It seems that the last few blog posts I have written all have the underlying theme.  Lack of moisture of any kind so far and the impending doom of the prospect of a repeat of last years moisture levels. The extreme cold temperatures of the last week with the strong winds from the southeast haven't brought any more moisture.  Normally a southeast wind for several days brings up Gulf moisture as it collides with the cold air from the north, but nothing.

Tammy talked to a guy with a feedlot in eastern South Dakota and his concern was the ranchers in the west would have to sell out their herds and they would have no calves to feed next fall.  They are running numbers as to how much it would cost to put cows in the feedlot to hold a herd together.  The costs are coming out in the $2.25 a day range.  Our cows are currently grazing old dried up grass and are getting 16 lbs. of old hay per day. The cost to replace this hay would be $.10 per lb.  So our cost with some grazing is $1.60 per day. That annuallizes out to $580 a year just for feed.  These cows won't calf for another 30 days.  We will have to kick up quality and quantity soon.  Our replacement heifers are in a feedlot by Vale and are costing $1.75 a day

Our young neighbor started selling his herd down last week.  He sold heifer calves.  He kept a quarter of his potential herd replacements and sold off three quarters.  The problem is do you sell out now and get ahead of the rush to sell later.  Or maybe you sell and it starts raining in a month and we have an average year.  Nobody knows.

I have been running grazing plans and different senarios of what to keep and what I could sell.  Nothing works out very well with no rain.  If it rains things look good and all grazing plans change.  Tammy was out in an alfalfa field the other day and we made this video.

Once the weather warms up a the end of the week I will probably start getting ground ready to plant.  Haven't decided what to plant.  That will depend on seed price and availability.  For now I guess I will close and go help Ryan tag some calves.

Well March sort of came in as a lamb.  No moisture, but some wind.  Several snow storms went around us and left snow and icy roads in eastern South Dakota.  We stay dry.  By the middle of the month the daytime temperatures were up to 60 to almost 70 degrees.  Tammy went out and took soil temperatures.  The soil temperatures were 52 degrees.  When she tweeted that her corn farmer friends were jealous as it was warm enough to plant corn and they were under snow thinking delayed planting.

The heifers at Ryan's are about done calving and the cows are just starting.  Ryan got his first AI calf and it was a cold night with wind and he thinks the calf might have froze her ears.  It just wants to stay cold and windy. Last Monday it was 8 degrees in the morning with a stiff wind.  We go over to Ryan's every day and help tag calves but with just the heifers calving there is only one or two a day.  Now with the cows starting thing should get busier.

The one day we came home and drove on the bluff above where I had fed the cows here.  It was windy and I had fed them below the bluff along the creek so they had some shelter from the biting wind.  Our cows here are not supposed to start calving till mid April, so we are a month away.

Last Thursday night while watching SDSU Jackrabbits play basket ball in the NCAA tournament we got a little snow.  Then it snowed off and on through the night and  we ended up by morning with about an inch of snow.  Ryan over at the ridge got about 2 inches of snow.  It almost melted off but then Friday afternoon and evening it snowed some more.

The other day Tammy got e-mails from two different schools in Rapid City with third grade classes wanting a field trip to the country.  We hate to turn them down so we will probably host the three classes from the one school and Gary Cammack will host the classes from the other school.  Most of these kids have no other contact with the country than this field trip.  It is also a good chance to educate the parents about what we do.  This field trip will not come about till mid May.

eyeing ewes and new calves

We two weeks ago we got the sheep eyed.  Sheared the wool away from the eyes.  This helps the sheep see so they can eat and watch for predators.  Before they are sheared they walk around with their heads and noses close to ground, smelling and sniffing the ground trying to find something to eat. Once they are sheared they have their heads up and look all around.  Here is one ewe that is particularly wool blind.

We have a squeeze chute at the end of the alley.  We just squeeze them by pushing against the side of the chute.  Ryan and I take turns with one squeezing and the other shearing.

We end up with a pile of wool in front of the chute.  We put this wool in a wool sack to be shipped to the wool warehouse with the rest of wool when we shear the whole sheep.  Brooke like to help put wool in the sack.

Tammy tried to do a video with her flip phone.  I will try and insert it in to this blog and see if anyone can see it.

We have been going over and helping Ryan calve first calf heifers.  They have been slow till the last couple of days.  Tammy took a couple of pictures of calves today.  It was quite windy.

I have had about four black heifers have calves and they all have a red calf at side.  If you have black cows it is good when they have a red calf.

We tattoo a number in the ear of heifer calves so they have a permanent individual identification.  We have an unusual situation this year.  Out of the first eight heifers that have calved they have been all bull calves except one.  The heifer calf came today.

Then I took the scale and got a birth weight on the little calf.

After all this process the baby calf got to go back to the safety of her mother.

First calves have arrived.

We have missed our second major snow storm in the last 10 days.  So we continue to be dry.  We had .11" in the rain gauge for the month of January.  Our neighbors just got back from Tampa, FL and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association annual convention.  The continued drought was on the minds of most of the cattlemen at this gathering.  Our national cow numbers are at a low point.  The lowest since 1952.  The cattle are bigger, so there is more pounds of beef on each animal.  But still the price of beef could go up in the grocery store.  If the drought continues there will be more of a sell-off of the national cow herd.

We went to the state Farmers Union Convention in Aberdeen this past weekend.  Back home we had three cows calve with early calves.

Ryan said he remembers a bull getting out last spring, but didn't think he was out for long. The weather was windy but warm for calves being born in February.  These cows are not supposed to calve until April 20.  So these calves are two months early.

Tammy and I had a little incident the other day in the wind.  We took the old grey pickup to Ryan's.  The pickup started sputtering and tried to die, then finally did.  I was just below a hill on the county road, so I rolled backwards down the hill and backed onto an approach.  Then I resumed trying to start the pickup.  It backfired and I kept trying to start it.  Then I looked in the rear view mirror and saw flames four feet high at the back of the pickup in the ditch.  I yelled fire and we started to put the fire out.  We pulled off our heavy coats and beat the flames down.  I was losing my battle, but the fire was creeping to the road and running out of grass to burn.  Tammy on her side was getting the fire out but it burnt down in the ditch where there was a little snow.  Our fire burnt a patch about 15 feet long and 8 feet wide.  The pickup would have burn, but it was on the wind side of the fire.

Today we went over to Ryan's to help him sort off his heifers to calf.  They are about a week to ten days from calving.

Then we came home and Tammy wanted to get a picture of our new calves.  So we drove out looking for calves.  Then got the sheep chute that we use for eyeing the ewes fixed up.  It hasn't been used by us for a few years, so needed some repair.  We have been trying to get professional help shearing the eyes but our days never match up.  So we will end up doing it sometime soon.

We did get a nice picture of the cows down in the creek by the house lounging around out of the wind.

Sheep and shearing

Last week we finished number branding Ryan's heifers.  The weather has been really nice for January.  It is cold for a couple of days then warms up into the fifty degrees.  The day we did these heifers it was nice but a little windy.  Here some of the heifers await their turn in the chute.

The one day it snowed all day with light fluffy snow.  By the end of the day we had almost 4 inches of snow and by morning it had settled down to about an inch.

Then our attention turned to the governmental scene.  Last summer our Congressional delegation visited the Belle Fouche area and we were there to help tell the story of the unexplained drop in the sheep market.  When the staffers got back to Washington the Senators and Congresswoman called for an investigation into the drop in the sheep market.  They along with other Senators and Congressmen from the region were able to have GIPSA (Grain Inspection/Packers and Stockyard Administration) start and investigation.

The GIPSA people from Denver came to Ft. Pierre to have a hearing.  They gave those in attendance an overview of what they could do and could not do.  They told of the procedure and what their investigation would entail.

The crowd was not large but the players were prominent in the South Dakota sheep scene.  There were several lamb feeders that sell to the packer and some from the auction barns and several lamb producers.

The testimony was given individually in private, and took most of the afternoon till after five PM.  The meeting was held in the Casey Tibbs Center in Ft. Pierre.  So as we were waiting for our turn to testify we could browse the interesting exhibits.  There is really a lot to look at and would be well worth your time if you are interested in rodeo.

Then Sunday at the Black Hills Stock Show the National Sheep Shearing contest was held.  I believe they said there were over fifty shearers taking part.  There was a junior division and intermediate and professional division.  The winner of the professional division can go on to represent the United States at the world Shearing contest to be held in Ireland next year.

Here they are getting ready to start on of the preliminary heats.  They were shearing 3 to 4 head in early rounds.  The professional division had eight finalists that had to shear 10 head.  I don't remember the fast times but they averaged about 1:15 per head for ten head.

Here is the guy that runs the sheep shearing crew that shears our sheep in the championship round.   He didn't win but was one of the faster times.  There were shearers from New Mexico, Wisconsin, Canada, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.  As well as many from the surrounding states.  They had three shear sheep with the hand blades in a contest.  The guy that won that contest was 67 years old and  had come from Massachusetts.  There were three young ladies in the contest.  One in the beginner and two in the intermediate division.  A nice crowd stayed around for most of the day.

Number branding heifers

Last week we number branded our coming first calf heifers.  I got started doing this in about 1982.  I was having trouble identifying cows that lost their ear tags.  In needed to know their number for record keeping.  Then I had to rope or get them in a head-catch to read the tattoo number in their ear.  Once I started number branding I could always read the hip brand number.

Here is some of the heifers awaiting their turn in the chute and being branded.  I have a bunch of black heifers.  We had bought some cows a couple of years ago and they had some black calves.  I kept them as I needed more numbers and this is a way to do it.

 Here is a heifer in the chute and ready for her turn at a number brand.

As you can see the irons are hot.  They brand much easier when the irons are hot.  We read the tattoo and see that is the same one as the ear tag.  Then brand the same number as the ear tattoo.

As you can see the smoke gets thick.  When the wind doesn't blow much the smoke hangs.  We have four numbers to put on each heifer.  The first number is the year they were born.    They were born in 2011, so the first digit is a one.  In 1981 the numbers were like 100's then in 1991 were had to use 1000's and 1100's.  Then in 2001 we used the 1200's so now we have worked up to the 1300's

Here is a good brand of 1361.

Then the snow storm was predicted.  The weatherman was predicting 4-6 inches of snow and 45 MPH wind and falling temperatures.  So when a snow storm is predicted we get the sheep in the lot close so that they don't drift into a fence corner and cover over in a blizzard.  Sheep have their heavy coats of wool and just lay down and let the wind blow.  They all bed down in a close group and if the blizzard is bad enough they let themselves cover over with snow.  We bring them in close to the barn for shelter.

It was really nice that evening and the sheep didn't want to come in.  We didn't have much snow as it had been like 50 degrees that day.

We didn't get much snow just wind and colder temperatures.  Here I am feeding the sheep in the lower lot.  I fed them about three bales of hay for the day.  Tammy opened the gate so the sheep could go and eat.

They spent the day in the lot and ate hay.  The next morning we let them back into the pasture.  I started feeding the cows in this cold weather.  Their grazing has about run out, so giving them some hay  was a good idea.  Right now they are content with about a half a feed of hay every day and they go out and graze the rest of the day.  The other morning the cows weren't even coming for their cake.  So I said they get no more.  The rest of the cake will be fed as they get closer to calving.  With the high price of cake there is no use to feed it if they don't want it.

2012 rainfall totals

I was looking through my book that I carry in pocket, to write all the stuff I need to remember.  I was looking and rainfall totals.  I wanted to add up all the rainfall totals to see how much rain we had had during the year.
January - none.
February - none
March  -  0.11"
April  -   five different rains that totaled  1.89"
May -  three rains  for  2.14"
June -  six rains for  1.43"
July  - four rains-  2.51"  late in month, didn't do much good
August - one rain  0.27"
September - none
October - one rain at 0.30"
November - none
December - about five inches of snow for 0.20"

All totaled about 8.85" for the year.  I think our annual total is somewhere around 14-16 inches per year.

It has been so dry on the "gumbo" that there has been no antelope for antelope season.  No deer for deer season.  No coyotes for coyote hunting.  I saw the first coyote two week ago.  Then I started carrying a rifle.
This morning while we were out caking the cows Tammy saw a coyote way down the draw.  Then we got to watching and saw another and then another all slipping down the draw.  I said tomorrow I will have to bring my longer range rifle.

Just had a call from KOTA radio wanting to have the name of someone who raises winter wheat.  He was wondering about the concern of lack of snow cover for the winter wheat crop.  I give him a couple names.  We do not raise winter wheat.  But the concern of lack of snow cover is very real.  Alfalfa is susceptible to lack of snow cover.  Also the lack of moisture in the ground is a concern.  The wind can suck the moisture out of the ground with the low winter humidity levels.

Now that the holiday season is over, we are starting to look at going back to work.  We need to number brand the first calf heifers.  Then get the sheep in and clip the wool from their eyes.  Then finish putting the loader on the Belrus tractor.  The weather will be nice for most of the upcoming week.