Herding words – or cattle – in South Eastern Montana
In a recent post I mentioned Thor, who has allowed me to write his story and whose story is now available to read in the Nonfiction section of my web site. Or you can follow this link to it. Thor is now a 2 year old steer but when he was a 4 month old calf, he was caught in a water tank. Thor’s Story is about his rescue, injuries and recovery. I hope you enjoy getting to know Thor through his story. Thor rules!
I’m posting these photos for our friends who haven’t experienced the last several days of frigid weather with us…know everyone in Eastern Montana has their own images and struggles. But the cattle got fed every day and we survived with maybe a minor frostbite, but nothing too bad.
I fondly remember feeding with my Dad in the 1960’s when he pitched loose hay onto a wagon and we fed with a team of horses. Fond memories, but oh how thankful I am that we don’t have to feed that way. It’s awfully nice to get a 4 wheel drive pickup out of a heated garage, have hay waiting that was put down by someone in a heated tractor, feeding round bales that are too heavy to handle by hand…our blessings go on and on!
Sonny, at 89, has been itching to get out every morning to check on and feed his cows. Then we’ve fed again in the evening so cow bellies are full to help them get through nights in the -30’s – our coldest was -37°, but it felt even colder at -17 with a 17 mph wind. That was brutal!
I’m hoping to go out tomorrow morning without my #stormykromer fur hat – that means it’s above zero so I don’t need EVERY layer I own!
I haven’t been writing at all, but I’ve learned how to make cheese from my cow’s excess milk, I’ve doctored a calf through 1 1/2 years of slow recovery (that’s a story I’ll share another day but for now I’ll tell you his name is Thor and he is a warrior I love with all my heart), we’ve avoided getting Covid and I’ve enjoyed this incredible lifestyle with Sonny living and ranching in rural Eastern Montana. Every time we look at the TV or social media, we are more thankful to be a little back-woodsy, out of the rat race, rural rather than urban and living at our pace and with our problems and innumerable blessings. I wish the rest of the world good luck, but I won’t trade places with anyone.
Bugaboo, 2 year old bred Jersey milk cow, is the new addition to our family. I’m as excited as a kid at Christmas! She’s gentle and broke to lead…time will tell about the use of her tail and hind feet in relation to me and the milk bucket!
Finished the last of the main fall work with pregnancy testing. The cattle couldn’t have worked better as they corralled then went through the alley and chute like clock work, Tim averaged testing a cow every 45 seconds, and we were able to sort off the open and old cows. With Shawn, Ed, Jess, Jake, Tim, Sonny and me, no one had to work too hard. And we decrepit “Old Wrinklies” got to stay horseback the whole time!
We feed the heifer calves ground hay and cake pellets. The video is proof that Jess is low man on the totem pole so eats dust as he forks the ground hay into the feeders while at 83 Sonny takes the “choice” job – packing the 5 gallon buckets of pellets!
Didn’t get much writing done today since the vet was out to pregnancy check the yearling heifers. Temp got up to 98 with a pretty strong East wind so was really dusty in the corral.
Sandy Snider Stahl 