Skateboarding Cow

I've seen these skateboarding cow signs on trips, but recently one popped up down the road from us. I particularly like the juxtaposition of the trees and building in the background--almost makes you think there might be a skateboarding park up ahead with Herefords and Holsteins battling it out.

Desert Destination: The County Fair-Part One

Saturday morning we headed into Ely for the White Pine County Fair, where we saw Cousin Clay leading his steer in preparation to show it. He had been preparing all summer for this weekend by feeding, walking, and taming his steer so that he didn't have to worry about a nearly 1,500 pound beast walking all over him. 

He was soon in the show arena with six other steers. They walked them around in circles so the judge could inspect them, then lined them up one way and then another way.

I was very surprised to find that only seven steers had been entered in the fair. My husband explained that there aren't as many ranches anymore. That's certainly true--Southern Nevada Water Authority bought nearly all the ranches in Spring Valley in the last few years, taking away the opportunity of many young kids to get experience with farm animals and showmanship. It's one of the many unintended consequences of a huge water grab.

Cousin Alyshia had better control of her steer than she did just a few weeks ago. She obviously made good progress, and all her hours with the steer paid off.

It might have helped slightly that Alyshia's steer followed Clay's around and around. They already knew each other and felt comfortable. The steers didn't bat an eye when they passed the bleachers, which were filled with spectators.

Although the morning started off cool, the temperatures soon escalated into the high 90s. It made it much more of a challenge to stay cool and calm, but Alyshia managed to get a Reserve Grand Champion for showmanship. Way to go, Alyshia!

Meanwhile, Cousin Caleb was getting some words of advice from his dad for showing his lamb, Tony. 

Desert Boy liked petting Tony's soft wool.

Then Caleb let Desert Boy help walk Tony around. Desert Boy was enthralled with the experience. It won't be all that long until Desert Boy has his own sheep. I suppose I should try to learn a thing or two about sheep before then. At this point I think my knowledge would fill a thimble.

Although there was just one class of steers, there were many more sheep entries. They were divided into juniors, intermediates, and seniors.

The pigs were shown in a separate arena. We didn't get a chance to watch them there, but we did visit them in their barn. I love looking at the pigs. Apparently so did Desert Boy and Cousin Kayli.

Hey, look Mama, I'm right next to a big ole' pig!

I think Desert Boy would have brought that pig home with him if I had let him. 

But there was a way to distract Desert Boy--

--the bouncy castle! Desert Boy begged and begged to go into it, and finally it was time. He and Kayli jumped and jumped, scaled the ladders to go up to the high level,

and went down the big slide! They had a great time and ended up all sweaty with big smiles. 

I'm out of energy today, but tomorrow there will be more about the exhibit halls, auction, and booths. Although the White Pine County fair is small, it was fun!

Getting the 4-H Steers Ready

The County Fair is in just over two weeks, and my nieces and nephews are busy getting ready all their 4-H projects ready. Cousin A is taking a steer, and I watched her as she worked with him.

She's giving him some loving attention. I'm not sure if he's feeling the love, though. Steers have kind of a tough exterior.

And he decides he wants to show he's boss. She's not going to let a steer, even if it outweighs her by 1200 pounds, be in charge.

Well, maybe not. It's not easy to get a stubborn steer to give up his ground.

Meanwhile Cousin C is going on a little jaunt with his steer. He makes it look easy.

He even manages a smile. And that's before he got his mohawk haircut.

His steer is mellow and ready to go where Cousin C wants it to go.

Fortunately, Cousin A finally wins the battle of the wills and gets her steer to walk where she wants it. Then it's time to go out to a big corral and practice more there.

Cousin C's steer is cooperative as can be...

...and Cousin A's steer starts out okay, but then decides he really doesn't want to go for a walk. Sometimes steers just get that way.

Aunt Tana gets into the corral and shows Cousin A some moves to make sure the steer doesn't get his way. Cousin A is more interested in the new puppy, though! It will be fun to see how both cousins do at the fair. They've certainly gained some good experience learning how to take care of and control their big animals.

Home on the Range

Spring is a Time for Love...Sort of

You've probably seen the birds chasing each other around in their pretty breeding colors, heard frogs croaking away in wetlands indicating their love, and maybe have even seen dragonflies in their mating dance. Well, I'm here to inform you today that there is even more going on in the world of spring love. Let's head down to the ranch.

These are a bunch of heifers, female cows who haven't yet given birth. They have orange stickers on their rumps. Orange is good. Orange means that they are ready to mate, and other cows have been jumping up on them and have rubbed the gray coating off that sticker. If a bull was turned in with these heifers, he would go crazy. But that's not going to happen (yet), because not just any bull will do.

A bull must be carefully selected from the bull catalog. They even have names like Enhancer and Magnum. There's a short description next to each bull, telling all about his important characteristics. Some of those are ease of birthing his calves, weight gain of those calves, and overall beauty. Okay, not really the last one, but the other two are true. When you go through this catalog and select a bull, you don't get the entire bull, though, you just get some of his semen.

That semen is frozen in liquid nitrogen and transported with care.

This is a view into frozen good genes.

When the time is right, a little of the frozen semen is extracted and put into a thermos of warm water, otherwise known as the "semen warmer." 

Here's my brother-in-law getting one of the semen sticks ready. Even after the semen is taken out of the semen warmer, it needs to stay warm, and one of the ways to do that is stick it down your shirt. Each vial is cared for, as each costs about $10-$15 (depending on the bull chosen).

Here's the guy who came to help with the AIing (artificial insemination). He has the semen stick in his coveralls and is encouraging a heifer to go down the walkway into the chute.

Then it's time. The gloved arm is going into the anus to feel for the cervix (apparently not a very easy thing to do), so the semen can be inserted in just the right spot.

It doesn't take very long. 

About 80% of the heifers go into heat at the time of AIing, and about 80% of the AIs take. 

The heifers will go out into their own field.

And then in a short while, a "cleanup" bull will be let loose into the field to breed any cows that didn't have success the first time around.

Ah, so love on the ranch may be a little different then some of the other springtime love you're observing. It should result in the same thing: cute little babies, full of energy and zip.

Desert Boy on the Fence

I found a couple more photos from our day with the calves that I forgot to post yesterday. Doesn't Desert Boy look comfortable up on this gate? He climbed up there all by himself. If there's something to climb, he will. Even the kitchen cabinets (who knew that drawer handles made such good climbing knobs?). The piano is also fun to scale. He's even tried a couple trees. 

Here are some calves in the "waiting room." They look pretty much like human patients in the waiting room at the clinic. I can just imagine the magazine titles they might be interested in:

Cowsmopolitan

Bovine Beauty

American Cow

Cattleweek

Eating Alfalfa

Cow's Health

Outdoor Living

What else can you think of?

Processing Calves

Late spring is the time of year when our ranch processes calves. That basically means the calves get their shots, ear-marked, ear-tagged, castrated, and antibiotics, if needed.

A couple drums hold some of the needed equipment--vaccination guns and ear taggers.

The process is repeated over and over for each calf, and the team works smoothly. A calf is moved into the chute, which is tightened and laid on its side. Each calf receives several vaccinations and has its ears cut. This ear cutting is to show ownership of the calf. We don't brand calves, but use this method instead. 

When I told my husband that ear cutting didn't seem very nice, he reminded me that human circumcision is basically the same concept--removing part of the body that isn't critical for a function.

Calves are given an oral antibiotic, but since they aren't willing to just take a pill and swallowit  with a swig of water, there's a metal gadget (called a balling gun if you really wanted to know) that is put down their throat to make them take the pill.

They get a new ear tag that has an insecticide in it.

And if the calf is a male, it is castrated. But instead of whacking off those delicate parts, a rubber band is used to cut off circulation, and in a few days the reduced blood flow means that part of the body is no longer effective. The infection rate for this method is less than the Rocky Mountain oyster method.

For female calves, the process is done in less than a minute, and for male calves, just a bit longer. The chute is tipped up, and the calf jumps out.

Old Cowboy Lee came by with a sick calf he had found on the range. I love it when Lee comes by, he is just such a quintessential cowboy.

Desert Boy and I got a job while we were hanging around. We moved the newly processed calves out of the fenced area and into the bigger part of the corral where all the nervous moms were waiting.

Desert Boy enjoyed opening and closing the gate.

The moms and calves were a little confused and took some time to get sorted out. They were also very noisy, as you can hear in this video:

The calves eventually got sorted out. This calf found his mama and started doing his favorite activity--eating. Life is good again.