boys fed and then Kade rode Friday, Toni is switching Electra for Friday so Kade made sure he could ride her as well. Anna washed her show steers and heifers that night when we got done. Kaine finished fixing the leaf spring on Ben’s pickup.  Toni put Electra in with Tank when they got home and moved Friday up to her house. Electra is decent to ride but she is way too mothered up to Stormy. Stormy is great. Both are out of Double so we think they are great. Stormy was awesome at my house on Sunday. That was only the second time she has been hauled somewhere to be ridden. Kade has done a good job with her, but she is a good horse.

As of Sunday we have bulls turned out and our AI program for the cows is completed. We are really excited about the new bulls we used for the program as well as the bulls that have such great calves on the ground that we are using them again. This calf crop is truly exceptional and we can’t wait to see how they grow. With the weather finally starting to turn nice it has been nothing but a trial on our patience to wait for the mares to foal. We have quite a few on our watch list. Let me assure you, checking them 10 times per day does not make them foal any faster!

Also a quick reminder for those that don’t know, the facebook page got hacked so we have a new FB page also under KT Ranch. It is a personal page so you have to friend request. But the new Horseshoe Angus Ranch page you can just follow.