Cattle day

A couple days back I spent the afternoon helping Larry at his branding.

Branding is a way to identify cattle, as they may lose their ear tags but a brand is basically forever. Some countries ban branding, but in Canada it is still very much part of production, with brand inspectors frequenting auction barns to double check that the cows/calves being sold, really belong to that producer.

So there are many different ways to brand, depending on how much help you have. A tip-table is suitable if you have just 2 people, or just a few calves. A calf gets chased down an alley, into the headgate that is mounted on a tip-table. The calf is then tipped onto its side where it is now at table height and easy for people to put eartags in, vaccinate, castrate if it is a bull calf, and brand.

The next way would be, if the calves are small enough, to sort them off from their moms in the corral, and then wrestle them to the ground. You need a few more helpers for this: one person grabs a back leg, the other person grabs the flank and flips the calf. The 2 wrestlers then sit on the ground - one at the hind end holding the back leg, one on the neck/shoulder holding a front leg off the ground. A third person then is needed to vaccinate, tag and brand - or if you have more people, one to brand, one to vaccinate and one to tag. This can be tiring and handlers come away a little bit bruised, with the occasional sprain or broken bone from being kicked by calves.

But we were lucky enough to have skilled ropers and lots of help, so the traditional roping the calves branding is what we had.

I helped with the roundup to get the cattle into the branding pen. We had 7 riders, and the cows are used to being moved, as we rotational graze them. Only problem was, the cows had been going North in their rotation, so that's where they expected to go. We had to turn them south and they were a bit confused by it, but ready to move. The roundup was fast paced and my horse Macy loved it!
We got the cows and calves in, and then got set up:
Propane burners set with branding irons to heat up.
Vaccinations drawn into syringes, ready to administer. Tags got numbered and tag pliers loaded.
squirt bottles filled with antiseptic for castration.
Coolers set out on the tailgate with water and drinks for the crew.

We used a couple of 'snares' to catch the calf:
The roper would go into the herd, and rope the back legs of a calf and drag it towards our staging area. One person would be ready with the snare, which is a Y shaped yoke that would fit behind the calf's ears and line up behind his jaw bone. The snare is attached to an old inner tube (for stretch) that is attached to a stake in the ground. As soon as the calf is in reach, the snare is placed over the head and the roper drags until the rope is tight and the calf immobilized. We had a big crew so after the calf is secure, it went as follows:
One person would be castrating if it was a male. One person on the branding irons, one person vaccinating, 2 people on tags - the personal tag and the government radio ID tag. We had 2 ropers going with 2 snares and things were busy for just under 2 hours to do about 80 calves.

calf being dragged, Doug (red shirt) ready with the snare

Branding irons in the foreground

Cow watching calf being dragged

A perfect day for a branding

my horse Macy watching the show after roundup

All in all, it was a fun day spent outside with friends, fellow horsemen and stockmen. The evening rounded off with a campfire and supper for us, the cows and calves released and enjoying some fresh grass.

Dogs with jobs are in heaven

There's a storm brewing on the prairies. I watch the clouds billow and the wind ruffle the tall grass as I roll up  my electric fence and reset it for the goats to have fresh grass, my mind wanders to an old dog I had left behind on a different continent 4 years ago. My friend Kim had messaged me to tell me that old Sade was not well and been to the vet and back home, and back to the vet again.
Sade is the first Belgian Shepherd I owned. It came about after I watched an episode of a program called "Dogs with Jobs". That particular episode featured the Belgian Shepherd and more particular, the Malinois variety. These dogs were used in the Belgian Special police force, and they were just amazing! At the time, I was looking for a personal protection dog (living in South Africa kinda necessitates some things, especially on the personal security part because of rampant crime) and the Belgian Malinois looked to be just what I needed. Not too big, athletic, not overly hairy (hot summers). So I started my search to find one. I located a breeder close to where I lived, who was from Belgium and had imported all her original breeding stock. I visited the farm (and got nipped by an enthusiastic Malinois) and Agnes explained the breed to me, and I picked up my puppy. Sade was bred to be a protection dog, and that is what she loved. After puppy socialization, we started 'manwork' classes at about 6 months with a dog trainer from the police dog school. Oh how she loved that! Finally, a chance to sink her teeth into someone (wearing a protective suit, but still!)

It occured to me, as I was rolling up fence on the prairies, that Sade had lived her whole life in heaven. She was bred for protection, and she got to do just that. Every day. She could patrol the yard and bark at strangers every day. She could ride in the vehicle with me and look intimidating. Yet she is a gentle soul with other animals, people she knows, kids... She is 13 years old now, and I know that the inevitable will happen one day. But I will not wonder if all dogs go to heaven. Sade has been in heaven all her life.

Sade at 13 years young, loving life!

I hope to provide that opportunity for my current dog, Spice. Bred for herding, I would like to offer her a life lived in heaven every day.

Of Fauns and Things

I am very fortunate to live where I live. There is a big slough next to my pasture, inhabited by lots of ducks and water birds. I love listening to them in the early evening. The deer wander through our little town, and I was lucky enough to snap a photo of this little faun right next to railway avenue.

I have loads of birds in my yard thanks to all the trees, and I plan to build lots of different style nest boxes for them, as well as a bat house for the bats. Occasional skunk or raccoon travel through.
The first new growth of Spring excites me, as does the turning of the leaves in the Fall and the first flake of snow come Winter.

But there are so many people living in cities that never get to experience this, or feel connected to Nature. I believe this is what is getting our human race into such big trouble. We have forgotten we are PART of nature, that we are all part of the Whole. Nature isn't something 'out there'. It is within us, we ARE nature. Once the entire human race get that paradigm, there will be a collective shift away from our current direction of 'growth'. We will understand what we are doing is harmful.

But how do you get people to connect with nature? How to make them FEEL this planet that sustains them, and really, really appreciate it for the absolute marvel and wonder it is? How do we create awareness?

We are currently part of a help exchange program, called Helpx. Farms advertise who and what they are, and what kind of work they need help with. Volunteer helpers from all around the world then decide if they would like to come visit your farm. In exchange for room and board, they work 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Or something along that line. We enjoy sharing our knowledge (or lack of it sometimes!) with international visitors. We talk about Holistic Management, show them the grass and its great when you see that 'a-ha!' moment, when  they connect. We would like to expand on that, and have more room to host more people. A communal dining hall and kitchen, a nice outdoor seating area with fire pit for evening conversations. If every person we awaken, could touch someone else, and so on, the awareness will grow.

Right now I am so busy with my own things, but I would love to encourage roof top gardening in city centers, community gardens and food awareness.
If anyone wanted to come and visit and see what we are about, they are more than welcome.

Finding Balance

I love work. Especially when I am working on stuff I am passionate about! This may seem strange to people stuck in a job that they do not like, but when you are doing something you truly love, it doesn't feel like work.
When you are stuck in a job you do not enjoy, it seems that then you need distractions to 'get away from it all'. City folks need a boat and a camper or a cabin to get away to the lake to rejuvenate. My rejuvenation comes from spending time working with my animals, and working in my yard. But - one still needs balance.
The problem with ranching and working part-time is that there is always more work than time to do it in. Especially when like me, you are just starting up. There are fences to build, shelters to repair and build, corrals and pens to build, cleanup to be done, new animals that need to be tagged and vaccinated, the yard needs work, the vegetable garden needs work, the house needs work, and then there are the day-to-day mundane tasks like laundry, dishes, cleaning.... and pretty soon, there is no time for relaxing.

So every once in a while its time to ignore the pile of dishes and the grass that needs cutting, and go do something else. I went to a 2 day herding clinic with my dog Spice at Dog Tale Ranch. It took a bit of organization to get away for 2 days - someone needs to milk the milking goat 2x a day and care for her, animals and water system needs checking 1x a day, eggs need to be collected from the laying hens, and the dogs and cats need feeding. Its hard for both me and Larry to go away at the same time, so often I would stay home so he could attend a conference, and visa versa. In this case Larry opted to stay home and take care of things for me.

Training a herding dog is one of my goals. I searched long and hard to find a Belgian Shepherd with herding breeding. I wanted to Belgian because I love the breed, so along came Spice, or Elevation Spice it Up.
I had a great time camping with my dog, learning about pressure and release on dogs - which is a familiar concept to me with horses. One of the terms used in herding is 'finding balance' - where the dog learns to be opposite the handler, with the sheep between them. My dog is extremely talented and her instinct told her immediately where balance was. She found balance easily. Dogs live in the moment - if they feel like taking a nap, they do so. If they are thirsty, they have a drink. If they feel like playing, they do so.
We need to learn to live in the moment a bit more. Sometimes it is hard - things still need to get done, and we have such a short summer season to get it done in. It is easy for me to get lost in the work, but finding the balance between work and play - is something I have to work on.

Spice on the way to herding - are we there yet?

Spice camping

I look forward to having a few more fun days and going to Sheep Camp at Dog Tale Ranch in August.

In Memory of the goats at Elbow Pasture

May 15, 2012 was a great day. The sun was shining and I was sorting through my goats, getting ready to take a load of them in the stock trailer up to the Elbow community pasture. The moms were looking good, the babies were growing like weeds. I loaded up 33 adults and 54 babies, and dropped them off in the capable hands of the shepherd. I know there are always losses - the saying goes if you have livestock, you have dead stock. Little did I know the tragedy that would befall my herd this spring.
On Saturday, May 26 I took up a load of ewes and lambs. The main herd was out grazing, it was a beautiful sight to see the 1700 or so sheep and goats out in a tight group grazing. I stopped to take a few pictures, even saw some of my baby goats playing on the fenders of the shepherds stock trailer, as goats tend to do. All seemed fine and peaceful.

May 26 at the pasture

Sunday May 27 brought cold rain that turned to sleet as the morning progressed. I worried about my flock but seeing as Elbow pasture is almost 2 hours North of me, I hoped they had slightly better weather. And after all, my animals were healthy and should weather a little cold weather just fine.
Monday May 28 I was driving to an appointment in Swift Current when I got a call. It was Tacey, the pasture manager/shepherd. I thought maybe she was calling to tell me there was perhaps a sick lamb or 2. I was not prepared for the bombshell she dropped: In the night pasture, they have cutter bee huts set up as protection for the goat kids. The entrance is modified with a panel to allow only babies in. In the storm, frantic goats had pushed into the shelter with the kids. My goats and the PFRA pasture's own goats took the brunt of it. Kids and does smothered, suffocated or trampled. The preliminary numbers sent me reeling: 8 adults, and 30 babies. 30!!!! It took a minute or 3 for that to sink in. Tacey advised me that she was sorting through them as best she could, but she needs to know how many kids each doe had so she can account for them all. I vaguely said I will see what I can do. She advised that I might want to come pick up the orphans. I drove for a minute or two in silence, then called Larry. Then the tears started as reality sunk in. I told him we had to leave for Elbow right away, I was turning around and coming back. We were going to pick up the goats. What was left of them. I called Tacey to tell her we were on our way. A little bit of organization was required - she would round up the entire flock and start sorting off my animals, while I prepared for the trip, waiting on Larry. Flashlights, in case it got dark. A change of clothes, in case we didnt make it back at night. Medicine and electrolytes and anything required to revive goats, some old towels, a thermos of coffee all got packed in a few minutes, the dogs fed and kenneled and we were off. I made arrangements on the phone with a friend to milk my milk goat and check the remaining sheep and goats for the evening check, and to be on standby in case we didnt make it home that night.

All the way up to the pasture, goat faces popped up in my head. Who got crushed? Who is OK? I have my favorites, I have my best goats. I tried not to think which ones were lost, but their faces and tag numbers kept running through my brain.
The drive once off the highway was rough. There had been a LOT of rain, the roads were washed out, but we made it down the narrow trail to the night pen. The previous night pen was a trampled mess of mud, the sheep were penned adjacent to it. By some miracle Tacey had managed to pluck most of mine out of the herd of 1700 - no small task, with just her and a pasture rider and some dogs.
We walked through the herd, looking for strays. My heart jumped everytime we found one, two, three kids! a couple adults.
I looked in the trailer that Tacey had set up. A pitiful number of confused goats stared back at me. I breathed a sigh of relief at some familiar faces, only to look up again and search for others, others that I didnt see. Tacey brought out her book and I took out my piece of paper with my numbers, and she read the numbers to me of the ones that had been lost on the crush. My heart splintered a little with each number. So many! Oh no, oh no, not number 109! Oh no, whole families wiped out!
Does with no kids, kids with no moms. I blinked back the tears.

Now for the hard part - to go and take photographs of the dead, for insurance. I walked over the trampled ground, stared in horror at the pile of bodies. So many! I started taking photos. Winced as I spotted my pink eartags. Doe number plus a letter on the front, L.H. on the back. Green doe eartags showed up. I wept at the sight of it. My heart was broken like the bodies lying on the ground in front of me.

We took home the goats. Kids crying for their mothers. Mothers crying for their lost kids. I cried with them.

My Ode to the Lost Ones:
# 1 there is a reason why you wear that number. You lost your kids, but at least I have you. I'm so sorry.
# 3 you lost 2 out of your 3 kids. I am so sorry.
#9 my little skewface. You were born in 2010 at the farm, I carried you and your first kid into the garage in 2011 during a cold snap. You had the cutest little doeling this year, you cared for her so sweetly. Both of you are gone. I am so sorry. I will miss you, dear one.
#12 you and your kids died together, like the good mom you were. I am so sorry.
#16 my heart aches for you as you look in vain for your 3 lost kids. I am so sorry.
#19 you were luckier, you have one out of 3 kids. I am so sorry.
#23 at least you have one kid out of 2.
#24 you lost your single, I am so sorry.
#26 lost one out of 2. Such lovely babies you gave me too. I am so sorry.
#33 you have 1 out of 2. Beautiful kids they were too. I am so sorry.
#36 you lost your single, I am so sorry
#39 you have 1 out of 3 left. I am so sorry. Such beautiful babies they were.
#41 you died with your 2 kids. I am so sorry. You were a good mom, even looking after little 3B who you treated like your own. You were just a doeling yourself.
#42 I am so sorry, you lost both your kids.
#43 I lost you, but I have your kid, and I hope that next years generation will be saved by your ample colostrum I have frozen in my freezer. I am so sorry. You were a good doeling and a good mom.
#45 you died with your twins. A good doeling and a good mom. I am so sorry.
#46 you lost both your twins. I am so sorry. You are a good doeling.
#47 you lost your single, I am so sorry.
# 107 I lost you and your little twin doelings. I am so sorry.
# 109, oh how I feel your loss! You were beautiful! My eye sought you in the pasture. Your kids were gorgeous. I held your boy in my arms for a long time, deciding if I should castrate him or not. I thought well, I have you and your beautiful daughter, so I did. Now all I have is your wither son.
#1014 you were just a baby yourself, I sent you to pasture to grow up. Now you never will.
#1023 or Swirl as we call you, at least I have you and one of your 2 kids.
#51 you lost one of your twins, but I am thankful to have you and your other kid.
#29, you were still a baby, now you will never grow up.

My beloved 109

The kids that will never grow up

We will re-build. This is a massive blow to me and my herd. But we are strong, the goats and I. We will carry on.

Bittersweet

I am passionate about my animals. I am passionate about the land. I have to do whats best for both.

Because I don't own my own land as of yet, and the place I rent is too small to sustain the number of goats and sheep I have, my goats and sheep go to a community pasture. Actually, its a win-win situation.
They go up to Elbow, Saskatchewan. There is a serious problem with an invasive shrub called Leafy Spurge. Cows don't like to eat Leafy Spurge, and the Spurge is choking out the grass in the cattle community pasture. Spraying is not really an effective way to control Spurge, so the government put together a grazing program. Sheep and goats LOVE the stuff. So Elbow pasture needs my animals to help clean up the land. And I need Elbow to take my animals off my hands so that my grass can rest and recover for them to graze in the Fall and early Spring.

Today I took the first load of goats. 33 does and 54 kids. They are well looked after up there by an attentive shepherd and guardian dogs, but I will miss them. I look forward to the  day where I will have enough of my own land to keep my animals year round and do some multi-species intensive grazing experiments of my own.

Here is a pic of some of my goat kids the other day. I built a shelter from cattle panels, but the wind demolished the tarps. The kids thought it was an AWESOME playground! They would run up, balancing on the narrow pieces of welded wire, and then slide down. I was alarmed that they might get stuck in the ripped tarp so I took the tarp off shortly after capturing these photos

There be kids!

Kidding season is well underway, and the first lambs have arrived. 

Thankfully the weather has been very cooperative, with nice warm sunny days - except for this weekend! Practically torrential downpour and a strong wind. The goats hide in their shed, but the sheep remain outside. I worry about the lambs getting wet and getting chilled. But then I have to remind myself, once they go to pasture there isn't much shelter up there either, so they just have to tough it out. 

Fresh babies out in the pasture!

Llama comes to supervise

mom eating the placenta. Not all goats do this but some do.

getting to know her kids

Its hard work being a growing kid!

Kids hanging out in the corral. Where the sheep seem to take their lambs with them wherever they go, the goats tend to leave their kids in the corral. I love the two running in the background!

The bare dirt in the corral is warm and a nice spot to lie in the sun.

Come on mom, get up!

I love the babies and can spend way too much time just sitting and observing them!