my favorite brand!

So I spent my long weekend with my family in Whitefish Montana. We had a great time catching up with friends, relaxing and of course, shopping!!! whenever we go anywhere my family has to stop at basically every western store along the way. I got some super cute clothes, especially some by my favourite brand Farm boy/Farm Girl brad. Check out some of the great stuff they have here at: http://farmboybrand.com/

Family Bonding

So today I got to spend the day with my whole family doing something that we all love. No we did not go camping, hiking, to the zoo or anything else exciting like that. We helped my uncle round up all his cows and calves and vaccinated and branded the calves.

Now on first look this may not sound like much of a family bonding activity, but it’s the closest thing we get! All of us riders got up early this morning to have chores done around here and the horses saddled and loaded and ready to go. Six of us then climbed in the pickup and headed out to my uncles pasture. Once we got out there we unloaded the horses, met up with my uncle and some more helpers on quads and started the six mile trek to bring the cows and calves up to the corals.

The best part of the day comes after we get all the animals into the corals and the cows sorted out so that only the calves remain. My Aunt brings out a fantastic meal for all of us to enjoy while we sit and discuss what each of us saw while chasing the cows into the corals.

Even though I am now tired, sore, and sunburnt it was a great day spent with the family and I can’t wait till next year to do it again!

It’s A Dirty Job

 It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it! Some days I feel as if that is my motto around the farm. I know I have mentioned the rain a lot lately and will try to quit that for a while. But I have to just do one more post about it before I quit. Trying to move cows in the mud isn’t always the most fun job. It is often hard, frustrating, and messy. But at the very end of the day when I got to see the cows and calves bucking and playing in the big dry pasture after being in the muddy corals for the past few days everything is worth it! Now if there was only some way to sort them to send them out to our many different pastures without coming out looking like this:

Besides the Cow Thing you are Perfectly Normal

At work it has become the joke to ask me what I have done lately and see how the story somehow relates back to cattle. According to the guys I have this ability to relate every story I tell back to something about cattle. When I was joking about how they think this is odd the other day I was told that besides the ‘cow thing’ I was perfectly normal.  After only two weeks back at my summer job I am often greeted with “and what did you do with cows last night Stacey” as soon as I am in the door.

 What they don’t understand is that raising show cattle is a constant job, taking a break is not an option. I have explained to them about how a cattle show is basically like one of those fancy dog shows you see on TV but on a much larger scale. Preparing cattle to go to shows requires a lot of work that must be done every day.

Besides just daily feeding of specialized diets the select animals around our place that are shown are also given other special treatment, all of them must be halter broke. We start this when they are young just because they are easier to handle and seem to learn faster.  To train cattle to lead takes a lot of time and dedication. We start ours off by working with them every day for a week solid, we tie them all up then pet them and play a radio to get them used to people. These animals are also brushed and washed frequently to ensure that they have a nice coat of hair to work with come show day. A few weeks before the show they are also clipped, or given a haircut, so as to look their best.

Being that summer show season is fast approaching I have been quite busy with all this and spend a lot more of my time out in the coral than in my house. This is probably why most of my stories lately seem to start with something along the lines of: ‘when I was leading my heifer the other day...’

Job Training

Since the day that I joined 4-H over 9 years ago I knew that it would be a major asset in my life. I knew that one day, when I got a job, I would rely on the skills that I have learned through 4-H. One of the most valuable lessons that I have learned through 4-H is how to speak in public. Every year 4-Hers are required to present a prepared speech and an impromptu (unprepared speech). At first this experience was terrifying. The first time I gave an impromptu I was given the topic ‘rodeo’ which seemed very easy to talk about for only 1-2 minutes. In the minute that I had to prepare my little speech on rodeo I scribbled down everything I could think of. At the ripe old age of 9 I thought it would be a piece of cake. I stood up to give my speech to the room of about 10 people, read all the words I had down on my card in about 10 seconds then started to cry and sat down. Looking back I can now look at this incident and laugh. I can also see how far I have come from this day. I have now competed in public speaking completions not only with my clubs but also my district, region, and province. Being able to speak in public is a skill that I find very valuable. I use it all the time in my classes and also believe it is one of my many 4-h Learned skills that helps me succeed in the jobs that I apply for.

Some of the many useful skills that I have learned through 4-H that I believe help me (or will help me) in the job field include: a knowledge of cattle and cattle nutrition, how to communicate with people, a knowledge of how important volunteers are in our communities, how to conduct a proper meeting, how to keep a record book, how to work as a team, and how to be a leader.

 The skill I did not think I would need is one that I have learned through all my years of doing hi-way clean-up. But this year on my first day at my summer job, that was exactly the skill that I needed. This summer I am once again working for my town and my job is to maintain the roads and walks, and that Includes ditches. With all my practice picking up garbage from ditches this last week at work I was well prepared to once again volunteer with my old 4-H club to help with their stretch of the highway on this year’s highway clean up.

My Kind of Party!

For the last little bit I have been on a bit of a Jason Aldean kick (well ok if you asked anyone around me they would probably call it more of an obsession seeing as his music is all I seem to be listening to lately) I love his song Amarillo sky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc823UD0LeU and think of all the farmers and ranchers  in my life that are exactly like that, that no matter who bad the weather is, how horrible the prices are, or what kind of day they are having, they are out there taking care of the crops and animals that depend on them.

Since we raise purebred cattle every year we must register the baby calves. We are required to identify who their mothers and fathers are, their tattoo number, birth weight, if the cow had to be assisted with the birth, and other facts like that. My favourite part is that we get to name them all too! All of our cattle must be named with our prefix (CD) to identify that we were the people who registered it. Since we raise red Angus the cattle, they must also have the word red in their name.

Now you make think that I am going off on a complete tangent, how could naming calves possibly relate to my recent obsession with Jason Aldean? Well when it came time to register my bull calf out of my cow  Red C.D. Matrix Romeo 33’07 his name could be no other than Red C.D. Redneck Romeo 101’11 from Jason Aldean’s Song My Kind of Party.  

And What are you Going to do With That?

If you have read the about me section of this blog you will have discovered that I am an animal science major, and like most people will probably assume I am wanting to be a vet. That is defiantly not the case! As soon as i mention that to most people the very next question that I get asked is "oh so what are you going to do with that." so as to avoid being asked that question I will answer it now. With animal science degree I plan on becoming an animal nutritionist. I want to work with producers and feed companies to help them develop the best feed for the individual producers needs. this job will allow me to merge my love of animals with my love of working with people. the agriculture industry is one that is currently showing a lot of potential and i am really looking forward to being one of the many up and coming young people who get to help advance, and to advance with this industry!